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To: jbIII who wrote (7555)	10/30/1998 12:35:00 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 62551

I'm reporting you guys to Jill for being off topic! _____________________________________________________ Friday October 30 11:17 AM EDT New Zealand lobby wants human rights for apes dailynews.yahoo.com By Rodney Joyce WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Great apes may soon have some of the rights previously reserved only for humans, if a group of New Zealand scientists and activists succeed. They have asked the New Zealand parliament to grant the right to life to man's closest relations -- chimpanzees, bonobos (a species of African pygmy ape), gorillas and orangutans. The Great Ape Project of New Zealand argues that the apes are genetically very close to humans and part of the same animal family. ''There's now a mountain of evidence that the great apes are as intelligent as young human children, and very similar in their emotional and cognitive development,'' theoretical biologist David Penny, from Massey University, said in a statement on Friday. ''They have self-awareness and theory-of-mind: hallmark traits which were once thought to separate humanity from all other species.'' The Great Ape Project is seeking to win primates in New Zealand similar rights and protection as the country's Bill of Rights extends to humans. The new bill would outlaw killing ''captive hominids,'' and protect them from invasive experimentation or torture, as part of a review of New Zealand's animal welfare law. The group believes New Zealand would be the first country to grant such rights, saying the change might be approved because New Zealand has only around three dozen great apes -- in one circus and three zoos. New Zealand has no strong scientific lobby using apes for experiments, president Liz Watson said. She hoped a law change in New Zealand would have repercussions in Europe and the United States, where it said thousands of great apes were held in research laboratories, private collections, circuses and zoos. ''Several countries have active campaigns for hominid rights but there is resistance from vested interests such as research labs,'' said Watson. The group said a submission in support of its proposal had been lodged by an expert on chimpanzee behavior, Dr Roger Fouts of the Chimpanzee Human Communication Institute at Central Washington University. Fouts campaigns for primate rights and co-founded, with fellow scientist Jane Goodall, a sanctuary for chimpanzees retired from the U.S. Air Force. Last year he wrote a book, ''Next of Kin,'' about a chimpanzee called Booee to which he taught American Sign Language, but lost contact with after the ape was used for biomedical research and contracted Hepatitis C. When the pair were reunited in front of television cameras 13 years later, Booee still recognized Fouts and started a sign-language conversation. Following the screening of the encounter on U.S. television, unsolicited public donations enabled Booee and eight other chimps to be purchased and retired to a sanctuary. Another chimpanzee taught sign-language by Fouts passed its knowledge on to young chimpanzees, while another is said to enjoy drinking Chablis and watching television.