NIAGARA GAZETTE: ‘An appellate court has denied a legal motion that sought permission to appeal an earlier decision to a higher court in a case involving the “nonhuman rights” of a pair of chimpanzees, including one housed at a primate sanctuary in Niagara Falls. In a statement… the Nonhuman Rights Project acknowledged that the First Judicial Department denied its motion for permission to appeal the court’s decision on behalf of chimpanzees Tommy and Kiko to New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
“The First Judicial Department decision is disappointing, but no surprise,” said NhRP President and lead attorney Steven M. Wise… The Florida-based Nonhuman Rights Project animal advocacy group has argued that the two chimps should be freed from cages to live in an outdoor sanctuary… Within the next 30 days, Wise said his organization intends to file a motion for permission to appeal with the Court of Appeals itself, urging it to reject the First Judicial Department’s erroneous approach to its common law habeas corpus cases.
NhRP representatives also said they intend to engage in the “mature weighing of public policy and moral principle these novel and complex legal issues demand.” They also expect several additional briefs will support their motion. “We believe it is unjust to condemn extraordinarily complex—indeed autonomous—beings, such as chimpanzees, to a lifetime of captivity for the sole reason they are not human,” Wise said’. SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEO: