Thank goodness. An Austrian judge refused to appoint a guardian for a chimpanzee in a court case. From the story in Nature Network:An Austrian judge turned down a request this week to appoint a woman as legal guardian of a chimpanzee. The decision is a blow to a growing movement in Europe attempting to give apes some of the legal rights of humans, such as protection from being owned...In a trustee court hearing on 24 April, the judge denied the request. She said that if she appointed a legal guardian for a chimp, then this might create the public perception that humans with court-appointed legal guardians are at the same level as animals.
But of course, that is precisely what animal liberationists believe. Moreover, just because one judge had good sense, doesn’t mean that the nation of Spain does. As the story notes, that country may be on the verge of granting human-type rights to great apes. If so, legal attempts such as this failed one, would only multiply. And remember, a Brazilian judge recently awarded a (dead) chimpanzee a writ of habeas corpus.
Animal liberationists and others are ideologically driven to destroy human exceptionalism as the reigning value of organized society. Expect continued efforts to elevate animals to the level of humans in courts, legislatures, and among the folk, and actions large and small, legal and illegal, to impede the proper and humane use of animals by humans. This struggle—which is really about human self definition since the animals don’t even comprehend what is going on—has barely just begun.
Yes, of course, there will be an appeal.
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