The Nonhuman Rights Project, a nonprofit organization advocating for legal rights for animals, is planning on filing two lawsuits on behalf of captive animals in the United States by the end of next year, according to Wired Science. Although the group has not yet decided which species will be targeted, highly intelligent social animals such as bonobos, chimpanzees, elephants, and dolphins are strong contenders.
The head of the organization, animal law scholar and attorney Steven Wise, has made it his mission to have the US courts recognize certain species as persons instead of “things,” and as such, they would have rights to basic privileges such as freedom from imprisonment and captive breeding.
Although other groups have argued the case for granting personhood to animals in courts, and failed, they have focused on pushing legislation through Congress. The Nonhuman Rights Project, on the other hand, will file their lawsuits in a ...
