WILL THE GREAT PRIMATES BE RECOGNIZED AS NON-HUMAN PERSONS IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

Abstract

Great primates have been an endangered species for more than fifty years. The continued pressure that humans make in the habitants and rainforests around the glove have pushed chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas to the very limits of their well-being. Nowadays there exists a big international pressure, which aims to release primates from their captive environments in zoos, or to promote the development of laws that protect these animals from suffering, hunting, and captivity. In order to accomplish this pursuit, it would be a great movement ahead to recognize the four species of great apes (aside of humans) as non-human persons giving them rights under which the law would protect them from human activities in their natural habitats and the captive situation they live in many countries around the globe.