By Natalia Lima / Source: Ecorazzi

A New York judge has made history by recognizing two chimpanzees as “persons” in a court case.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe ordered that a cause and writ of habeas corpus must be presented on behalf of two chimpanzees currently being held for experimentation at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York.

To translate the legalese, what that means is that the two chimps, Hercules and Leo, are to be summoned into court and their custodian, Stony Brook University, must present proof and make an argument that it has the right to hold the chimps captive. Before Tuesday, such a right to appear before a judge and question the authority of a custodian had only been granted to human prisoners as the law specifies only a “legal person” is entitled to it. Hercules and Leo are the first “non human” animals to be effectively and implicitly considered “persons” in such a case.

The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), an organization that has been fighting for the recognition of animals as non-human sentient persons entitled to basic rights, is responsible for the ruling. The NhRP filed suit requesting that the Hercules and Leo be granted writ of habeas corpus in 2013 and after being denied twice in Suffolk County the organization re-filed suit on March, 2015 in the New York County Supreme Court in Manhattan.

Now a public hearing in scheduled for Wednesday, May 27 at 10:30 am when Stony Brook University, represented by the Attorney General of New York, will have to show enough proof that the chimpanzees should remain imprisoned and experimented on.

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