Sunday, April 26, 2015

Precedent: All it takes is an idiot.

Photo: Kabir Bakie at the Cincinnati Zoo

This Monday past in NY Manhattan Supreme Court, Justice Barbara Jaffe granted a writ of Habeas Corpus to two chimpanzees.

This is after a NY Appellate Court rejected a similar attempt with the following ruling:

“[We] conclude that a chimpanzee is not a ‘person’ entitled to the rights and protections afforded by the writ of habeas corpus. Only people can have rights, because only people can be held legally accountable for their actions.  In our view, it is this incapability to bear any legal responsibilities and societal duties that renders it inappropriate to confer upon chimpanzees the legal rights … that have been afforded to human beings.”

Animals are not people, that doesn't mean we are free to abuse them, but it does mean that they are chattel, can be bought, sold, and otherwise dealt with by their owners within the confines of the law.

What do you think? 

MSN 

Science Magazine 

 

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