#natalie prosin

In Historic Move, New York Court Recognizes 2 Chimps as ‘Legal Persons’ Exciting news! We are thrilled to be able to tell you that a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice has granted an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus on behalf of NhRP plaintiffs Hercules and Leo, two chimpanzees being used in biomedical experiments at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York. This is the first time in history that a judge has granted an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a nonhuman animal. 

The ruling also implicitly recognizes Hercules and Leo as legal persons, since only legal persons may be granted a writ of habeas corpus under New York common law.  Needless to say, this is huge news, and we are beyond grateful for your commitment to the pursuit of freedom and justice for these imprisoned chimpanzees. Whether you've donated, helped to raise awareness of our work, or written in to let us know that you stand behind our mission, the NhRP would never have gotten this far without your support. Next up: a hearing in which Stony Brook University—represented by the Attorney General of New York—must appear in court and provide a legally sufficient reason for detaining Hercules and Leo, whom we argue should be freed and released into the care of Save the Chimps' sanctuary in Ft. Pierce, Florida. To read the judge's order and the press release we issued earlier today, visit our website. We'll be sure to keep you updated on any developments via our newsletter and social media sites. In the meantime, please share this news with anyone you know who supports nonhuman rights!  A judge in New York has made history after granting an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus to two chimpanzees, Leo and Hercules. This groundbreaking ruling came after a long, hard-fought battle from the Nonhuman Rights Project, a non-profit that seeks to grant legal personhood to animals. This amazing team of animal advocates and lawyers set out to gain Leo and Hercules personhood rights in 2013 and are finally on their way to getting these two chimps the freedom they deserve! Leo and Hercules are currently being used in biomedical experimentation at Stony Brook University; however, now that they have been granted the writ of habeas corpus, the Nonhuman Rights team can serve the University, forcing them to appear in court to prove the legal basis upon which they are holding these two chimps captive. If the court rules against Stony Brook University, then Leo and Hercules are set to be released from the lab and sent to Save the Chimps Sanctuary in Ft. Pierce, Florida. This secondary court date is set for May, 6, 2015, but may be moved up to occur earlier in May. The idea of granting animals legal personhood has become a highly controversial topic in recent years. While it may seem extreme to grant animals “human rights,” the writ of habeas corpus only allows nonhuman animals the most basic form of rights – driving and voting are not included. Personhood allows animals to be recognized as individuals rather than property and gives them the protection to lead their lives on their own right, rather than being subject to the will of humans. Many animals, including chimpanzees, possess the ability of self-recognition, experience a wide range of emotions similar to humans, possess a degree of cognitive sophistication, and can solve complex problems, yet, due to their physiological difference from humans, we do not recognize these abilities. Sadly, this means that we have become accustomed to viewing animals as “lesser” beings than humans and as a result have subjected them to lives in cages for experimentation, entertainment, and in some cases, consumption. Knowing all that we do about animal’s abilities to feel pain, fear and recognize their own suffering, it is exceptionally cruel to continue to ignore their plight and deny them the most basic rights to life. However, with this ruling from New York State’s court, there is hope that our cultural perception of nonhuman animals will change for the better. A big thank you to the Nonhuman Rights Project for standing up for animals and refusing to let their voices go unheard! To support the incredible work being done by the Nonhuman Rights Project, click here.

