His name is Matthew, he is 26 years old, and his supporters hope to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.Don't expect the court to be injecting a note of sanity here... they're gonna go with a very literal interpretation of the law.
But he won't be able to give evidence on his own behalf - since he is a chimpanzee.
In dismissing the activists' request to get a guardian for Matthew, a lower court ruled that the chimp was neither mentally impaired nor in danger - the legal grounds required for a guardian to be appointed.Well, thank goodness for that... I'm not sure I'm ready for the inevitable tumultuous debate on the pros and cons of "same-species marriage."
It did not directly address the issue of whether a chimpanzee can be considered a person.
(h/t reader rich)
