Commentary: That age old question that has plagued the greatest philosophers, will finally be ruled upon: do chimpanzees have/deserve human rights? Well maybe not age old but at least an interesting question.

• This question has arisen in a surprising context: a bankruptcy case, where the parties refused to settle. If they had settled and permitted the chimpanzee to
• The case presents great opportunities for animal rights but being the cynical character I am, it also raises concerns about the nature of human rights.
• Namely, human rights are inherent in our being "human". They are not doled out to the deserving. Whether you are Hitler or Mother Theresa you have human rights. If a court decided that chimpanzees are "close enough" to being human, then the chimanzees are in a sense receiving a discretionary grant of rights. This means that another court could take away the rights.
  
• The case also raises the very problematic value calculation that places the rights and worth of cute animals above those of uncute humans. Just like the person carrying the gourmet pet food passes the homeless person without a feeling of guilt, the legal fees in a case like this is are in my humble "anthropocentric" opinion wasteful and ridiculous.
  
• For a different perspective see Release & Restitution for Chimanzees
• Oh yes, about the title of this article. The commentary around this article has once again raised the possibility of the "humanzee " although apparently research into this possibility would raise ethical issues .

Court to rule if chimp has human rights

---