Spain Set To Give Human Rights To Apes

[Frank]

Spain Set To Give Human Rights To Apes


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http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/200...p-3fd0ae9.html

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By Sky News SkyNews - Thursday, June 26 02:47pm


''Spain's parliament is set to approve a new law giving the right to life and freedom to apes.

If passed, the new legislation would make it illegal to keep apes for use in animal experiments, circuses, television commercials and filming.

It is thought to be the first time any national parliament has called for such rights for non-humans.

The move would be all the more surprising given longstanding criticism of Spain by animal rights groups over the treatment of bulls and donkeys.

The Spanish parliament's environmental committee has now approved resolutions to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans.

Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project, said: "This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defence of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity."

The legislation would represent the latest step towards a liberal society for a country traditionally seen as having conservative values.

Spain did not legalise divorce until the 1980s, but Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government has legalised gay marriage, reduced the influence of the Catholic Church in education and set up an Equality Ministry.

The new resolutions have cross-party or majority support and are expected to become law.

The government is now committed to updating the statute book within a year to outlaw harmful experiments on apes in Spain.

Mr Pozas said: "We have no knowledge of great apes being used in experiments in Spain, but there is currently no law preventing that from happening."

Keeping an estimated 315 apes in Spanish zoos will not be illegal, but supporters of the Bill say conditions will need to improve drastically in 70% of establishments to comply with the new law.

Philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri founded the Great Ape Project in 1993, arguing that "non-human hominids" like chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos should enjoy the right to life, freedom and not to be tortured.''


...its a start....

[cobweb]

pity about the zoo bit but like you say, it's a good start.

[Fungus]

It's understandable to me them being kept in the zoos - it would probably be very hard both financially, in terms of time, and stress for the animals to be released into the wild, so keeping them in good conditions for the rest of their lives might just have to be the best option.

Now lets see this extended to other countries and other animals

[cobweb]

i understand that you can't suddenly turn apes out into the wild but i'm sure that some kind of sanctuary compromise would be better for them, and i hope that zoos won't be able to continue to 'replace'/breed more apes in the long term.

[Astrid]

Wow, this is pretty big...!

[gogs67]

Great news but i remember reading about New Zealand doing this years ago!

[moggy]

Lets hope the Spanish Government now do something to outlaw bullfighting.

[erfoud]

Ufff, moggy, I don´t think bullfighting will be outlawed here unless we get "spanked" by the EU. As long as this despicable and bloodthirsty show gets funded by Europe, and unless it isn´t firmly condemned in Strasbourg, we won´t make progress. There´s increasing outcry in Spain itself against bullkilling (bullfighting is a misnomer...) but the spanish government ought to be rebuffed internationally.

[Mahk]

It's understandable to me them being kept in the zoos - it would probably be very hard both financially, in terms of time, and stress for the animals to be released into the wild, so keeping them in good conditions for the rest of their lives might just have to be the best option.

Now lets see this extended to other countries and other animals

I agree. Whenever you have a situation where there is an end to a slavery, you have the problem of what to do with all the existing slaves. The answer to me is always grandfathering them to their current conditions (which they are used to) with no more breeding allowed and no more buying new apes. But what about companionship? What do you do when there is just one ape left and s/he has no friends? A sanctuary sounds good on paper but what about the aspect that you are ripping the aged gorilla from its way of life it has known for decades, drugging it, shipping it to a distant alien world, where it still might not find friends of its own kind? Tough questions.