Should a Chimp Be Able to Sue Its Owner?
Just before 4 p.m. on Oct. 10, Steven Wise pulled his rental car in front of a multiacre compound on State Highway 30 near the tiny Adirondack hamlet of Gloversville, N.Y., 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, boats and snowmobiles 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, aluminum-sided shed, all its doors closed, the few small windows covered in thick plastic.
With each pass, he looked to see if anybody was on the grounds but could find no one. A number of times Wise pulled off the road and called his office to check whether he had the right place. It wasnt until he finally spotted a distant filigree of deer antlers that he knew for certain. The owner of Circle L Trailer, Wise had read, runs a side enterprise known as Santas Hitching Post, which rents out a herd of reindeer for holiday events and TV spots, including commercials for Macys and Mercedes-Benz.
After spotting a man tightening bolts on one of the trailer hitches, Wise paused to explain his strategy to me and the documentary filmmaker Chris Hegedus, who had a video camera. Im just going to say that I heard their reindeer were on TV, Wise said. I happened to be driving by and thought I might be able to see them in person.
The repairman told Wise that the owner wasnt on the premises that day. Wise mustered as many reindeer questions as he could, then got to his real agenda.
So, he finally asked, doing his best excited-tourist voice. Do you keep any other animals around here?
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/magazine/the-rights-of-man-and-beast.html
scheming daemons
(25,487 posts)...
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)the more research into non-human cognition is done, the more we learn that we are not nearly as unique as we think we are, and then the issue of rights clearly rises. Many humans seem to get all defensive about the subject, but to me it seems, pun intended, a no-brainer.