Anthropomorphism Evolves in New York Courts, but Chimps Denied Habeas Corpus

On January 2, in Matter of The Nonhuman Rights Project v. Presti, 14-00357, the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, denied a petition that a 28-year-old chimp, Kiko, be removed from a Niagara Falls placement and placed in a sanctuary operated by the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance. The Court held, assuming arguendo that the chimp had standing to bring the petition, “habeas corpus does not lie where a petitioner seeks only to change the conditions of confinement rather than the confinement itself.”