Chimp not a Person

Who says we don’t have complex issues in animal history?

 The Associated Press

A chimpanzee cannot be declared a person, Austria’s Supreme Court has
ruled, activists said Tuesday.

An animal rights group had sought to have the chimp, Matthew Hiasl Pan,
declared a person in hopes of gaining guardianship of the animal.

The shelter where Matthew has lived for 25 years is going bankrupt,
threatening to leave him homeless. Donors have offered to help support him, but
under Austrian law, only a person can receive personal gifts.

The Vienna-based Association Against Animal Factories sought to have him
declared a person and petitioned to be appointed Matthew’s
trustee.

But the high court upheld a September ruling by a judge in the town of
Wiener Neustadt rejecting the petition, the group said Tuesday.

The rights group said it would take the case to the European Court of Human
Rights.

Matthew and another chimp at the shelter, Rosi, were captured as babies in
Sierra Leone in 1982 and smuggled to Austria for use in pharmaceutical
experiments. Customs officers intercepted the shipment and turned the chimps
over to the shelter.

Organizers said they may set up a foundation to collect donations for
Matthew, whose life expectancy in captivity is about 60 years.

But they argue that only personhood will ensure that he isn’t sold outside
Austria.