He recognizes himself in the mirror, plays hide-and-seek and breaks into fits of giggles when tickled. He is also our closest evolutionary cousin. A group of international leading primatologists argues that this is proof enough that Hiasl, a 26-year-old chimpanzee in Austria, deserves to be treated like a human.
In a test case, campaigners were seeking to ditch the "species barrier" and took Hiasl's case to court. If Hiasl is granted human status -- and the rights that go with it -- it will signal a victory for other primate species and unleash a wave of similar cases.
Hiasl's story began in 1982 when, as a baby, he was taken from Sierra Leone and smuggled into Austria in a crate with seven other chimps destined for a vivisection laboratory east of Vienna. But customs officers seized the crate and Hiasl was sent to an animal sanctuary.
Now the sanctuary faces bankruptcy and Hiasl could be sent to the Baxter vivisection laboratory after all.
Seeking to save Hiasl, who likes painting, kissing visitors and watching wildlife programs, an Austrian businessman has donated ?3,400 (US6,700) toward his upkeep.
However, unless Hiasl has a legal guardian who can manage the money, it will go to the receivers. As only humans have a right to legal guardians, his campaigners said it was necessary for Hiasl's survival to prove that he is one of us.
Primatologists and experts -- from the world's most famous primate campaigner, Jane Goodall, to Volker Sommer, a renowned wild chimp expert at University College London -- will give evidence in the case, which is due to come to court in Vienna within the next few months.
One of their central arguments will be that a chimpanzee's DNA is 96 percent to 98.4 percent similar to that of humans -- closer than the relationship between donkeys and horses. They will cite recent findings that apes hunt with home-made spears and can fight battles and make peace.
In New Zealand, apes -- gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos -- were granted special rights as "non-human hominids" in 1999 to ensure protection from maltreatment, slavery, torture, death and extinction.
"It's untenable to talk of dividing humans and humanoid apes because there are no clear-cut criteria -- neither biological, nor mental, nor social," said Sommer, an evolutionary anthropologist.
Paula Stibbe, a British woman, has applied to be named Hiasl's legal guardian.
"He is a colorful character with lots of energy. The least we can do for him is give him ... a future in society," Stibbe said.
Barbara Bartl, the judge and an animal rights campaigner, has stalled proceedings until documents are provided proving Hiasl has, as his friends say, the status of an asylum-seeker, having been abducted illegally from Sierra Leone.
If Hiasl is granted human status, Martin Balluch, of the Association against Animal Factories, who has worked to bring the case, wants the chimp to sue the vivisection laboratory.
"We argue that he's a person and he's capable of owning something himself, as opposed to being owned and that he can manage his money. This means he can start a court case against Baxter, which at the very least should mean his old age pension is secure," Balluch said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2