Post: #1

Court Recognizes Chimpanzees As Legal Persons


http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-ani...-day-court

This week, a New York judge granted two chimpanzees, Hercules and Leo of Stony Brook University, the right to have their day in court.

Back in December 2013, the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) filed a suite of lawsuits claiming that the pair of lab animals, together with another two living on private property, were too intelligent, self-aware, and emotionally complex to be detained in captivity, and that they should be relocated to a chimpanzee sanctuary called Save the Chimps in Fort Pierce, Florida. The group petitioned multiple judges with a writ of habeas corpus—traditionally used to prevent people from being unlawfully imprisoned—but each case was struck down, Science reports.

On Monday, in the organization’s first major victory, New York Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe signed an order requiring Stony Brook representatives to appear in a court hearing on May 27 to respond to NhRP’s claim that the two chimps are being unlawfully detained. A judicial action could force the university to release the chimps. And since a habeas corpus can only be granted to a person, this order implicitly suggests that these chimps are being recognized as “legal persons”—but you might be reading into it too much, some say.

“This is a big step forward to getting what we are ultimately seeking: the right to bodily liberty for chimpanzees and other cognitively complex animals,” NhRP’s Natalie Prosin tells Science. “We got our foot in the door. And no matter what happens, that door can never be completely shut again.” A positive ruling would be the first time in any state that a non-human animal had been granted rights previously reserved for Homo sapiens, Nature explains. But even if NhRP loses the case, the habeas corpus ruling “strengthens our argument that these nonhuman animals are not property,” Prosin adds.

However, the judge amended the court order on April 21, and the words “writ of habeas corpus” have since been struck out. That means the court hasn’t decided whether the two chimps are to be treated as legal persons. Courts don’t have to make a determination about legal personhood before giving opponents the chance to respond. But as Nature describes it, the judge inadvertently opened a constitutional can of worms only to clamp it shut a day later.

A Stony Brook spokeswoman would only comment that the university “awaits the court’s full consideration on this matter,” according to The New York Times. The burden of proof is on New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman, charged with representing the school, to argue that the chimps aren’t persons.

Both Hercules and Leo have been used in biomechanics research to understand the evolution of human bipedalism.

Post: #2

They should air this on Judge Judy with the chimps representing themselves.

Post: #3

Hmm...





I say good for the chimps. They probably look more human than some humans, anyways.

HSLD

Post: #4

If the morbidly obese and transgender nutjobs are considered people, why shouldn't these intelligent chimps be, too?

Post: #5

According to the progressives chimps, and even robots, can be considered human. But not humans that have not been born yet.

Post: #6

This post title is misleading. No one is legally recognizing chimps as people. And the ones who consider them people are fanatics who are part of something called the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP).

But let's look at this another way.

Let's say the judge in this story does grant "habeas corpus" to chimps so they can be recognized as “legal persons”

If chimps are declared people, that means you can own a bunch and claim them as dependents on your tax form, thereby getting some major tax breaks.

Does anyone think the IRS will agree with that?

For once, my sympathies will be with the IRS when they clamp down on these nutjobs. What does it say about our modern world that I'm now looking to the IRS, of all places, for sanity?

Post: #7

I hope they give all animals human rights, then I'll get a fish tank full of gold fish and claim tax credit for every single fucking fish as my dependent. It's like 1000 per year per dependent.

Post: #8

The real question is, compared to the average Online Hamster Girl, WB or not over them? I'm put off by hairy arms, but at least the chimps are true to their nature...?

Post: #9

Here's a non-clickbait article:

http://sbstatesman.com/2015/04/23/judge-...captivity/

Quote:A New York County Supreme Court judge has ordered a hearing at which Stony Brook University must justify its custody of two chimpanzees, but the order has raised the question of whether the chimpanzees can be granted human rights.

Justice Barbara Jaffe gave the order on April 20 after the Nonhuman Rights Project filed a lawsuit against the university. Jaffe’s original order granted the two chimps a “writ of habeas corpus,” which gave the chimps the human right to challenge their allegedly illegal imprisonment, but Jaffe later amended the order by removing the phrase.

