US court : Chimpanzees have no human rights

Appeals court rules against advocate ' s attempt to extend
"legal personhood " and associated rights to chimpanzees.
In the first case of its kind, a New York appeals court has
rejected an animal rights advocate ' s attempt to extend "legal
personhood " to chimpanzees, saying the primates are
incapable of bearing the responsibilities that come with having
legal rights.
A five-judge panel of the Albany court on Thursday said
attorney Steven Wise had shown that Tommy , a 26 -year -
old chimp who lives alone in a shed in upstate New York ,
was an autonomous creature , but that it was not possible for
him to understand the social contract that binds humans
together.
"Needless to say, unlike human beings , chimpanzees cannot
bear any legal duties , submit to societal responsibilities or be
held legally accountable for their actions , " Presiding Justice
Karen Peters wrote .
Wise said that he would ask the Court of Appeals , New
York state' s top court, to hear the case.
"This is just the first appellate decision in a long -term
strategic campaign " to win rights for chimps and other
intelligent animals, he said .
Wise, representing The Nonhuman Rights Project, which he
helped found in 2007, was seeking a ruling that Tommy had
been unlawfully imprisoned by his owner, Patrick Lavery.
Wise argued that the chimp should be released to a
sanctuary in Florida .
According to Wise and other experts , it is the first case
anywhere in the world in which an appeals court has been
asked to extend human rights to animals.
Lavery said that he agreed with the judges, adding that
Tommy received state -of-the -art care and was on a
waiting list to be taken in by a sanctuary .
"It will be my decision where he goes and not someone
else ' s, " he said .
Peters wrote for the court that while chimps could not be
granted legal rights, Wise could lobby the state legislature to
create new protections for chimps and other intelligent
animals.
The decision , which upheld a 2013 ruling by a state judge,
came after Wise on Tuesday urged a separate court in
Rochester to order the release of a deaf chimp named Kiko
from a cement cage at his owner' s home in Niagara Falls.
Wise has also filed a third case on behalf of two chimps that
live at a state university on Long Island .