I have been warning for several years about how all it will take is one judge to break the species barriers. That judge was apparently found by animal rights fanatics at the Nonhuman Rights Project, granting a writ of habeas corpus to two chimpanzees. From the NRP announcement:

For the first time in history a judge has granted an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a nonhuman animal. This afternoon, in a case brought by the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe issued an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus on behalf of two chimpanzees, Hercules and Leo, who are being used for biomedical experimentation at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York.

Under the law of New York State, only a “legal person” may have an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus issued in his or her behalf. The Court has therefore implicitly determined that Hercules and Leo are “persons.

The Court of Appeals had better stomp this back in its toxic bottle fast or it will be “Katy, bar the door!”

UPDATE: The judge revoked the “habeas corpus” ruling and changed it to simply an order to show cause. Nor sure what that means. I wish it had been dismissed out of hand, but that’s a step in the right direction. Will keep an eye on this important case.

Image by Lepidlizard (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.