US court rules against chimpanzee, says he has "no human rights"

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Like Dred Scott for animals.

[ingemann]

Here's a hypothetical: if an early branch of hominid, say Australopithecus, was suddenly found, how would they legally be treated? At present, human rights are given to Homo sapiens and animals are treated as "things" with no right to bodily integrity or liberty. At present, we are able to view apes as distinct from ourselves (despite their clearly complex cognitive abilities self-awareness) that we can give them the status of "non-persons" with ease; but how would we react to an "almost human"?

It's a dilemma, but I certainly think that great apes and cetaceans deserve a greater legal status than

It really depend, are they as smart as chimps, they will be treated as chimp, while if we can communicate meaningful with them, they will be seen as humans.

[Tender Branson]

Meanwhile in Argentina:

Captive orangutan Sandra has human right to freedom, Argentine court rules

An orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can be freed and transferred to a sanctuary after a court recognised the ape as a "non-human person" unlawfully deprived of its freedom, lawyers say.

Animal rights campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition - a document more typically used to challenge the legality of a person's detention or imprisonment - in November on behalf of Sandra, a 29-year-old Sumatran orangutan at the Buenos Aires zoo, arguing she was "suffering an unwarranted confinement".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-22/captive-orangutan-has-human-right-to-freedom/5983440

[emailking]

If that's the technicality they had to use then I'm all for it.

But really I think we should just do away with zoos on moral grounds.

[Lief 🗽]

Meanwhile in Argentina:

Captive orangutan Sandra has human right to freedom, Argentine court rules

An orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can be freed and transferred to a sanctuary after a court recognised the ape as a "non-human person" unlawfully deprived of its freedom, lawyers say.

Animal rights campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition - a document more typically used to challenge the legality of a person's detention or imprisonment - in November on behalf of Sandra, a 29-year-old Sumatran orangutan at the Buenos Aires zoo, arguing she was "suffering an unwarranted confinement".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-22/captive-orangutan-has-human-right-to-freedom/5983440

Wonderful news!

[King]

Cissapiens need to check their evolution privilege

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Disturbing stuff.