BLOG VIEW | HEADLINE VIEW

ALL

GEEK

Are Chimpanzees People? Part II

FRIDAY OCTOBER 5 2007 4:00 AM

Submitted by thefreak. Edited By erin_broadley.

TAGS: chimpanzee, animal rights, Austria

Back in May, I brought to your attention the story of a chimp named "Hiasl", and the quest by Austrian animal rights activists to have him recognized as a "person," thereby granting him basic legal rights. The chimp, who's full name is now Matthew Hiasl Pan, has had his case thrown out by a judge. But the simian supporters aren't going down without a feces-flinging fight.

Animal rights activists campaigning to get Pan, a 26-year-old chimpanzee, legally declared a person vowed Thursday to take their challenge to Austria's Supreme Court after a lower court threw out their latest appeal.

A provincial judge in the city of Wiener Neustadt dismissed the case this week, ruling the Vienna-based Association Against Animal Factories has no legal standing to argue on the chimp's behalf.

The legal tussle began in February, when the animal shelter where Pan and another chimp, Rosi, have lived for 25 years filed for bankruptcy protection.

To bring you up to speed, Matty Boy was smuggled from Sierra Leone to be sold for pharmaceutical testing, before being brought to his current home after intervention by international customs. However, with the shelter in dire straits and Our Man Pan with veterinary and upkeep bills of almost $7000 a month, the AAAF is fighting to get him "personhood" and keep him living in Austria. But the chimpy court conundrum hasn't been without its setbacks.

Donors have offered to help, but under Austrian law, only a person can receive personal gifts.

...

In April, a district court judge rejected a British woman's petition to be declared Pan's legal guardian. The court ruled the chimp was neither mentally impaired nor in danger, the grounds required for a guardian to be appointed.

In dismissing the Association Against Animal Factories' case, the provincial court said only a guardian could appeal. That doesn't apply, the group contends, since Pan lacks a guardian.

A hearing date has not been set for the group's appeal to the Supreme Court. AAAF President Martin Balluch had this to say about their fight:

"The question is: Are chimps things without interests, or persons with interests?" Balluch said.

"A large section of the public does see chimps as beings with interests," he said. "We are looking forward to hear what the high court has to say on this fundamental question."

In closing, for all you naysayers out there, watch these YouTube videos and then I dare you to try and tell me chimps aren't little hairy people!

Besides the fact we're 96% alike on the genetic level, of course.

thefreak, as mentioned in his previous story, would love to one day have a chimp as a roommate. Fox would pick up the sitcom rights in a heartbeat.

30 Comments

PAGE:

1 | 2

Pheme

USA

August 2007

OCT 05, 2007 04:33 AM

Funny, I'm trying to have my children legally declared animals!

Rickets

Seattle, WA

March 2003

OCT 05, 2007 05:03 AM

I've fucked lots of chimps and have yet to produce any viable offspring, so by most biological criteria, I'd say they're not people.

Just dead sexy.

CherryCoke

Derry, NH

May 2007

OCT 05, 2007 05:09 AM

Chimps are a lot smarter than alot of people I know.

Alfaduetto

Greeneville, TN

May 2004

OCT 05, 2007 05:18 AM

The fact that the court ruled that he was "neither mentally impaired nor in danger" would indicate that the courts were applying rules of human rights to the chimp. It is a precedence at that point and should allow further argument for his case.

SnowgodCCR

Derry, NH

November 2006

OCT 05, 2007 05:49 AM

Alfaduetto said:
The fact that the court ruled that he was "neither mentally impaired nor in danger" would indicate that the courts were applying rules of human rights to the chimp. It is a precedence at that point and should allow further argument for his case.

That's a really good point, actually.
While I don't believe that the Chimp should be legally declared as a person, since chimps are in fact, not people by any reasonable definition, I think that the austrian court and the people involved in this case are making this far more difficult than it needs to be. Allow the person claiming responsibility for the animal to recieve the gifts and donations.
Basically, if the chimp case has a website, under the donations page it should now say "Please make all checks payable to Johann Chimp Lover, not to Matthew Pan". Bing, simple as that, IMO.

naveed

Calgary, AB

January 2005

OCT 05, 2007 07:19 AM

umm... the second video is of a bonobo, so that completely invalidates your argument.

derekdikdik

Pensacola, FL

June 2006

OCT 05, 2007 07:21 AM

Ever heard of the chimp named Oliver? He walked upright, and look much more human than most chimps. They called him the Humanzee. I think he lives in San Antonio, Tx now.

Heathen_Dave

Birmingham, AL

July 2005

OCT 05, 2007 07:44 AM

naveed said:
umm... the second video is of a bonobo, so that completely invalidates your argument.

Yeah, and it sucked at pacman anyway, and that game is easy.

JohnnyForeigner

United Kingdom

July 2003

OCT 05, 2007 07:51 AM

thefreak, as mentioned in his previous story, would love to one day have a chimp as a roommate. Fox would pick up the sitcom rights in a heartbeat.

Just so we know... would you be the uptight conservative or the slovenly liberal?

sickboyedd

United Kingdom

January 2004

OCT 05, 2007 08:31 AM

Seriously, $7000 a month! What are they feeding it, caviar? I say give it a typewriter, even though the numbers are way below infinite, I bet just the one chimp banging away at random could produce better scripts than the recent Transformers movie.

JoLeigh

SUICIDEGIRL

Florida, USA

OCT 05, 2007 08:50 AM

that is a very valid point

dorklord

Los Angeles, CA

May 2006

OCT 05, 2007 09:34 AM

Ironically I think creationists should be declared apes, in a legal sense.

jahpuch

Washington, DC

May 2007

OCT 05, 2007 09:42 AM

where's Michael Jackson when you need him?

But i dont get it: what happens if he doesn't get personhood? Is he "deported" to Sierra Leone? Euthanized?

I'm pretty sure that chimps and greater apes have emotions, self-awareness, fears, etc (and even other animals can show signs of these solely "human" traits), but that doesn't make them a person. I mean, would he have to be prosecuted if he committed a crime, like perhaps, being naked in public?

however i do think that this is just another example of how protective we are of our human traits. For so long, it was thought that we were the only species to use tools and defined humans as such, but it was discovered that apes can use tools and then that other species could too, like some birds and other monkeys. And in terms of feeling emotions, I'm sure any dog owner can tell you when their dog is "happy" or "sad" or "scared."

stop antrhocentrism! emotions for some miniature american flags for others!