THE ‘THING’ ABOUT ANIMALS: U.S. state of Idaho’s legislation would bar non-human animals from ‘personhood’
There's a growing trend of animals being granted personhood status that's taking place across the U.S. as well as globally. Our children are not equal to bodies of water, or trees, so their rights shouldn't be equal to those as well.
REBECCA BOONE: A bill that would prevent animals, natural resources and artificial intelligence from being granted “personhood status” in Idaho was introduced by the House State Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
The legislation sponsored by Republican Rep. Tammy Nichols of Middleton seeks to prevent any future efforts to increase environmental protections for animals or inanimate objects by granting them some of the same legal rights a person would have.
Nichols told the State Affairs Committee that some organizations are pushing for personhood status for non-human entities as a way to limit access to some natural resources. “There’s a growing trend that’s taking place across the United States as well as globally where we are seeing this occur,” Nichols said, promising to provide examples of such efforts if the bill reaches a hearing…
While the decades-old concept of environmental personhood hasn’t been widely implemented in the U.S., it’s not unheard of. In 2019, voters in Toledo, Ohio, voted to grant Lake Erie some legal rights so that residents could sue polluters on the lake’s behalf — in the same way a parent could file a lawsuit against someone on behalf of a child who was harmed. That local ordinance was later struck down by a federal court.
Laws granting natural resources like rivers certain rights have also been enacted in New Zealand, Bangladesh, Ecuador and in indigenous communities around the world. Other types of inanimate object “personhood” are widely used in the United States, particularly when it comes to big business. SOURCE…
STATEMENT FROM THE NON-HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT (NHRP):
A bill has been introduced in the Idaho legislature that would prohibit nonhuman animals from ever being recognized as legal persons in the state. This outrageous piece of legislation has been designated an emergency bill, which means it’s being fast-tracked through the legislature. It has already passed in the House and is now going before the full Senate.
Organizations supporting this bill have cited the NhRP’s work as a reason for its introduction and are motivated by the archaic belief that nonhuman animals are “things” and not deserving of the legal protections afforded to legal persons. In any civil rights struggle, this kind of resistance to legal change–especially on the part of those who benefit from an unjust status quo–is expected, and we know the tide is turning in favor of nonhuman animal rights. At the same time, we won’t stand aside as Idaho legislators attempt to erode the ability of advocates to fight for beings who are currently powerless under the law.
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