Activists will ask court to turn chimp into a chap
They fear the shelter caring for the 26-year-old chimp, who has been given the name Matthew Hiasl Pan, may close, leaving him homeless.
The Vienna-based Association Against Animal Factories has been pressing to get Pan declared a “person” so a guardian can be appointed to look out for his interests and house him.
Group president Martin Balluch insists that Pan is “a being with interests”.
“It is astounding how all the courts try to evade the question of personhood of a chimp as much as they can,” he said.
They now intend to take the case to the Supreme Court.
The legal battle began in February, when the animal shelter where Pan and another chimp, Rosi, have lived for 25 years filed for bankruptcy protection.
Activists want to ensure the apes are not made homeless if the shelter closes.
Both were captured as babies in Sierra Leone in 1982 and smuggled in a crate to Austria for use in pharmaceutical experiments.
Customs officers intercepted the shipment and turned the chimps over to the shelter.
Their upkeep costs about €5,000 a month. Donors have offered to help but under Austrian law, only a person can receive personal gifts.
Organisers could set up a foundation to collect cash for Pan, whose life expectancy in captivity is about 60 years. But they say only being declared a person will give him the basic rights he needs to ensure he is not sold.
In April, a district court judge rejected a British woman’s petition to be declared Pan’s legal guardian. That court ruled that the chimp was neither mentally impaired nor in danger, the grounds required for an individual to be appointed a guardian.
In dismissing the Association Against Animal Factories’ appeal this week, the court said only a guardian could appeal. That doesn’t apply in this case, the group contends, since Pan hasn’t gained a guardian.
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