Primal Scream Time: NY Judge Gives 2 Chimpanzees ‘Human’ Status

As far as a judge in New York is concerned, the “Planet of the Apes” is no longer a fantastic sci fi movie because he has given two chimps legal status as humans.

The judge has given the chimps legal status so that they can “challenge their captivity.”

A New York judge has granted two research chimps the writ of habeas corpus — a move that allows them to challenge their detention.

The decision, says Science magazine, effectively recognizes chimps as legal persons, marking the first time in U.S. history that an animal has been given that right.

The order, dated April 20, requires Stony Brook University to appear in court and provide a legally sufficient reason for keeping the two chimps, Hercules and Leo. A hearing is scheduled for May 6.

The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), the group that filed the case on behalf of the chimps, said in a statement it believed that Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe’s order “implicitly determined that Hercules and Leo are ‘persons.’ ”

The idiocy of this is that the chimps didn’t take their captors to court… HUMANS did it assuming the chimps would go to court if they were able.

In other words, the animals are no smarter, no more human now than they were before the judge made his absurd declaration and they have no clue they have been given rights, can’t observe them, and will not understand what it all means.

Now certainly we should not feel free to misuse and abuse animals, but they are not human and giving them human status necessarily diminishes our own status.

Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago-based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, BigJournalsim.com and all Breitbart News' other sites, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, and many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs across the country to discuss his opinion editorials and current events as well as appearing on TV networks such as CNN, Fox News, Fox Business Network, and various Chicago-based news programs. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the book "Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture" which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston and follow him on Twitter, on Google Plus , and Facebook.

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