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The first three months of 2015 have been a busy and exciting time for the NhRP! We have a number of important updates we'd like to share with you:Lawsuit Re-filed on Behalf of Hercules & Leo: We have re-filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of captive chimpanzees Hercules and Leo, who are being used in locomotion research at Stony Brook University. Last year, an appellate court in Brooklyn dismissed our appeal of the lower court's decision on the grounds that we lacked the right to appeal; rather than use valuable time to appeal their dismissal, we decided to re-file their case in the Supreme Court of New York County in Manhattan. The court documents re-filed in their case are available here.Updates in Tommy's and Kiko's Cases:In Tommy's case, we filed a Motion for Leave to Appeal to the Court of Appeals directly to the New York Court of Appeals. We took this step after an appellate court denied our motion for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeals on January 30th. In Kiko's case, we filed a motion for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeals with the appellate court in Rochester, NY. We argue that the court, in their January 2, 2015 decision, erred when it held that "habeas corpus does not lie where a petitioner seeks only to change the conditions of confinement rather than the confinement itself" as this statement contradicts numerous decisions of the New York courts over the last two hundred years. NhRP at TED2015: Steve was a featured speaker at the TED2015 conference in Vancouver, Canada, last week as part of a session called "Radical Reframe." As soon as a video becomes available, we'll be sure to share the link. In the meantime, here's a recap courtesy of the TED blog.NhRP Op-Ed on the Importance of Nonhuman Rights for Elephants: Recently the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that it would no longer use elephants in its circuses. In an op-ed published March 10th in the Washington Post, NhRP Executive Director Natalie Prosin comments on Ringling's decision and addresses the issue that has been and continues to be at the root of the exploitation of elephants and other nonhuman animals: the fact that they are all considered merely legal property. Animal Personhood Debate at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.: NhRP President Steven M. Wise argued in support of nonhuman animal personhood in a debate hosted by the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies on Feb. 11th at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. You can watch a recording of the debate here. The 2015 Voiceless Animal Law Lecture Series: Steve is the keynote speaker for the 2015 Voiceless Animal Law Lecture Series in Australia, which will tour nine venues across the country. The lectures are free and open to the public. If you'd like to attend, find your local venue and register here. And finally, we're excited to share with you this new short animated video about the NhRP's mission-the first in a series of videos designed to help members of the public understand why legal personhood for great apes, elephants, dolphins, and whales is so important. Many thanks to Matthew Kroh (Animator), Patrick Sehn (Producer), Suzanne Meyer (VO Talent), and Mike Rajakovic (Audio Engineer) for contributing their talents to this project. Please share far and wide! Thank you for your ongoing support for the Nonhuman Rights Project's work.

ALDF launched our Undercover Investigations Unit to expose animal abuse at puppy mills, exotic animal shows, and factory farms and slaughterhouses, and to gather the evidence ALDF attorneys need to fight for their legal protection. For example, ALDF obtained external surveillance pictures of hen enclosures for our successful lawsuit against a Bay Area egg-producer. But an undercover investigation inside the facility would have given a fuller picture, and our case may have gone much further.  

We need your support to give our brave investigators the resources they need to gather the evidence to stop animal abusers. We face challenges, like corporations pushing “ag gag” laws designed to outlaw investigations of animal abuse and other crimes at their facilities. But ALDF is the premiere organization fighting to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system and we will fight to expose animal abuse. And we need your help.

If ALDF and our supporters don’t speak out for animals, who will? 

Stephen tells me ALDF members are absolutely dedicated to fighting animal abuse and supporting ALDF. I am too. Help me and my undercover investigations team expose the horrific cruelty animals suffer—and protect the billions of animals suffering behind closed doors.

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Philanthropist Ady Gil is now raising money for the animals’ long-term care in Israel.

(Photo: Facebook)

More than 1,400 macaque monkeys have been saved from a lifetime of potentially cruel and painful medical experiments after businessman and animal rights activist Ady Gil paid $2 million to purchase them. The move ends nearly 20 years of active protests against an Israeli breeding facility that until recently supplied the monkeys to laboratories around the world.

Gil, who lives in Los Angeles and made his fortune providing video technology services to Hollywood, first heard about Mazor Farm during his biennial visits to Israel. He said the protests against the facility have been in the headlines there for years.

“If you’re in the animal movement in Israel, you know about it,” said Gil, who has been a financial supporter of environmental group Sea Shepherd’s efforts to stop Japanese whalers.

Mazor Farm, located half an hour from Tel Aviv, was close to shutting down because of to a ban on the export of wild animals from Israel that goes into effect this month. Gil’s purchase of the animals derailed a last-minute plan to ship most of them to breeding facilities and medical labs in the United States.

Anat Refua, who led the protests against Mazor Farm for the past 16 years through her organization Behind Closed Doors, praised Gil’s action. “I am very excited to witness our success and arriving to the historical moment of shutting down the farm and pulling Israel out of the axis of evil of monkey trade for research,” she said.

