Do All Great Apes Deserve Similiar Fundamental Legal Protections?

Spain could soon become the first country in the world to give chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and other great apes some of the fundamental legal rights granted to human beings under a resolution being proposed by members of the ruling Socialist coalition. A vote in expected by the end of the month. The text of the proposal reads:

The Parliament demands the Government to declare its adhesion to the Great Ape Project and to undertake the actions necessary in the international round tables and organizations, for the protection of The Great Apes from miss treatment, slavery, torture, death and extinction.

Both Amnesty International and the Catholic Church oppose the legislation as diminishing the status of human beings and their unique legal rights. Least we forget, let's recall that Darwin maintained that species distinctions are not truly boundaries but merely categories of convenience. Charles Darwin, Origin of Species 98 (1859).

Stay tuned: The Great Ape Project | GRASP (Great Ape Standing and Personhood) [JH]