The Nonhuman Rights Project, a Florida-based organization, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Hercules and Leo, two male chimpanzees owned by New Iberia Research Center in Louisiana that are used for locomotion research in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University.

“The University does not comment on the specifics of litigation, and awaits the court’s full consideration on this matter,” Lauren Sheprow, the university’s media relations officer, said in an email.

In the lawsuit petition, the Nonhuman Rights Project wrote that the chimps are “autonomous and self-determining beings who possess those complex cognitive abilities sufficient for common law personhood and the common law right to bodily liberty, as a matter of common law liberty, equality or both.”

Steven Wise, a lawyer who is the founder and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project, said his organization petitioned for both a writ of habeas corpus and an order to show case, which requires Stony Brook to justify keeping the chimps, in order to “cover all the bases.” He said even though the writ of habeas corpus was struck out of Jaffe’s order, the Nonhuman Rights Project is still pleased with the results.

“In the end, it doesn’t matter what route you take to get Stony Brook to justify its detention of Hercules and Leo,” Wise said. “We’re just happy that the judge has given us a chance to argue this in court.”

The Nonhuman Rights Project first filed the lawsuit in December 2013 in Suffolk County Supreme Court. Judge W. Gerard Asher denied the group’s petition for habeas corpus on the ground that the chimps were not legally persons.

The organization also filed lawsuits for the release of two other chimpanzees living in New York: Tommy, a male chimp living on a lot owned by Circle L Trailers in Gloversville, and Kiko, a male chimp living in The Primate Sanctuary in Niagara Falls. Both of these lawsuits were dismissed by their respective courts.

The lawsuit petitions asked the judges to grant the chimps writ of habeas corpus and to order for the chimps to be moved to a sanctuary within the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance.

The Nonhuman Rights Project filed an appeal for Hercules and Leo’s lawsuit to the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department in Brooklyn, but the judges dismissed the appeal in April 2014.

The Nonhuman Rights Project then refiled its petition for Hercules and Leo in March 2015, this time in the New York County Supreme Court. In the court rules in favor of the Nonhuman Rights Project, the chimps will be released from the university and sent to Save the Chimps, a Florida sanctuary.

The hearing is scheduled for May 27 at 10:30 a.m. in the New York County Courthouse on Centre Street in Manhattan.

Post: #10

Are the chimps orientated in time / place and person? Are they able to receive, direct or receive and understand advice from counsel? If they pick their arses in public, are they able to understand the charges and the court processes against them? Can they address the court, with an interpreter if necessary? Do they have a concept of death and the consequences of their actions? If no, to any of these questions, they lack capacity. Why are they being judged by adult human standards? Should they, as a result, receive adult human punishment? Address this to the next person in sandals that tries to make you aware of this "fact".

Fuck you , you sandal-wearing hippy benefit casualties.

Post: #11

Evolution of Betas. Thirsty simps chimps.








   

Post: #12

If chimps are allowed rights then couldn't they technically be eligible for eventual citizenship as well. Although chimps randomly voting would probably result in better elected officials than what we have now in the U.S.


Some chimp talk:

Chimps can be cannibalistic.

Chimps are actually very aggressive and savage in nature. You'd have to be somewhat mental to have one as a pet. They will bite your face off or go straight for the nuts if agitated. Google images of chimp attacks on humans just be sure to keep a barf bag handy.

Chimps are territorial and war like.

Supposedly chimps were being trained to carry bomb satchels like German Shephards did in WW2. The problem is they were too smart and rebellious. Their behavior wasn't entirely predictable and they were just as likely to lay that shit right at your feet and run away.

Post: #13

Thread title befitting The Chateau Heartiste.

Post: #14

Genetically speaking, chimps are 98.5% people, but then grass is 70% the same genetically as people.

It's all in that last 1.5 or 1%!!!

Post: #15

(04-24-2015 10:42 AM)Aphex Wrote:  They should air this on Judge Judy with the chimps representing themselves.

and please someone dress them up in business suits. That would make my decade.