Attorney’s Effort To Free Lab Chimps Dealt Setback

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—A local attorney’s landmark legal battle to free two lab chimps being used in research at a New York university was dealt a blow this week. New York State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe has ruled the chimps must stay put, for now. Steven Wise, president and chief litigator of the Nonhuman Rights Project in Coral Springs, says he plans to appeal the decision to the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court. In a 33-page decision, Jaffe said she is bound by a previous state appellate court ruling in the case of Tommy, another New York chimp represented by Wise. On May 27, Wise made the historic argument that Leo and Hercules – currently the property of Stony Brook University in Long Island – have fundamental rights to freedom, similar to humans, and should be released to a wildlife sanctuary in Fort Pierce. Unlike other courts, Jaffe agreed that Wise had standing to bring the case on behalf of a chimpanzee. Wise is also trying to win freedom for Kiko and Tommy, two New York chimps being held in what Wise calls “solitary confinement” by private owners. His efforts are part of an international movement to establish legal rights for humans’ closest relative. A scholar on animal rights and author of four books, Wise has appeared on the popular TED Talk forum, was profiled in a New York Times Magazine cover story last year and stars in an A.D.