US chimpanzee Tommy 'has no human rights' - court

bbc ^ | 4 December 2014 Last updated at 16:50 ET

[BenLurkin]

The appeals court in New York state said caged chimpanzee Tommy could not be recognised as a "legal person" as it "cannot bear any legal duties".

The Nonhuman Rights Project had argued that chimps who had such similar characteristics to the humans deserved basic rights, including freedom.

[SkyDancer]

To say they had would make liberal evolution teachers jump for joy.

[escapefromboston]

Well there goes the next big democratic voting block

[JRandomFreeper]

I gotta call my ex brother-in-law. "cannot bear any legal duties". He'll love that. No taxes.

/johnny

[Chickensoup]

Well, there goes our next Democrat Senate candidate.

[Steely Tom]

Obvious racism. And speciesism.

[Regulator]

But can he marry the vertebrate of his choice?!

[NEMDF]

Yeah, but think of all the “basic human rights” we would soon be paying for, for them. Housing, food, phones, health care, health insurance, heat, water, schools, extra allowances for having offspring.... it goes on and on.

[EternalVigilance]

For more than four decades now, American courts won’t even recognize the self-evident personhood of a human child.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Somebody had to be told that.

[alloysteel]

Let us face it - as a chimpanzee, Tommy is probably a pretty good specimen.

But his mental attainment shall never be much greater than perhaps a three- or four-year-old human child. Children of that age are able, when confronted with a serious challenge, to use their still rudimentary reasoning capabilities to cope with or overcome the difficulties, but more as a practical matter than as a display of intellectual attainment.

There are human beings that never get much above the level of a three-or four-year-old, do we trust them to drive an automobile, or vote, or keep a checking account?

There is, after all, a certain minimum level of competence we ask and expect of our neighbors and cohorts, so we may even carry on normal social interactions.

We do not always get the minimum level.

[humblegunner]

US chimpanzee Tommy

Tommy can you hear me?
Can you feel me near you?
Tommy can you see me?
Do you want a beer, you?

I fink you freeky and I like you lot.

[South40]

Liberals only care about chimps if they're not Republicans.

[trisham]

Thank goodness.

[PUGACHEV]

Giving Chimpanzees the vote would have lead to drawn out and bitter struggle for the Aphid and Weevil vote.

[Gamecock]

He’s just an innocent primate!

[Brandonmark]

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[trisham]

And once he reaches puberty, Tommy can rip off the faces and bite off the hands of any humans who either frighten or anger him. No, he will never be the equal of a human.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

He can still vote in NYC, 4 or 5 times, if he is a democrat.

[BigEdLB]

Well there goes the next big democratic voting block.