New York court to determine if chimp is legally a person

In this July 2013 photo provided by the Primate Sanctuary, the chimpanzee Kiko eats wild cherries at the nonprofit Primate Sanctuary in Niagara Falls, N.Y. (Primate Sanctuary via AP)

NEW YORK – Should a chimpanzee be treated as a person with legal rights?

That's what attorney Steven Wise tried to convince a state appeals court in Manhattan of on Thursday. Wise, who represents the Florida-based Nonhuman Rights Project animal advocacy group, argued that two chimps named Tommy and Kiko should be freed from cages to live in an outdoor sanctuary.

Wise has been trying for years, unsuccessfully, to get courts to grant the chimps habeas corpus in order to, he says, free them from unlawful imprisonment.

He says the apes, which didn't appear in court, deserve a better quality of life. If the court agrees, they would be sent to live with others of their species on one of 13 islands amid a lake in Fort Pierce, Florida, that comprise the Save the Chimps sanctuary.

A five-judge panel will issue its ruling in the coming days or weeks.

Kiko's keeper, Carmen Presti, says he's not giving up the chimp.

He and his wife rescued the deaf chimp 23 years ago from a life of performing at state fairs and in the television movie "Tarzan in Manhattan." Kiko is believed to have lost his hearing when he was beaten by a trainer, and has medical problems requiring constant attention.

"If he's taken away, he could die without his family to give him the special care he needs, and to bring him into the house to play," says Presti, of Niagara Falls, New York, where he runs the nonprofit Primate Sanctuary, whose rescue animals are part of a youth educational program.

Tommy was caged at a trailer lot in Gloversville, outside Albany.

His keeper, Patrick Lavery, calls all the lawsuits "a ridiculous thing." He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he had temporarily cared for Tommy to spare him from being euthanized, then donated him to an out-of-state facility in September 2015. Lavery declined to provide further details, saying he didn't want to draw more attention to the chimps' legal drama.

Wise's Coral Springs, Florida-based Nonhuman Rights Project has a history of litigation linked to chimps that started in 2013, when a lawsuit on behalf of Kiko was first filed in state Supreme Court in Niagara Falls and in Fulton County on behalf of Tommy. The same year, another suit named Hercules and Leo — chimps being used for anatomical research at Stony Brook University on Long Island. They're now at a Louisiana research facility, Wise said.

In 2014, an Albany appellate court ruled that Tommy was not legally a person because chimps cannot have duties and responsibilities. Wise countered by citing primate pioneer Jane Goodall's court brief in which she says chimps do carry out duties and responsibilities in animal family settings and that apes have complex cognitive abilities allowing them to make choices.

However, legal personhood does not mean animals are expected to perform daily human tasks. It's a technical term that ensures legal entities — in this case, chimps — have basic rights.

Presti is not taking any direct legal action. But he has the support of attorney Bob Kohn, who also wrote a brief for the Albany appeal, saying, "There's no practical need to provide human rights to nonhumans."

Still, Wise remains doggedly hopeful — especially after an Argentinean judge ruled in November that chimps in fact have habeas corpus rights. "We will win, in the end," he said.

Presti has his own view of the litigation.

"Albert Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," Presti said with a chuckle. "But I believe he's doing this for publicity."