PETA Statement: Recognition of Two Chimpanzees as Legal Persons

For Immediate Release:
April 21, 2015

The court’s order granting Hercules and Leo a hearing to consider their conditions of confinement is a landmark next step in recognizing fundamental animal rights, and we hope they will be freed. This development is the latest confirmation that animal-protection groups’ work over the last few decades has profoundly changed the way our society views other animals. Chimpanzees, orcas, and other intelligent and sensitive individuals deserve basic rights and can no longer be seen as things to be used, abused, and discarded.

— Jeffrey S. Kerr, General Counsel to PETA