New York court to determine if chimp is legally a person

Fla.-based group wants pair to be freed from cages.

NEW YORK — Should a chimpanzee be treated as a person with legal rights?

That’s what attorney Steven Wise tried to convince a state appeals court in Manhattan of on Thursday. Wise, who represents the Florida-based Nonhuman Rights Project animal advocacy group, argued that two chimps named Tommy and Kiko should be freed from cages to live in an outdoor sanctuary.

Wise has been trying for years, unsuccessfully, to get courts to grant the chimps habeas corpus in order to, he says, free them from unlawful imprisonment.

He says the apes, which didn’t appear in court, deserve a better quality of life. If the court agrees, they would be sent to live with others of their species on one of 13 islands amid a lake in Fort Pierce, Florida, that comprise the Save the Chimps sanctuary.

A five-judge panel will issue its ruling in the coming days or weeks.

Kiko’s keeper, Carmen Presti, says he’s not giving up the chimp.

He and his wife rescued the deaf chimp 23 years ago from a life of performing at state fairs and in the television movie “Tarzan in Manhattan.” Kiko is believed to have lost his hearing when he was beaten by a trainer, and has medical problems requiring constant attention.

“If he’s taken away, he could die without his family to give him the special care he needs, and to bring him into the house to play,” says Presti, of Niagara Falls, New York, where he runs the nonprofit Primate Sanctuary, whose rescue animals are part of a youth educational program.

Tommy was caged at a trailer lot in Gloversville, outside Albany.

His keeper, Patrick Lavery, calls all the lawsuits “a ridiculous thing.” He said Wednesday that he had temporarily cared for Tommy to spare him from being euthanized, then donated him to an out-of-state facility in September 2015. Lavery declined to provide further details, saying he didn’t want to draw more attention to the chimps’ legal drama.

Wise’s Coral Springs, Florida-based Nonhuman Rights Project has a history of litigation linked to chimps that started in 2013, when a lawsuit on behalf of Kiko was first filed in state Supreme Court in Niagara Falls and in Fulton County on behalf of Tommy.