Monkey business: Should a monkey be able to sue its owner?

The story of Tommy, the first nonhuman primate to ever sue a human captor in an attempt to gain his own freedom.

JUST before 4 pm on October 10, Steven Wise pulled his rental car in front of a multiacre compound on state Highway 30 near the Adirondack hamlet of Gloversville, New York, and considered his next move.

For the past 15 minutes, Wise had been slowly driving the perimeter of the property, trying to get a better read on the place. An assortment of transport trailers — for horses and livestock, cars and boats — cluttered a front lot beside a single-story business office with the sign “Circle L Trailer Sales” set above the door. At the rear of the grounds was a barn-size, aluminium-sided shed, all its doors closed, the few small windows covered in plastic.