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: V.U.Lawcity - The Valpo Law Blawg

Chimp Is Not A Person

By Mike Bushbaum

The Austrian Supreme Court has ruled that a chimpanzee cannot be declared a person. The Association Against Animal Factories, an animal rights group based in Vienna had tried to have the chimp declared a person to protect him from being sold outside the country. The shelter where the chimp is going bankrupt and the group was attempting to keep the animal in Austria. While donors have offered to help support him, under Austrian law, only a person can receive personal gifts. If the chimp, Matthew Hiasl Pan, had been declared a person, the rights group would have attempted to gain guardianship of the animal and been appointed his trustee.

The rights group has indicated it would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Originally smuggled into Austria from Africa for pharmaceutical experiments, the chimp has lived in the shelter for 25 years.

Full post as published by V.U.Lawcity - The Valpo Law Blawg on January 15, 2008 (boomark / email).