Another organization, Monkey Rescue, which was set up to try to rescue the monkeys, had turned to the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo to collect money to buy the Mazor animals but only raised $5,400.

Gil said the monkeys will remain in 35 two-story wood structures at Mazor Farm for a few months, where they will be fed and receive any necessary medical care by their former owners.

The next step, he said, is to move the monkeys to a sanctuary that he hopes to build in central Israel. He will travel there later this month to scout locations and possibly negotiate the purchase of the land. He is also exploring the best ways to keep the monkeys from further breeding, which may involve neutering the males.

Meanwhile, Gil is raising additional funds for the monkeys’ care through his animal rights nonprofit, Ady Gil World Conservation.

“It’s a long-term responsibility,” he said.

Gil estimates it will cost an additional $350,000 a year to feed and provide veterinary care for the monkeys. “I find it hard to believe that we’ll be able to raise $350,000 a year,” he acknowledged. “But if I can raise $100,000, then I only need to put in a quarter million from my own pocket.”

The closure of Mazor Farm doesn’t put an end to medical experimentation on animals in Israel. Refua said more than 300,000 animal experiments still take place in Israel every year, and her organization will continue to campaign against them.

The appellate court that heard our arguments on behalf of Kiko has handed down its decision. And now we have three separate appellate decisions in relation to three lawsuits on behalf of four chimpanzees. In a nutshell: In Tommy's case, the justices ruled that a chimpanzee cannot be a legal person with the capacity for the right not to be held captive. We argue that the court is wrong on at least three grounds that it laid out, and we are seeking to take our case to New York State's highest court, the Court of Appeals. In Kiko's case, the court has chosen to take a different position from the justices in Tommy's case. Instead of arguing that a chimpanzee cannot have the capacity for legal rights, the court affirmed the lower court's denial of our petition on the grounds that a writ of habeas corpus can only be used to set someone completely free and not to move him or her from a place of stark imprisonment to another place of vastly more freedom. And in the case of Hercules and Leo, who are being used in medical experiments at Stony Brook University, an appellate court dismissed our appeal on procedural grounds. We will be refiling this case very shortly. So, what's the state of play now, and what are the next legal steps? These three lawsuits are still far from over, and Nonhuman Rights Project President Steven M. Wise calls it a game of "legal whac-a-mole" and "legal chess." Check out his legal analysis in his latest blog post. Thank you, as always, for being part of this ongoing effort to obtain justice for these chimpanzees. We'll see you in court!

-----------------------

A laboratory is torturing monkeys to study anxiety. The torture includes inducing anxiety by using loud noises and fake snakes, and addicting the monkeys to alcohol. Shut down this lab now and save thousands of monkeys from a life of fear and abuse.

Target: U.S. Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard

Goal: Close a laboratory that tortures monkeys to measure anxiety and depression

Peition Link: http://animalpetitions.org/43045/shut-down-lab-that-tortures-monkeys/?utm_source=Animal+Petitions&utm_campaign=74229ca739-ANNL1521_5_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5c8ef52732-74229ca739-77807085

Members of Congress have asked the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate an NIH lab in Poolesville, Maryland that performs psychological experiments on monkeys. For the past 30 years, the majority of these procedures have involved intentionally causing significant amounts of distress in the animals in order to gauge their anxiety or depression. A lab whose methodologies are so questionable that they warrant a congressional investigation must be shut down immediately.

The letter issued by four members of Congress comes largely in response to a campaign by PETA that ran more than 250 ads in Washington, D.C. metro trains and stations, including the NIH station, and in major newspapers. PETA informed the public that researchers at the lab were spending millions of taxpayer dollars to traumatize baby monkeys by separating them from their mothers at a young age, inducing anxiety by using loud noises and fake snakes, and addicting them to alcohol. Ultimately, the campaign resulted in a huge public outcry of more than 150,000 emails and phone calls to both NIH and Congress.

