Should apes have human rights?

Okay, I've been reading this today online, it made me smile and made me think, the link will follow at the end, I'm going to give a little summery of what the article contains.

Apes and humans have common ancestors but should they have the same rights? An international movement to give them "personhood" is gathering pace.

• Judges in Austria are considering whether a British woman, Paula Stibbe, should become legal guardian of a chimpanzee. Ms Stibbe hopes that she can persuade the court he deserves the same protection as a child.
• Spanish MPs are being urged to back a similar principle, The Great Ape Project - that apes be granted the right to life, freedom and protection from torture.
• They need greater protection in the eyes of the law, says Ian Redmond of the UN's Great Apes Survival Project, who believes welfare groups could use guardianship as a way to rescue ill-treated apes.

So here are some more titbits

• Gorillas, bonobos, orangutans and chimps are great apes

• Chimpanzees and bonobos differ from humans by only 1% of DNA and could accept a blood transfusion or a kidney

• All great apes recognise themselves in a mirror

• Elephants and dolphins show similar self-awareness

• Great apes can learn and use human languages through signs or symbols but lack the vocal anatomy to master speech

• Great apes have displayed love, fear, anxiety and jealousy

• In 1997 the UK government banned experiments on great apes but not on primates such as marmosets and macaques

Sources: Ian Redmond, Charlotte Uhlenbroek

As far as human rights go, I have to agree with Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University of London, says human rights are a construct which can't be imposed on animals. He goes on to say how mice share a mere 8% less genes with us than apes and asks if they should also be given human rights.

I see nothing wrong with upping animal rights for all animals but giving them human rights may be taking things a little too far, as the first example of this bizarre story says, Ms Stibbe hopes that she can persuade the court the ape deserves the same protection as a child. Surely even when an ape shows intelligent development it is hindered by the fact that it can not talk and can not support itself.

Only with typing that myself I'm struck by the thought of humans with learning disabilities and in describing what an ape can lack I am also describing a human with disabilities, their disabilities make them no less human yet an apes abilities make it no less of an animal.

This becomes a mess of ethical questions and is really quite bizarre, I am glad I am not the judge in Austria or the government in Spain.

Full article on the BBC Magazine website.

Should apes have human rights?

http://www.mytopsy-turvylife.co.uk/2007/03/should-apes-have-human-rights.html