The Animal Rights (Personhood) Trials: A Chronology
Happy, an elephant at the Bronx Zoo (and the first elephant to pass the mirror self-recognition test)
1975
Australian philosopher Peter Singer published the book Animal Liberation considered to be the founding statement of ideas of the animal liberation movement.
1983
Tom Regan, a philosophy professor at North Carolina State, publishes The Case for Animal Rights, one of a small number of books with an outsized influence on the animal rights/liberation movement.
1991
A suit filed to block the transfer of Kama, a dolphin, from the New England Aquarium to the Navy for use in training (a suit brought on behalf of Kama under the Marine Mammal Protection Act) is dismissed by a federal judge in Massachusetts because Kama, as a non-human, lacked legal “standing.”
1999
New Zealand grants specific legal protections for five great ape species. The law prohibits the use of any gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo, or orangutan in research, testing or teaching unless the research is intended to benefit the animal or its species.
2002
Germany amends its constitution to give certain rights to animals, thus becoming the first European Union member to do so.
2007
The parliament of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous jurisdiction of Spain, passes the world's first legislation that effectively grants legal personhood rights to all great apes. . . .In the U.S., the Nonhuman Rights Project is founded by Steven Wise.
October 2011
A suit by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals against SeaWorld, alleging that the theme park was holding five orcas in slavery in violation of the 13th Amendment, is dismissed by a California district judge on the ground that the Amendment applied to persons “and not to non-persons such as orcas.”
Dec. 2, 2013
The Nonhuman Rights Project files a petition for a common law writ of habeas corpus in New York State Supreme Court, Fulton County to demand recognition of a chimp named Tommy’s legal personhood and right to bodily liberty and his immediate transfer from a concrete cage in Gloversville, in upstate New York.
Dec. 3, 2013
The NhRP files a petition for a common law writ of habeas corpus for Kiko, a chimp maintained in a concrete cage in Niagara Falls. The petition, filed in New York State Supreme Court, Niagara County, demands Kiko’s transfer to an appropriate sanctuary.
Dec. 5, 2013
The NhRP files a petition for a common law writ of habeas corpus lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court, Suffolk County on behalf of Leo and Hercules, two chimpanzees being held for use in experiments at Stony Brook University. The petition demands recognition of Hercules’ and Leo’s legal personhood and right to bodily liberty and their immediate transfer to an appropriate sanctuary.
Dec. 9, 2013
New York State Supreme Court Justice Ralph Boniello III holds a hearing over the phone on Kiko’s petition. At the end of the hearing, the judge denies the habeas petition.
Jan. 10, 2014
Roughly after the habeas petition in the case of Hercules and Leo was denied without a hearing, the NhRP files a notice of appeal with New York’s Second Judicial Department. The appeal is later dismissed.
Oct. 8, 2014
New York’s Third Judicial Department in Albany hears oral argument in Tommy’s habeas corpus case.
Dec. 4, 2014
N.Y’s Third Judicial Department rules that Tommy “is not a ‘person’ entitled to the rights and protections afforded by the writ of habeas corpus” primarily because, in the Court’s view, “unlike human beings, chimpanzees can’t bear any legal duties, submit to societal responsibilities, or be held legally accountable for their actions.”
Jan. 2, 2015
The Fourth Judicial Department, after a hearing the previous month in in Rochester, NY, denies the habeas petition in Kiko’s case on the grounds that “habeas corpus does not lie where a petitioner seeks only to change the conditions of confinement rather than the confinement itself.”
March 19, 2015
The NhRP re-files Hercules’ and Leo’s case in New York County Supreme Court, New York County. New York law allows habeas corpus cases to be filed multiple times.
April 20, 2015
In the case of Hercules and Leo, Justice Barbara Jaffe issues Hercules and Leo a writ of habeas corpus. The order requires the New York AG’s office to appear in court on behalf of Stony Brook to defend their right to detain Hercules and Leo.
April 21, 2015
Justice Jaffe, in the Leo and Hercules case, amends her order, striking out “writ of habeas corpus” and leaving the order to show cause.
April 20, 2015
Justice Barbara Jaffe of New York State Supreme Court orders a writ of habeas corpus to two captive chimpanzees, but the next day the ruling is amended to strike the words "writ of habeas corpus".
May 27, 2015
In a packed courtroom, Justice Jaffe holds a two-hour-long hearing on the question of whether chimpanzees should be “granted a right or something short of the right under the habeas corpus law.” The Nonhuman Rights Project considers the hearing itself a sort of victory.
