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["Josh Greenman" <josh.greenman AT gmail.com>]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jY-H040qXez0dzWag-SZzYF6yLrAD8U6DHP80

Court Won't Accept Chimp As Person

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Austria's Supreme Court has dashed hopes by
animal rights activists to have a chimpanzee declared a person, a
statement suggested Tuesday.

The court recently rejected a petition to appoint a trustee for the
chimp, named Matthew Hiasl Pan, the Vienna-based Association Against
Animal Factories said, and subsequently vowed to contact the European
Court of Human Rights over the matter.

The court's decision follows in the footsteps of a similar ruling last
fall. In September, a provincial judge in the city of Wiener Neustadt
dismissed the case, ruling the Association Against Animal Factories
has no legal standing to argue on the chimp's behalf.

The legal back and forth began in February, when the animal shelter
where Pan and another chimp, Rosi, have lived for 25 years filed for
bankruptcy protection.

Activists want to ensure the apes don't wind up homeless. Both 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.

Donors have offered to help with the upkeep costs, but under Austrian
law, only a person can receive personal gifts.

Organizers could set up a foundation to collect cash for Pan, whose
life expectancy in captivity is about 60 years. But they argue only
personhood will ensure he isn't sold to someone outside Austria, where
he's protected by strict animal cruelty laws.