Should a Chimpanzee Be Considered a Person?

[Warborg]

Well...we have heard of dogs and even cats being treated like humans. So, should chimps be treated that way as well?

http://gizmodo.com/the-fight-to-recognize-chimpanzees-as-persons-could-sav-1793156040


I say no. They still don't have full self awareness.

 

[Thekid]

Should they be treated as any living animal should be treated? Yes. Are they a person? No.

 

[johnny potatoes]

There are plenty of people that should be considered chimps, but not the other way around.

 

[Warborg]

Should they be treated as any living animal should be treated? Yes. Are they a person? No.

I agree...we 'humans' should never mis-treat ANY animal. However, the line always gets crossed when lower level creatures such as roaches, ants and bugs are involved. But that's another subject.

 

[krichardson]

There are plenty of people that should be considered chimps, but not the other way around.

Reminds me of a joke that I heard years ago....A man gets on a bus and as he chooses where to sit he spots a monkey sitting in one of the seats.The man turns back and tells the bus driver,"sir,there is a monkey on this bus!" to which the driver replied,"yeah,and if you sit down and be quiet no one will notice."

 

[MaddMaxx]

Given the fact that we give businesses and corporations all the rights of individuals in the USA, I'd say its the least we can do for our furry little friends that share 99% of our DNA...

 

[esoxlucius]

There was a guy a few years back who's best mate was a chimpanzee. They were inseperable, got up to all sorts of antics. I can't quite recall his name, oh yes that's it......tarzan!!!

 

[skjl47]

the fact that we give businesses and corporations all the rights of individuals in the USA

Hello; Somehow these two mistakes does not lead me to want a third, giving apes personhood rights, to be added to the list.

A few weeks ago Direct TV had a free movie weekend. One movie watched was about a lawyer in NY state who has been trying to get person hood rights for animals. I forget his name but he has been at it for over 30 years. In the film he did get one judge to give an ape the right off habeaus corpus ( my spelling).

In addition to the 98% dna he used video of apes watching TV and using sign language. My take on the DNA being the 2% that is different is the more important part. Just about all living organisms share some of the same DNA with us.

That 2% of DNA is a very large amount of genetic information. It might be very interesting to know of other very different species with only a small percentage of difference in DNA makeup. That 98% of DNA we share with apes makes up much of the basic life functions of most all living things. An example being that all oxygen breathers share in common some genes for blood makeup. I think we share some DNA with bacteria for that matter.

 

[Warborg]

That 2% makes us think before acting, where they run on instinct 98% of the time.

 

[MrBlueDream]

Humans are extremely ruthless to each other and humans, especially the top ruling class.
It's nice when a few humans want well being for others including animals.
We whine about cute animals when they get treated bad but we all are the reason billions of animals get slaughtered for burgers nuggets and steaks etc.
Best thing we can do for chimps is leave them alone and let them perish as chimps in the wild.