The Nonhuman Rights Project is deeply troubled that the Michigan Court of Appeals declined to protect autonomy—a supreme value under Michigan law—when the autonomous beings are chimpanzees. While the decision properly treated the issue of nonhuman eligibility for habeas corpus relief as one for judges to consider under the common law, the Court of Appeals held that it was bound by 19th-century Michigan Supreme Court precedent treating animals as mere property. The Nonhuman Rights Project will ask the Michigan Supreme Court to reject this outdated classification. The chimpanzees confined in the DeYoung Family Zoo deserve the law’s protection because they are autonomous beings whose suffering matters.

To watch the hearing, visit the Michigan Court of Appeals’ YouTube channel . To access the NhRP’s Michigan media kit, including key filings and photos and videos of the chimpanzees, visit this Google Drive folder . For the chimpanzees’ stories, information about the DeYoung Family Zoo, and a complete court case timeline, visit their client page . 

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