The lab’s website states that it investigates various aspects of monkey behavior. This includes how behavior changes when a monkey is raised in different environments and monitoring their resultant long-term stress levels. In their letter, U.S. representatives Lucille Roybal-Allard (D–CA), Dina Titus (D–NV), Sam Farr (D–CA), and Eliot Engel (D–NY) requested a bioethical review of the lab by February 2015.

In response to the investigation, Justin Goodman, PETA’s director of laboratory investigations, said the experiments “have never improved human health and are superseded by modern nonanimal research methods that can actually identify the causes of mental illness in people and how to treat it.”

Please take a moment to sign the petition below and demand that Congress shut down the laboratory, which has devoted 30 years of research to torturing animals through methodologies that have contributed little to nothing to human health.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Congresswoman Roybal-Allard,

After an overwhelming public outcry in response to a campaign run by PETA, you, along with three other members of Congress, have asked the NIH to investigate a lab in Poolesville, Maryland that performs psychological experiments on monkeys. These experiments are torturous in order to induce anxiety and depress, and often include scaring them, taking them from their mother at a young age, and making them dependent on alcohol.

Please close down this laboratory immediately. Not only are these kinds of experiments outdated and unnecessary, but they have also contributed little to human health. We cannot continue to torture animals in the name of science.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo credit: arcticproductions via Flickr

Peition Link: http://animalpetitions.org/43045/shut-down-lab-that-tortures-monkeys/?utm_source=Animal+Petitions&utm_campaign=74229ca739-ANNL1521_5_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5c8ef52732-74229ca739-77807085

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In Historic Move, New York Court Recognizes 2 Chimps as ‘Legal Persons’ Exciting news! We are thrilled to be able to tell you that a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice has granted an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus on behalf of NhRP plaintiffs Hercules and Leo, two chimpanzees being used in biomedical experiments at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York. This is the first time in history that a judge has granted an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a nonhuman animal. 

The ruling also implicitly recognizes Hercules and Leo as legal persons, since only legal persons may be granted a writ of habeas corpus under New York common law.  Needless to say, this is huge news, and we are beyond grateful for your commitment to the pursuit of freedom and justice for these imprisoned chimpanzees. Whether you've donated, helped to raise awareness of our work, or written in to let us know that you stand behind our mission, the NhRP would never have gotten this far without your support. Next up: a hearing in which Stony Brook University—represented by the Attorney General of New York—must appear in court and provide a legally sufficient reason for detaining Hercules and Leo, whom we argue should be freed and released into the care of Save the Chimps' sanctuary in Ft. Pierce, Florida. To read the judge's order and the press release we issued earlier today, visit our website. We'll be sure to keep you updated on any developments via our newsletter and social media sites. In the meantime, please share this news with anyone you know who supports nonhuman rights!  A judge in New York has made history after granting an order to show cause and writ of habeas corpus to two chimpanzees, Leo and Hercules. This groundbreaking ruling came after a long, hard-fought battle from the Nonhuman Rights Project, a non-profit that seeks to grant legal personhood to animals. This amazing team of animal advocates and lawyers set out to gain Leo and Hercules personhood rights in 2013 and are finally on their way to getting these two chimps the freedom they deserve! Leo and Hercules are currently being used in biomedical experimentation at Stony Brook University; however, now that they have been granted the writ of habeas corpus, the Nonhuman Rights team can serve the University, forcing them to appear in court to prove the legal basis upon which they are holding these two chimps captive. If the court rules against Stony Brook University, then Leo and Hercules are set to be released from the lab and sent to Save the Chimps Sanctuary in Ft. Pierce, Florida. This secondary court date is set for May, 6, 2015, but may be moved up to occur earlier in May. The idea of granting animals legal personhood has become a highly controversial topic in recent years. While it may seem extreme to grant animals “human rights,” the writ of habeas corpus only allows nonhuman animals the most basic form of rights – driving and voting are not included. Personhood allows animals to be recognized as individuals rather than property and gives them the protection to lead their lives on their own right, rather than being subject to the will of humans. Many animals, including chimpanzees, possess the ability of self-recognition, experience a wide range of emotions similar to humans, possess a degree of cognitive sophistication, and can solve complex problems, yet, due to their physiological difference from humans, we do not recognize these abilities. Sadly, this means that we have become accustomed to viewing animals as “lesser” beings than humans and as a result have subjected them to lives in cages for experimentation, entertainment, and in some cases, consumption. Knowing all that we do about animal’s abilities to feel pain, fear and recognize their own suffering, it is exceptionally cruel to continue to ignore their plight and deny them the most basic rights to life. However, with this ruling from New York State’s court, there is hope that our cultural perception of nonhuman animals will change for the better. A big thank you to the Nonhuman Rights Project for standing up for animals and refusing to let their voices go unheard! To support the incredible work being done by the Nonhuman Rights Project, click here.

