Yahoo – AFP,
Glenn Chapman, 21 March 2015
 |
Attorney Steven
Wise argues that apes, chimpanzees, elephants and orcas
are as entitled to the
rights of "persons" under law as are people or corporations
(AFP
Photo/Sia Kambou)
|
Vancouver
(AFP) - Attorney Steven Wise is on a crusade to prove that, as a matter of law,
chimps are people too.
For that
matter, so are dolphins, elephants, gorillas and orcas.
Wise made
his argument at the TED Conference that wrapped up in Vancouver, Canada on
Friday.
"I had
to invent the field of animal juris prudence," Wise told AFP at TED.
 |
Nonhuman
Rights Project president and
attorney Steven Wise pictured in
Vancouver, Canada
on March 20, 2015,
where he spoke at a TED conference
(AFP Photo/Glenn Chapman)
|
Wise argued
that apes, chimps, elephants and orcas are as entitled to the rights of
"persons" under law as are people or corporations.
Legal
systems around the world have granted rights of personhood to holy scripts,
mosques, companies, and even a river.
"Personhood
is not a biological concept, it is a public policy concept," Wise said.
"The
legal system decides it; human being is not synonymous with person."
He has
devoted decades to the cause, which is now making its way through courts in the
US state of New York.
Seeing
animals as slaves
Wise,
president of the Nonhuman Rights Project, is hoping a legal tactic successful
in getting a slave legally transformed from property to person in a historic
case in Britain will do the same for chimpanzees and other animals.
He will use
the writ of habeas corpus, in which judges order prisoners or detainees brought
before the court. Such writs, by definition, assign rights of personhood to
those targeted.
Members of
the project found chimpanzees in abysmal conditions in several parts of the
state of New York, then filed for writs of habeas corpus in respective courts
to get the animals moved to a refuge.
Reactions
from judges have been mixed, with even sympathetic members of the bench averse
to breaching the legal wall separating people from animals, according to Wise.
"Even
in America, no judge wants to be the first to make this leap of faith,"
the animal rights champion said.
Wise,
author of "Rattling the Cage" and other works defending animal
rights, has been waging this legal battle since the early 1980s.
"They
truly are slaves," Wise said of chimps, bonobos and other animals proven
to have feelings, memories, language, foresight and other traits considered
human.
"I
realized there was no one looking out for their interests and they were just
being exploited."
He recalled
being met with hostility and ridicule early in the battle. Rival lawyers would
bark when he walked into courtrooms.
After
decades of laying groundwork and gathering allies, Wise and his team filed an
opening salvo of lawsuits in New York about two years ago.
"We
are going state by state, animal by animal and we are going to lose a lot
before we start to win," he said.
"I
expect to win, and not all that far into the future."
 |
An orca
swims with its baby at the Marineland animal exhibition park in
the French Riviera
city of Antibes, southeastern France on December 10, 2013
(AFP Photo/Valery
Hache)
|
Tide of
history
Victory
would come in the form of a non-human animal being legally recognized as a
person for some purpose, no matter how limited.
"Once
that wall is pierced, judges will realize that they have to make more nuanced,
rational decisions," Wise said of establishing that some animals have a
right to be treated better than mere property.
Wise is
working with lawyers in Europe, Argentina and other parts of the world.
"I
think there is a tide of history and judges need to swim with it and not
against it," Wise said.
"Orcas,
apes, chimps and elephants should at least have the right to bodily liberty. I
am not talking the entire animal kingdom, but lines have to be drawn."
The
Nonhuman Rights Project is looking to hit US courts with its next case, on
behalf of circus elephants, late this year.
"I
think it may change the way people view entities that aren't human," Wise
said of his quest.
"They
may not have the knee-jerk reaction that we can exploit them."
 |
Killer whales have been thrilling whale watchers this week in Puget Sound. But
they were especially exciting Tuesday when nearly three dozen orcas surrounded
the ferry from Seattle as it approached the terminal on Bainbridge Island. NOAA
Fisheries Service photo by Candice Emmons
|
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Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.
Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.
(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."
(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.
(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.
Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.
Question: Dear Kryon: I was wondering about the way I feel about whales and dolphins. I've had a feeling that I have to go to them sometime, but I don't know how or what I'm to do when I get there. Please help.
Question: Dear Kryon: I'm a Turkish/Islam woman of 57. I live in Ankara and work for the European Commission's project in Turkey. I've read almost all of the Kryon books twice, and I'm planning to read them once more. My question is about the whales. Why do they commit mass suicide? What is the reason for this very sad event? Is it a kind of protest against Human Beings?
Answer: Dear ones, we've channelled many times about the whales of this planet. In review, they're the living portions of an actual grid-system! They contain the "history of Earth" within their beings, and they're sacred for that reason. They coordinate and cooperate with the crystalline grid of your planet, which is currently being rewritten (see Kryon channelling on the Website: "What's Next?" December 8, 2002). Doesn't it strike you odd that these mammals are the only ones protected against hunting by more than 90 percent of the countries of Earth... even the places without oceans? Do you think that this is an accident or a coincidence? No. It's cellular information for all humanity to protect the whales and keep them safe. Dolphins are their cousins and support group, and they play a role in the whales' development. This is why you're so attracted to them.
Whales do not commit mass suicide. They have no consciousness to allow for this, and it has never happened. Instead, you see whales often beaching themselves and then being saved by Humans, only to re-beach themselves and die. This takes place mostly on the coastlines of your continents, and often on those areas of topography that "stick out," such as a peninsula or isthmus. Your Cape Cod is a good example in America, and is also a place where this has recently happened (up to 47 whales on a beach).
The reason is that whales, dolphins, amphibians, birds, and even insects all navigate to their breeding ground or migration areas each year via the magnetic grid of the planet! Each group follows the ley lines of magnetic influence, almost as if they had a built-in compass. In fact, they actually do!
The magnetic grid of this planet has changed so much, so quickly, as we told you it would in 1989, that there hasn't been time for the pods of whales to adjust with time to these changes. Instead, many simply follow the old magnetic lines of migration, only to find themselves on a beach instead of the open ocean, as the old magnetic direction used to take them. They're confused, and they simply line up and try again, just as they have for years. These things are temporary, and as tragic as you might see them, it's all part of "pruning" the system, and the calves will go around in the future, establishing new instinctive information for the new whales regarding the grid changes. This information has even now been validated this year (2003) by your scientists.
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