Updates on Legal Rights for Nonhuman Animals
Since the Nonhuman Rights Project filed its first series of lawsuits in December, there have been several other initiatives to secure legal rights for nonhuman animals.…
The New Conversation about Persons
When the Nonhuman Rights Project filed its first three lawsuits earlier this month, inviting judges in New York State to recognize four captive chimpanzees as “legal…
Chimpanzee Personhood: What the Media Said
As soon as we started filing our first three lawsuits last week, we were deluged with media interest from around the world. Here are just a…
Chimpanzee Personhood: What the Judges Said
It’s a little unusual for a judge to wish you good luck as you head off to appeal his decision. But that’s exactly what happened when…
First-Ever Lawsuit Filed for Chimpanzee Seeking Legal Personhood
This morning, the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) filed suit in Fulton County Court in the state of New York on behalf of Tommy, a chimpanzee, who…
Nonhuman Persons and The Slippery Slope
More about Gregory Berns’ article “Dogs Are People, Too“, which I wrote about earlier this week. Berns has been getting quite a lot of pushback from…
Why ‘Experts’ Get So Confused about Legal Rights for Nonhumans
Is their confusion perhaps deliberate? An article in The Week asks: “Should Apes Have Legal Rights?” As the Nonhuman Rights Project prepares to file its first…
The Dolphin Who Escaped
She spent the first 10 years of her life in the ocean off the coast of South Korea with her family. Then, captured accidentally in a…
Travis, Tragedy and the Other Chimpanzees
Travis and Charla when he was a youngster In February, 2009, 14-year-old chimpanzee Travis attacked Charla Nash, a friend of the woman who “owned” him. He…
Why Humans Don’t Want Nonhumans as Persons
Steven Wise, animal rights attorney and founder of The Nonhuman Rights Project, discusses why we humans don’t like the idea of other animals being recognized as…
The Nonhuman Rights Project
The great irony of the animal rights movement is that there is, to this day, still only one species that has any rights at all: humans.…
Of Humans and Persons
Are all humans “persons” as far as the law is concerned? Are all “persons” humans? People manage to get quite confused about this, and it’s a…
Packing Their Trunks?
In the old and delightfully subversive children’s song, Nellie the elephant “packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus.” Could this be coming true in…
Moses in the Bulrushes – a Cow and Her Calf
A very touching story by veterinarian Holly Cheever about a mother cow and one of her calves. Beyond being touching, though, it raises important questions about…
Ah, Bravo Figaro! Bravo, Bravissimo!
This particular Figaro is not a barber; he’s a cockatoo. But he’s certainly as talented as his operatic namesake – and not just for his singing…
The Four Types of Elephant Personality
A new study of a herd of elephants in Africa has begun the process of classifying their personalities. The scientists looked at four dimensions of personality: Leadership, Gentleness, Playfulness and Reliability.
One thing they found is that among elephants, leadership is established not by dominance but by the respect gained in showing intelligence and solving problems.
Monkey Business and Nonhuman Rights
NPR’s Linton Weeks explores the topic of animal rights, monkey rodeos, and the work of the Nonhuman Rights Project in seeking certain legal rights for specific…
Call No Elephant Happy Until She Is Free
It’s a terrible irony that Happy, the elephant who demonstrated to scientific researchers how animals of her species are capable of a high level of self-awareness, now languishes all alone in a cage about twice the size of her body. No animal with the kind of cognitive abilities that Happy has demonstrated belongs in a zoo – and, worse, in a cage.
River Recognized as a Legal Person
It’s a first in modern legal history: A river in New Zealand has been recognized as a legal person having certain rights and interests. Under a…
Who Is the Smartest of Them All?
At the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda, everyone knows that Natasha is the smartest of them all. Now a series of scientific tests have confirmed her intelligence.