Chimps are not people, but sometimes they are? A Manhattan judge has granted a hearing to determine whether two chimpanzees imprisoned at Stony Brook University are considered "legal persons," and thus whether they should be released to an animal sanctuary.
The chimps, called Leo and Hercules, were granted the right for human spokespeople to argue for their freedom, though it remains unclear whether the judge, Justice Barbara Jaffe, will determine that the pair have been "unlawfully detained." The chimps are currently used for biomedical research at the university.
Though she initially employed the term "writ of habeas corpus," which refers to detention of human prisoners, Jaffe reconsidered her wording and ultimately struck it on Tuesday, emphasizing that her intention was only to hear the case.
“All this does is allow the parties to argue their case in court,” David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the New York State court system, told the Times.
The case was brought by the Nonhuman Rights Project, who have in the past fought for the rights of chimps across the country, including three based in New York. They argue that the chimps qualify as “persons” on the basis that they show complex cognitive functions like “empathy,” “ability to engage in mental time travel” and “capacity to suffer the pain of imprisonment," court documents say.
The hearing is scheduled for May 6th.
