Chimp is not a Mensch, Says Court Panel

by Lorna Salzman (January 2015)

Credit: Alex Prager for The New York Times: Animatronic chimpanzee.

As animal rights activists protested, a New York State judicial panel ruled that Tommy, an adult chimp (Pan troglodytes) living in upstate New York, does not have the same rights as a human being (Homo sapiens sapiens).

The court, however, pointed out that Tommy has never voted, paid taxes, separated recyclables from his regular garbage, or participated in any social network. Based on DNA evidence, it said that the 1.5% difference between chimp and human DNA indicated a far greater gap in social awareness than this small percentage difference indicated.

Justice Peters deplored the absence of legal responsibilities and societal duties and said that these were evidence that nonhuman primates did not deserve equal rights with Homo sapiens sapiens.

Some protesters held up signs decrying the Zoo-Industrial Complex and the widening of the species divide. A radical fringe group calling itself Simian-Sapiens Love says it plans to prepare legislation that would allow Inter-Species Marriage. All the groups agreed on the need for an inter-species movement to heal the society-wide gap that has oppressed other species.

One observer, however, noted that unlike similar protests elsewhere over related issues, the protesters in this case did not go on the rampage and destroy pet stores or zoos.

Meanwhile, in Argentina animal lovers are celebrating an opposing decision that declared orangutans equal to humans and ordered a zoo to release them from captivity. But some creationists expressed alarm at this decision.

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