A strange new request had left a New York judge intrigued. A Stony Brook University has been using chimpanzees for a locomotion study, which has made a few animal rights activists unhappy.
The two chimpanzees, Leo and Hercules, have animal activists fighting to get them to a sanctuary in Florida. The attorney for the University is claiming that they are simply not human and hence are not entitled to certain rights. He said,
“They have had no ability to sort of partake in human society and a society that has developed these rights on their behalf.”
On the other hand, Stephen Wise, who is with the Nonhuman Rights Project, said,
“It’s ironic that it is said that you have to be able to partake in the social contract of the society in order to have the society not enslave you. We are all immune from being enslaved; everyone else is immune from enslaving us.”
This animal rights group is fighting to free both Leo and Hercules from being subjected to tests and studies. Perhaps the only way of doing that is by entitling them to normal human rights that make it against the law to be enslaved.
Via Flickr/Tambako The Jaguar
