New York Court to Decide if Chimps Are People Too

A US court has never been asked to consider the question "Who is a person?" in the same way that a New York appeals court will have to answer it in a case that started today.

This case is the first of its kind and raises the issue of whether high-order animals — non-human primates, dolphins, elephants, and orcas — are people and entitled to certain rights as people.

Tommy the chimpanzee, 26, is at the center of the case. He is owned by a human and spends his days watching television in upstate New York, where disagreements have arisen about his living conditions.

Tommy's owner, Patrick Lavery, claims the chimp lives in a state-of-the-art $150,000 enclosure with cable TV and a stereo. If that's true, Tommy has a nicer place than many humans.

However, Steven Wise, an attorney with the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) who is representing Tommy's personhood, says that the chimp resides in a "dank, dark shed." The NhRP claims Tommy's living quarters are in a used trailer lot.

Oral arguments began today, when Wise presented evidence that Tommy has been unlawfully imprisoned and should be released to a chimp sanctuary in Florida. The argument is based on a law filed on behalf of people, typically prison inmates, who claim they have been wrongfully imprisoned.

The NhRP presented its arguments for 22 minutes, longer than the 10 minutes that had been allotted by the court. Neither of the lawyers were available for specific comment on the proceedings.

"The court was well informed and actively engaged," the organization said in a statement released this afternoon. "For virtually the entire time the panel asked questions that went to the heart of the case."

The NhRP said it doesn't expect a decision to be made in the case for another four to six weeks.

The New York state appeals court won't hear from Tommy's owner, as Lavery has waived his right to make an argument in front of the court. Tommy wasn't available for comment either.

Lavery has said in the past that Tommy has been on the waiting list of a chimp sanctuary for three years.

Tommy the chimp could become a legal person this week! — Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro)October 8, 2014

American court will rule if the chimp named Tommy is being unlawfully imprisoned — neil (@4nks)October 8, 2014

If the appellate court rules in favor of Tommy, it would mean that he is capable of having legal rights and it likely would open the door for further cases concerning other high-order animals. The NhRP says it is the only organization working for legal rights for species other than humans.

Richard Cupp, a John W. Wade professor of law at Pepperdine University, told VICE News that the issue at hand is a question of the moral responsibility of being a person.

"(Chimps) don't have the moral capacity to put that much more moral responsibility on them," Cupp said. "We have associated rights that come with personhood, kind of the idea of no taxation without representation.

"I don't want Tommy to go to jail if he throws a rock at me, but that's part of the moral responsibility of being a person."

In December 2013, the NhRP filed lawsuits in three New York counties and was ruled against in all three cases, with the judges deciding that for the purposes of habeas corpus, chimps are not people.

In the ruling on Tommy's lower-court case, Fulton County Supreme Court Justice Joseph Sise said: "The court will not entertain the application, will not recognize a chimpanzee as a human or as a person who can seek a writ of habeas corpus. You make a very strong argument. However, I do not agree with the argument only insofar as Article 70 (on habeas corpus) applies to chimpanzees."

Similar rulings were handed down in December for New York chimps Kiko and the joint case of Hercules and Leo. Wise is in the appeals process on those cases and will go to court this December for Kiko, according to his organization. The NhRP said it planned to file lawsuits for a total of seven captive chimps, but three died before their cases could progress.

"The Nonhuman Rights Project's lawsuits are rooted in genetic, cognitive, physiological, evolutionary, and taxonomic evidence that the plaintiffs are autonomous, self-aware, self-determining, and able to choose how to live their lives, as provided by some of the world's greatest working primatologists," the organization said in a statement.

Dr. Alasdair Cochrane, an animal rights expert at the University of Sheffield, UK, told the London Evening Standard that he sees the divide that separates human rights and animal rights shrinking.

"As the advanced powers of other animals, such as chimpanzees, becomes better understood, it is little surprise that the legal wall that divides humans from other animals is being chipped away. It is my view that it is just a matter of time until it crumbles," he said.

Follow Payton Guion on Twitter: @paytonguion

Photo via Flickr