Related articles

Judge Recognizes Two Chimpanzees as Legal Persons: A First

A New York Judge Has Granted Legal Person Rights To Chimpanzees

Two Chimpanzees Given Legal 'Personhood' Rights In Landmark Court Decision

N.Y. Judge Grants Legal Rights To 2 Research Chimps

Barack Hussein Obama An American Caesar

The Confederate States of America Exposes Barack Obama the American Caesar

New York Judge Gives Chimps a Day in Court

BREAKING! In Historic Move, New York Court Recognizes 2 Chimps as 'Legal Persons'

N.Y. judge to consider claims that chimpanzees are 'legal persons'

The first three months of 2015 have been a busy and exciting time for the NhRP! We have a number of important updates we'd like to share with you:Lawsuit Re-filed on Behalf of Hercules & Leo: We have re-filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of captive chimpanzees Hercules and Leo, who are being used in locomotion research at Stony Brook University. Last year, an appellate court in Brooklyn dismissed our appeal of the lower court's decision on the grounds that we lacked the right to appeal; rather than use valuable time to appeal their dismissal, we decided to re-file their case in the Supreme Court of New York County in Manhattan. The court documents re-filed in their case are available here.Updates in Tommy's and Kiko's Cases:In Tommy's case, we filed a Motion for Leave to Appeal to the Court of Appeals directly to the New York Court of Appeals. We took this step after an appellate court denied our motion for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeals on January 30th. In Kiko's case, we filed a motion for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeals with the appellate court in Rochester, NY. We argue that the court, in their January 2, 2015 decision, erred when it held that "habeas corpus does not lie where a petitioner seeks only to change the conditions of confinement rather than the confinement itself" as this statement contradicts numerous decisions of the New York courts over the last two hundred years. NhRP at TED2015: Steve was a featured speaker at the TED2015 conference in Vancouver, Canada, last week as part of a session called "Radical Reframe." As soon as a video becomes available, we'll be sure to share the link. In the meantime, here's a recap courtesy of the TED blog.NhRP Op-Ed on the Importance of Nonhuman Rights for Elephants: Recently the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that it would no longer use elephants in its circuses. In an op-ed published March 10th in the Washington Post, NhRP Executive Director Natalie Prosin comments on Ringling's decision and addresses the issue that has been and continues to be at the root of the exploitation of elephants and other nonhuman animals: the fact that they are all considered merely legal property. Animal Personhood Debate at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.: NhRP President Steven M. Wise argued in support of nonhuman animal personhood in a debate hosted by the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies on Feb. 11th at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. You can watch a recording of the debate here. The 2015 Voiceless Animal Law Lecture Series: Steve is the keynote speaker for the 2015 Voiceless Animal Law Lecture Series in Australia, which will tour nine venues across the country. The lectures are free and open to the public. If you'd like to attend, find your local venue and register here. And finally, we're excited to share with you this new short animated video about the NhRP's mission-the first in a series of videos designed to help members of the public understand why legal personhood for great apes, elephants, dolphins, and whales is so important. Many thanks to Matthew Kroh (Animator), Patrick Sehn (Producer), Suzanne Meyer (VO Talent), and Mike Rajakovic (Audio Engineer) for contributing their talents to this project. Please share far and wide! Thank you for your ongoing support for the Nonhuman Rights Project's work.

