Great Apes Achieve Rights on Par with Humans in Spain

Exciting news for animal rights activists! Spain, known more for bull fighting than for animal rights, recently approved resolutions that would give great apes the right to life and freedom. This is the first time any such legislature has been approved for non-humans.

From Reuters:

Parliament’s environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans.

“This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity,” said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project.

“We have no knowledge of great apes being used in experiments in Spain, but there is currently no law preventing that from happening,” Pozas said.

It will now be illegal and punishable by law to keep apes for circuses, television or filming. It will not become illegal to keep the 315 apes currently in Spanish zoos in captivity, but the bill will require conditions in the zoos to drastically improve.

When I first heard this story I had visions of apes walking around the streets with glasses on, or standing behind the counter at a coffee shop. I’d SO get my drink on there, though it might be a bit unsanitary.

Link [Reuters]

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