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Whatsthepoint
06-27-2008, 11:38 AM
Apes get legal rights in Spain, to surprise of bullfight critics

Spain is to become the first country to extend legal rights to apes, wrongfooting animal rights activists who have long campaigned against bullfighting in the country.

In what is thought to be the first time a national legislature has granted such rights to animals, the Spanish parliament’s environmental committee voted to approve resolutions committing the country to the Great Apes Project, designed by scientists and philosophers who say that humans’ closest biological relatives also deserve rights.

The resolution, adopted with crossparty support, calls on the Government to promote the Great Apes Project internationally and ensure the protection of apes from “abuse, torture and death”. “This is a historic moment in the struggle for animal rights,” Pedro Pozas, the Spanish director of the Great Apes Project, told The Times. “It will doubtless be remembered as a key moment in the defence of our evolutionary comrades.”

Reactions to the vote were mixed. Many Spaniards were perplexed that the country should consider it a priority when the economy is slowing sharply and Spain has been rocked by violent fuel protests. Others thought it was a strange decision, given that Spain has no wild apes of its own.

In an editorial yesterday, the Madrid daily El Mundo noted that the only apes in Spain were “the ones that could cross over from Gibraltar”, and questioned why the country should become “the principal flag-bearer of the apes” cause. “With the problems that Spanish farmers and fishermen are experiencing, it is surprising that members of Congress should dedicate their efforts to trying to turn the country of bullfighting into the principal defender of the apes,” it wrote.

Spain’s conservative Popular Party also complained that the resolution sought to give animals the same rights as humans — something that the Socialist Government denies. Some critics questioned why Spain should afford legal protection from death or torture to great apes but not bulls. But Mr Pozas said that the vote would set a precedent, establishing legal rights for animals that could be extended to other species. “We are seeking to break the species barrier — we are just the point of the spear,” he said.

The resolutions will outlaw harmful experiments on great apes, though activist say that they have no knowledge of any being carried out in Spain. It will also make keeping great apes for circuses, TV commercials or filming a criminal offence.

Keeping apes in zoos will remain legal, but conditions for the 350 apes in Spanish zoos will have to improve. Animal rights activists say that 70 per cent of apes in Spanish zoos live in sub-human conditions. The philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri founded the Great Ape Project in 1993, saying that hominids such as chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans should enjoy the right to life and freedom and not to be mistreated.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4220884.ece
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Amadeus85
06-27-2008, 05:43 PM
They should give the apes also voting rights, so that socialists could win all next elections in Spain lol.
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snakelegs
06-27-2008, 06:33 PM
that hominids such as chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans should enjoy the right to life and freedom and not to be mistreated.
we'll treat the ones that we think are kinda like us good.
does this mean that we can treat all other animals like crap?
do humans have big egos???? ;D
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Fishman
06-27-2008, 08:53 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Aaron85
They should give the apes also voting rights, so that socialists could win all next elections in Spain lol.
:sl:
Nah, I think George Bush would get in, birds of a feather flock together!
:w:
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Fishman
06-27-2008, 08:55 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by snakelegs
we'll treat the ones that we think are kinda like us good.
does this mean that we can treat all other animals like crap?
do humans have big egos???? ;D
:sl:
Ape doesn't make good sandwiches, so their animal rights are fine with me!
:w:
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Musaafirah
06-27-2008, 08:59 PM
:muddlehea
The world's gone to the Dogz..(or in this case Apez)
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AvarAllahNoor
06-28-2008, 12:18 AM
Do the Bulls they harass also get rights??
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AvarAllahNoor
06-28-2008, 08:11 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Fishman
:sl:
Ape doesn't make good sandwiches, so their animal rights are fine with me!
:w:
Would you really want an ape to make your sarnies...? Think of all the hair....:D
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aminahjaan
06-28-2008, 08:34 PM
It's about time! I'm moving to spain pronto!
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Fishman
06-28-2008, 09:39 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by AvarAllahNoor
Would you really want an ape to make your sarnies...? Think of all the hair....:D
:sl:
I'm more against putting ape in my sarnies...
:w:
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Muezzin
06-28-2008, 09:49 PM
This reminds me of something...
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north_malaysian
06-29-2008, 07:27 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by AvarAllahNoor
Do the Bulls they harass also get rights??
yeah...they should extend it to the bulls too...

they should imprison all matadors
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Tania
06-29-2008, 11:08 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by aminahgorilla
It's about time! I'm moving to spain pronto!
Slowly the animals will get more rights :) Its a big step and i hope the bulls will be the next. You have the most sad avatar.
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north_malaysian
06-30-2008, 12:40 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Tania
You have the most sad avatar.
Yupp....
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aminahjaan
07-03-2008, 07:45 AM
I know poor cow
:(
lol
there was another avatar with an orange next to some orange juice saying mom...?
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