Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Chimps are people, too!
…or are they? That’s what a New York judge will decide after granting lawyers representing two chimpanzees from Stony Brook University to present arguments as to why their clients should be freed from captivity at the institution.
The complaint was initially filed by The Nonhuman Rights Project, and according to Time.com, officials at Stony Brook will now have to demonstrate that they have a reason to detain the duo during a hearing before New York County Supreme Court Judge Barbara Jaffe on May 27.
Chimps (briefly) granted writ of habeas corpus
Earlier this week, Judge Jaffe issued an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus on behalf of the two chimps, Hercules and Leo, which are being used in biomedical experimentation at the Long Island-based university. It marked the first time non-human animals had been granted such a writ, and The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) hailed it as a triumph.
“Under the law of New York State, only a ‘legal person’ may have an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus issued in his or her behalf. The Court has therefore implicitly determined that Hercules and Leo are ‘persons,’” the organization said in a statement Monday.
The next day, however, Judge Jaffe amended her initial decision to strike references to the writ of habeas corpus, a doctrine used to protect humans against unlawful imprisonment. The order to show cause remains, and despite the change, the NhRP said that it was “grateful” for the chance “to litigate the issue of the freedom of the chimpanzees” at next month’s hearing.
An ongoing fight for non-human primate rights
The organization is asking that Hercules and Leo be released from the Stony Brook and sent to live out the rest of their days at an animal sanctuary in Florida. At the hearing, the university will present arguments as to why they have a legally sufficient reason to keep the creatures, according to NPR. Stony Brook decline Time’s request for comment on the case.
The lawsuit was originally filed in the Supreme Court of Suffolk County in December 2013, but a judge there declined to issue a writ of habeas corpus. An appellate court dismissed the NhRP’s appeal on the grounds that the group lacked the right to do so. Believing that both courts erred in their rulings, the NhRP and re-filed its petition last month in New York County Supreme Court.
New York courts have also previously declined to extend habeas corpus to Tommy and Kiko, a pair of privately-owned chimps also represented by the NhRP. The group has also appealed that decision, and a decision is pending in that matter.
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