The Spanish parliament is to back legal rights for great apes, that’s gorillas, chimpanzees and orangs.
The parliament’s environmental committee has thrown its weight behind the Great Ape Project, which aims to provide apes with a “the right to life, the freedom from arbitrary deprivation of liberty, and protection from torture”. As the resolution passed by the committee on Wednesday has cross-party support it is expected to become law, says Reuters, and experiments on great apes will be outlawed.
Although there are not thought to be any such experiments taking place there is no law stopping them in Spain. Legislation will also outlaw their use in shows and circuses and the animals may only be kept in conservation centres. However the government has denied this amounts to ‘human rights for apes’ (El Pais).
The Times notes:
Reactions to the vote were mixed. Many Spaniards were perplexed that the country should consider it a priority when the economy is slowing sharply and Spain has been rocked by violent fuel protests. Others thought it was a strange decision, given that Spain has no wild apes of its own.
“This is the first time in the History of Humanity that an important Parliament has announced its approval of rights for Great Primates,” says Pedro Ynterian, incoming president of the Great Ape Project and chronic over-user of capitals in his press statements.
This enthusiasm for animals has taken some by surprise in a country that still takes flak for bull fights and until recently throwing animals off high towers. However it is worth remembering that until recently Spain hosted the world’s most charismatic ape (and we’re including humans in that category): Floquet de Neu, the albino gorilla.
In El Pais, columnist Ruth Toledano noted, “Wednesday June 25, was a historic day. … All this is cause for happiness, so I’m happy.”
It remains to be seen how this decision will impact on Spain’s already fraught relationship with British territory Gibraltar. Authorities on the island peninsula earlier this year announced they would cull Barbary macaques that were terrorising tourists and although these are not ‘great apes’, this slightly-surprising Spainish passion for our closest animal relatives could cause problems.
Image top: Getty
Image lower: Farruska, via Flickr