By Marie Woolf | |||
Political Editor | |||
1 | A British woman has | ||
launched a court | |||
challenge to become | |||
the legal guardian of | |||
a 160lb chimpanzee in | |||
a test case that could | |||
confer basic rights on | |||
apes across Europe. | |||
2 | Paula Stibbe, 38, | ||
a teacher who lives in | |||
Vienna, has applied to | |||
the Austrian courts to | |||
take legal responsibility | |||
for a 26-year-old male | |||
chimpanzee which, she fears, could be subjected to | |||
laboratory tests if he isn’t given legal ‘rights’. Animal- | |||
welfare organisations see it as a test case that would | |||
give special legal status to the great apes. It comes as | |||
Members of Parliament make a fresh attempt to ban animal testing on primates¹ | |||
across Europe. | |||
3 | Ms Stibbe, who is originally from Brighton, befriended Hiasl the chimp eight | ||
years ago and now visits him every week, bringing biscuits and his favourite | |||
Viennese pastries, clothes, including Wellington boots, and art materials. The | |||
ape, which has lived in an Austrian animal sanctuary² most of his life after being | |||
rescued by customs officials as a baby, is facing an uncertain future after the | |||
sanctuary ran out of cash. | |||
4 | Ms Stibbe, who spends hours with Hiasl each week, says she regards him | ||
as a ‘friend’ and is horrified about the prospect of him being transported to a | |||
laboratory. If her application to become his legal guardian is successful, she | |||
would be responsible for making decisions about his welfare. | |||
5 | She told The Independent on Sunday she plays hide and seek and watches | ||
wildlife programmes with him. “He likes being tickled and he likes dressing-up | |||
clothes,” she said. “He is especially fond of Wellington boots…. He likes drawing | |||
with coloured chalk, mostly scribbling. He laughs a lot and is very gentle with | |||
me, even though he has the strength of seven men. He has a special greeting | |||
for me and tweaks my nose between his middle and index finger when I arrive. | |||
He enjoys watching TV, and is specially fond of wildlife documentaries. I showed | |||
him a video of gorillas, and when two gorillas were mating he was completely | |||
fascinated by them. I want to make sure that he has a fully secure future, and | |||
does not end up in a lab abroad.” | |||
6 | Hiasl was captured as a one-year-old in Sierra Leone and smuggled to | ||
Austria, where he was bound for a vivisection lab. He was found by customs | |||
officers after surviving the journey to Europe in a box, and was taken in by the | |||
sanctuary. | |||
7 | [id:69061] he is granted basic legal rights, he could be sent abroad to a | ||
laboratory when the sanctuary closes. Paula Stibbe’s case follows moves in New | |||
Zealand and Spain to give rights to great apes. These apes share about 98 per | |||
cent of their DNA with humans. |