Austrian animal-rights activists are fighting to have a 26-year-old chimpanzee legally declared a person so he can be adopted. The European Court of Human Rights has agreed to hear the case.
Paula Stibbe wants Matthew to be recognized as a human being so she can become his legal guardian. Austrian law limits guardianship to humans.
The case could set legal precedent for apes, and possibly other animals, to receive the rights, protections, and even medical, financial and social benefits of humans, DailyTech.com reported.
Wesley Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, said giving constitutional rights to animals and plants will open Pandora’s Box.
“Chimp personhood is a primary goal that animal-right activists seek to attain and then use as a wrecking ball to disintegrate human exceptionalism,” Smith wrote on his blog. “Once a court declares a chimpanzee to be a full person, that ruling would make chimps, in at least some regards, our legal equals. … And when it happens … it will be a moral earthquake that will harm humankind profoundly.”
