Human Rights for the Nonhuman

By Hailee Bilimoria
Originally published April 11, 2017

Discussing animal rights has always been a complex subject, but in the film Unlocking the Cage, a team of lawyers change the game by attempting to grant certain animals personhood.

The documentary Unlocking the Cage premiered in January 2016 and followed the case initially filed by the Nonhuman Rights Project to grant limited personhood rights for three chimpanzees in 2013. To gain this personhood, they used the writs of habeas corpus, originally used to liberate people from unconstitutional imprisonment, such as slavery. Lawyer Steven Wise believes that more highly evolved species, such as nonhuman primates, deserve personhood rights to secure the safety and well being of all these species for good (Wise).

Many cases show that nonhuman primates are comparable to humans because of their the extensive knowledge and ability. There are even some in which they outclass humans. For example, an experiment done in 2013 shows the exemplary memory skills of chimpanzees. While humans who took the same test were often inaccurate and very slow, the chimpanzee performed with 100% accuracy in 0.65 seconds (Matsuzawa).

There have also been many cases where nonhuman primates have shown an ability to communicate with humans through sign language. For example, Koko, a 45 year old western lowland gorilla, has learned a extensive amount of sign language which she uses to express a multitude of emotions and to participate in many activities. Koko is surprisingly able to take on many challenges only previously seen to be completed by humans. For example, she was able to “teach” a doll sign language just as it had been taught to her. Koko is also able to react with feelings to certain situations and communicate her emotions to others, evident in her relationship with her pet kitten (The Gorilla Foundation).

Primates are also like humans because it has been proven that they create and participate in a culture within their own society. For example, primates have been seen to choose and differentiate between gender specific toys. A study showed that males preferred wheeled toys and females enjoyed a wide variety of toys. The preference is said to, “reflect hormonally influenced behaviors and thoughts, which are then sculpted by social processes into sex differences seen in monkeys and humans” (Bryner). Primates also exemplify and understand fairness when playing games. In a study done in 2007, two capuchin monkeys played a game where they received an award for handing a rock to a human. As they continued to play, the researchers switched one thing: they rewarded the one monkey when the other had given the human the rock. When this unfair situation occurred, that monkey was outraged. Lastly, what seemed to be the most astounding discovery was that some primates would shake their heads to communicate “no” the same way humans would(Bryner). All of these similarities between primates and humans are just a few that show how they are able to do more than just function within their own society.

After seeing many chimpanzees mimic one with a straw in her ear and running a few experiments, scientists concluded it was the first fashion statement seen in chimpanzees(Guarino).

There are many that don’t approve of the idea by those that rely on the animals’ captivity. The most controversial reasons for captivity is the topic of medical research done on nonhuman primates, or NHPs. Kimberley Phillips of Trinity University claimed that “similarity to humans in physiology, neuroanatomy, reproduction, development, cognition, and social complexity… make the use of NHPs in biomedical research a considered decision” (Animal research: Why are we still using monkeys?). The Understanding Animal Research organization says the use of primates in medical research has been crucial to the development and evolution of modern medicine. For example, testing on primates helped the creation of the polio vaccine and has continued to develop research on battling HIV/AIDS and malaria. Even the European Commission Scientific Steering Committee said that, “for certain experiments there are no alternatives to the use of non-human primates” (Research Using Monkeys). Without the research done on these primates, humans would not have many of the medicinal advancements that society depends upon for survival.

In the end, Wise and his team were unable to grant personhood for their primate clients, but they have continued to build their case and hope to try again and again until they succeed.