iStockphoto
In a case which the results would seem obvious to most people and make litigating it unnecessary, the Michigan Court of Appeals had to rule that chimpanzees are not “persons” therefore they aren’t entitled to human rights. Instead, the judges stated that the chimpanzees are, wait for it… animals.
The case of the the chimpanzees who live at the DeYoung Family Zoo in the Upper Peninsula has been making its way through the court system since 2023. It began when the Nonhuman Rights Project filed a complaint in the 41st Circuit Court in Menominee County arguing that the chimpanzees at the DeYoung Family Zoo should be released to a sanctuary because they are autonomous beings, AKA persons. The three judges on the Michigan Court of Appeals unanimously disagreed.
Michigan judges rule against the monkeys
“No exception exists for ‘intelligent’ animals, which in any event has no natural stopping point,” the judge’s wrote in the court’s decision, adding, “They are not ‘persons’ possessing the ‘personal liberty’ interest that habeas vindicates. They are not analogous to slaves or women — both categories comprised human beings recognized as ‘persons’ in our legal tradition. Rather, the chimpanzees are animals, and as the common law authorities all make clear, animals—including wild animals, such as these chimpanzees — are treated as property.”
During the hearing held last week, Judge Brock Swartzle pointed out to Nonhuman Rights Project attorney Jake Davis, “If we had five, I don’t know, elephants or chimps in this courtroom, I don’t know that they’d all be sitting down as nicely as everyone else in this room.”
The judge also wanted to know at what point would the group stop claiming that animals have some of the same rights as humans. “How extraordinary are you willing to go? Elephants, dolphins, chimpanzees, dogs, cats?” the Associated Press reports he asked.
Following the decision, Davis claimed “their position — taken to its logical conclusion — would mean children and the disabled cannot have legal rights.”
The case will now move on to the Michigan Supreme Court
According to Michigan Public Radio, the animal rights group plans to take its case to the Michigan Supreme Court. The Court of Appeals judges wrote in their ruling that the Michigan Supreme Court would have to be the ones to decide whether the state should treat certain animals as persons.
“Chimpanzees are our closest living nonhuman relatives,” attorney Jake Davis told Michigan Public Radio. “We share almost, depending on who you ask, 99% of our DNA with chimps. Imagine if you woke up every single morning and you were confined to a cage and you had evolved to need fresh air and sunlight and you weren’t even guaranteed access to that on a daily basis.”