ALDF launched our Undercover Investigations Unit to expose animal abuse at puppy mills, exotic animal shows, and factory farms and slaughterhouses, and to gather the evidence ALDF attorneys need to fight for their legal protection. For example, ALDF obtained external surveillance pictures of hen enclosures for our successful lawsuit against a Bay Area egg-producer. But an undercover investigation inside the facility would have given a fuller picture, and our case may have gone much further.  

We need your support to give our brave investigators the resources they need to gather the evidence to stop animal abusers. We face challenges, like corporations pushing “ag gag” laws designed to outlaw investigations of animal abuse and other crimes at their facilities. But ALDF is the premiere organization fighting to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system and we will fight to expose animal abuse. And we need your help.

If ALDF and our supporters don’t speak out for animals, who will? 

Stephen tells me ALDF members are absolutely dedicated to fighting animal abuse and supporting ALDF. I am too. Help me and my undercover investigations team expose the horrific cruelty animals suffer—and protect the billions of animals suffering behind closed doors.

Related articles

No relief for circus owners

Entertainment › Ringling elephants to say goodbye to the circus

Ringling Bros. says circuses to be elephant-free in 3 years

Inside Center for Elephant Conservation

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus XTREME

Why Freeing Elephant Performers Is Not Nearly Enough

Circus elephant phase-out praised by regional animal rights groups

Spectacle of circus elephants will be missed

Make your night 'Legendary' at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

Philanthropist Ady Gil is now raising money for the animals’ long-term care in Israel.

(Photo: Facebook)

More than 1,400 macaque monkeys have been saved from a lifetime of potentially cruel and painful medical experiments after businessman and animal rights activist Ady Gil paid $2 million to purchase them. The move ends nearly 20 years of active protests against an Israeli breeding facility that until recently supplied the monkeys to laboratories around the world.

Gil, who lives in Los Angeles and made his fortune providing video technology services to Hollywood, first heard about Mazor Farm during his biennial visits to Israel. He said the protests against the facility have been in the headlines there for years.

“If you’re in the animal movement in Israel, you know about it,” said Gil, who has been a financial supporter of environmental group Sea Shepherd’s efforts to stop Japanese whalers.

Mazor Farm, located half an hour from Tel Aviv, was close to shutting down because of to a ban on the export of wild animals from Israel that goes into effect this month. Gil’s purchase of the animals derailed a last-minute plan to ship most of them to breeding facilities and medical labs in the United States.

Anat Refua, who led the protests against Mazor Farm for the past 16 years through her organization Behind Closed Doors, praised Gil’s action. “I am very excited to witness our success and arriving to the historical moment of shutting down the farm and pulling Israel out of the axis of evil of monkey trade for research,” she said.

Another organization, Monkey Rescue, which was set up to try to rescue the monkeys, had turned to the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo to collect money to buy the Mazor animals but only raised $5,400.

Gil said the monkeys will remain in 35 two-story wood structures at Mazor Farm for a few months, where they will be fed and receive any necessary medical care by their former owners.

The next step, he said, is to move the monkeys to a sanctuary that he hopes to build in central Israel. He will travel there later this month to scout locations and possibly negotiate the purchase of the land. He is also exploring the best ways to keep the monkeys from further breeding, which may involve neutering the males.

Meanwhile, Gil is raising additional funds for the monkeys’ care through his animal rights nonprofit, Ady Gil World Conservation.

“It’s a long-term responsibility,” he said.

Gil estimates it will cost an additional $350,000 a year to feed and provide veterinary care for the monkeys. “I find it hard to believe that we’ll be able to raise $350,000 a year,” he acknowledged. “But if I can raise $100,000, then I only need to put in a quarter million from my own pocket.”

The closure of Mazor Farm doesn’t put an end to medical experimentation on animals in Israel. Refua said more than 300,000 animal experiments still take place in Israel every year, and her organization will continue to campaign against them.