July 30, 2015
Justice Jaffe rules that she is bound to follow the previous determination of the Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department in Tommy’s case. The habeas petition for Hercules and Leo is denied. Justice Jaffe says: “As Justice Kennedy observed in Lawrence v Texas, ‘times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress.’ For now, however, given the precedent to which I am bound, it is hereby ordered that the petition for a writ of habeas corpus is denied.” Justice Jaffe does, however, find that the NhRP has standing to bring a lawsuit directly on behalf of a nonhuman animal without having to allege any injury to human interests.
Stony Brook announces it will no longer use Hercules and Leo in research
8/20/15: The NhRP files a Notice of Appeal in Tommy’s case with the First Judicial Department.
Sept. 1, 2015
The N.Y. Court of Appeals denies the Nonhuman Rights Project’s motion for a leave to appeal the trial court decision in Tommy’s case.
Dec. 4, 2015
The NhRP files a new habeas petition on Tommy’s behalf with the New York State Supreme Court, New York County to again demand Tommy’s release from unlawful detention. A couple of weeks later, the petition is denied.
December 2015
Hercules and Leo are taken from Stony Brook to a research facility in Louisiana.
November 2016
A judge in Argentina rules that Cecilia, a chimpanzee in a zoo, should be released and transferred to the Great Ape Project’s sanctuary in Brazil.
2017
The New Zealand Parliament, at the urging of a Māori tribe, declares the Whanganui River to have legal status as a living entity. . . . A court in India also recognizes two rivers in that country as “legal entities.”
March 16, 2017
In a joint hearing for Tommy and Kiko in before the First Judicial Department in Manhattan, NhRP President Steven M. Wise argues that the capacity to bear duties and responsibilities isn’t a legally acceptable reason for denying recognition of Tommy’s and Kiko’s legal personhood and fundamental right to bodily liberty. Wise calls the decision “unfair” and “not backed up by science.”
June 8, 2017
The First Judicial Department rules that the NhRP cannot seek second writs of habeas corpus on behalf of Tommy and Kiko. The NhRP announces its intention to seek appeal of this decision to New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
Nov. 13, 2017
In a case involving three elephants (Beulah, Minnie, and Karen) held at the Commerford Zoo in Goshen, Connecticut, the NhRP files a petition for a common law writ of habeas corpus in Connecticut Superior Court, Litchfield County demanding the release of the elephants to a sanctuary.
Dec. 26, 2017
A Connecticut Superior Court judge dismisses the NhRP’s petition on behalf of the three Connecticut elephants.
March 21, 2018
Hercules and Leo are transferred to Project Chimps sanctuary.
May 8, 2018
The New York Court of Appeals denies permission to appeal. Court of Appeals Judge Eugene M. Fahey issues a concurring opinion in which he asserts that the failure of the Court to grapple with the issues raised “amounts to a refusal to confront a manifest injustice.” Fahey adds, “Ultimately, we will not be able to ignore [the habeas corpus issue]. While it may be arguable that a chimpanzee is not a ‘person,’ there is no doubt that it is not merely a thing.”
Oct. 2, 2018
The NhRP files a petition for a common law writ of habeas corpus on behalf of an elephant named Happy, a resident of the Bronx Zoo. In 2005, Happy had become the first elephant to pass the mirror self-recognition test. The petition, filed in New York Supreme Court, Orleans County, demands Happy’s transfer to an elephant sanctuary.
Dec. 14, 2018
A hearing is held on the habeas petition on behalf of Happy the elephant. The hearing is the first time a US court has heard oral arguments on an elephant’s legal personhood.
Jan. 18, 2019
The Happy the elephant case is ordered transferred to Bronx County.
April 22, 2019
The Appellate Court of Connecticut holds a hearing on the dismissal of the petition for the three Connecticut elephants.
Aug. 16, 2019
The Appellate Court of Connecticut affirms the dismissal of the NhRP’s petition for the three Connecticut elephants. The Nunhuman Rights Project announces it will seek further review of the decision in Connecticut’s highest court, the Connecticut Supreme Court.
September 2019
An orangutan named Sandra, formerly locked in a Buenos Aires zoo, is transferred to a sanctuary in the U.S. after having been declared a "nonhuman person, with the right to liberty."
Sept. 15, 2019
Beulah, one of the three Connecticut elephants involved in the personhood litigation, collapses and dies at the Big E fair in West Springfield, MA.
February 2020
Justice Tuitt of the Bronx County Supreme Court rules in Happy’s case. He "regrettably" rejects Happy's petition for habeas corpus relief, saying he is bound by precedent.
June 2022
The New York Court of Appeals. the state's highest court, rules by a 5 to 2 vote that Happy is not entitled to habeas corpus relief, stating that habeas corpus is a vehicle inteded only to secure the liberty rights of human beings.