NY court questions lawyer's novel bid to win rights for chimps

The case of a 26-year-old chimpanzee, Tommy, whose owner keeps him in a modified shed in upstate New York, is the first in the world seeking "legal personhood" for a nonhuman animal.

 

Steven Wise, a lawyer who has worked for three decades to expand rights for animals, is trying to win an order that Tommy has been unlawfully imprisoned by his owner and should be released to a sanctuary in Florida.

 

He filed an appeal after a lower court judge last year dismissed the case.

 

Wise told the five-judge panel of appeals court in Albany on Wednesday that chimps are intelligent enough to experience the same suffering as humans when kept in solitary confinement.

 

"Tommy has the autonomy and self-determination to understand that he doesn't want to be imprisoned for life in a cage," Wise said.

 

Wise is using a legal mechanism known as a writ of habeas corpus, which is traditionally employed by prison inmates who claim they have been illegally detained. He has said that he chose Tommy because he is one of four chimps living in New York, where courts have taken a less restrictive view in habeas corpus cases.

 

Tommy's owner, Patrick Lavery, waived his right to make an argument at Wednesday's hearing. In December, when the suit was filed, he said Tommy had the best possible care and enjoyed living alone.

 

Wise on Wednesday compared chimps to human slaves, who were treated as property by U.S. courts.

 

Justice Karen Peters said she was troubled by the analogy and suggested Wise abandon it. Peters said it may make more sense for Wise to lobby lawmakers to protect chimps from "unlawful detention" by private owners.

 

"Historically, any laws to protect animals from cruelty by humans have been legislative," she said.

 

Justice Michael Lynch said Wise may be able to bring his case under a state law that allows courts to order the release of a privately owned animal if its owner does not maintain conditions required by law.

 

Wise replied that the case was not against Lavery, who had not violated any laws, but was intended to challenge the very notion that chimps could be kept as private property.

 

An appeals court in Rochester in December will hear a similar case from Wise involving a chimp named Kiko.

 

The case is Nonhuman Rights Project v. Lavery, New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, No. 518336.  — Reuters