The appellate court that heard our arguments on behalf of Kiko has handed down its decision. And now we have three separate appellate decisions in relation to three lawsuits on behalf of four chimpanzees. In a nutshell: In Tommy's case, the justices ruled that a chimpanzee cannot be a legal person with the capacity for the right not to be held captive. We argue that the court is wrong on at least three grounds that it laid out, and we are seeking to take our case to New York State's highest court, the Court of Appeals. In Kiko's case, the court has chosen to take a different position from the justices in Tommy's case. Instead of arguing that a chimpanzee cannot have the capacity for legal rights, the court affirmed the lower court's denial of our petition on the grounds that a writ of habeas corpus can only be used to set someone completely free and not to move him or her from a place of stark imprisonment to another place of vastly more freedom. And in the case of Hercules and Leo, who are being used in medical experiments at Stony Brook University, an appellate court dismissed our appeal on procedural grounds. We will be refiling this case very shortly. So, what's the state of play now, and what are the next legal steps? These three lawsuits are still far from over, and Nonhuman Rights Project President Steven M. Wise calls it a game of "legal whac-a-mole" and "legal chess." Check out his legal analysis in his latest blog post. Thank you, as always, for being part of this ongoing effort to obtain justice for these chimpanzees. We'll see you in court!

-----------------------

A laboratory is torturing monkeys to study anxiety. The torture includes inducing anxiety by using loud noises and fake snakes, and addicting the monkeys to alcohol. Shut down this lab now and save thousands of monkeys from a life of fear and abuse.

Target: U.S. Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard

Goal: Close a laboratory that tortures monkeys to measure anxiety and depression

Peition Link: http://animalpetitions.org/43045/shut-down-lab-that-tortures-monkeys/?utm_source=Animal+Petitions&utm_campaign=74229ca739-ANNL1521_5_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5c8ef52732-74229ca739-77807085

Members of Congress have asked the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate an NIH lab in Poolesville, Maryland that performs psychological experiments on monkeys. For the past 30 years, the majority of these procedures have involved intentionally causing significant amounts of distress in the animals in order to gauge their anxiety or depression. A lab whose methodologies are so questionable that they warrant a congressional investigation must be shut down immediately.

The letter issued by four members of Congress comes largely in response to a campaign by PETA that ran more than 250 ads in Washington, D.C. metro trains and stations, including the NIH station, and in major newspapers. PETA informed the public that researchers at the lab were spending millions of taxpayer dollars to traumatize baby monkeys by separating them from their mothers at a young age, inducing anxiety by using loud noises and fake snakes, and addicting them to alcohol. Ultimately, the campaign resulted in a huge public outcry of more than 150,000 emails and phone calls to both NIH and Congress.

The lab’s website states that it investigates various aspects of monkey behavior. This includes how behavior changes when a monkey is raised in different environments and monitoring their resultant long-term stress levels. In their letter, U.S. representatives Lucille Roybal-Allard (D–CA), Dina Titus (D–NV), Sam Farr (D–CA), and Eliot Engel (D–NY) requested a bioethical review of the lab by February 2015.

In response to the investigation, Justin Goodman, PETA’s director of laboratory investigations, said the experiments “have never improved human health and are superseded by modern nonanimal research methods that can actually identify the causes of mental illness in people and how to treat it.”

Please take a moment to sign the petition below and demand that Congress shut down the laboratory, which has devoted 30 years of research to torturing animals through methodologies that have contributed little to nothing to human health.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Congresswoman Roybal-Allard,

After an overwhelming public outcry in response to a campaign run by PETA, you, along with three other members of Congress, have asked the NIH to investigate a lab in Poolesville, Maryland that performs psychological experiments on monkeys. These experiments are torturous in order to induce anxiety and depress, and often include scaring them, taking them from their mother at a young age, and making them dependent on alcohol.

Please close down this laboratory immediately. Not only are these kinds of experiments outdated and unnecessary, but they have also contributed little to human health. We cannot continue to torture animals in the name of science.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo credit: arcticproductions via Flickr

Peition Link: http://animalpetitions.org/43045/shut-down-lab-that-tortures-monkeys/?utm_source=Animal+Petitions&utm_campaign=74229ca739-ANNL1521_5_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5c8ef52732-74229ca739-77807085

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