Should Animals be Legal Persons?

Taylor Schullo

Intro to Environmental & Sustainability

Principe & Parajuli

2 November 2022

Should Animals be Legal Persons?

    As humans, we are a large part of the earth's ecosystem. With almost 8 billion people, no animal has been granted legal personhood in the US but lakes and forests has been grated aspects. We interfere and drastically change the lives of animals on a daily basis, yet they have little protection of their own. Under the law, animals are considered property.

    A legal person is one that is capable of rights and duties such as owning property, suing or being sued, and entering contracts. This is any human or nonhuman entity that is being treated as a person for a limited legal purposes. What defines one as a legal person is still a debated topic; human have rights that no other living thing has been able to receive. While animals are yet to receive some aspects of legal person, there are groups trying to change that. 

    Happy the Elephant is being held in solitary confinement for the past 15 years. The Nonhuman Rights Projects brought a case up on behave of Happy to the New York Court. They needed to prove she was a legal person and use habeas corpus: the right to stop illegal detainment. They proved Happy was self aware and passed a self-recognition mirror test. They argued she is autonomous; she has a free will. In the end, they lost the case in a judge ruling 5 to 2 that Happy is not a legal person. Chief Judge, Janet DiFiore, argued that granting habeas corpus to a nonhuman being would have a destabilizing impact on society. 

    While this could have long last effects on industrial agriculture, this impacts would stop the cruel treatment of farm animals. Chickens live in cramped cages with no grass and cows are forced to become pregnant for industrial milk. Granting habeas corpus could alleviate cruel measures that these animals are experiencing. Another industry that is not agriculture, Sea World and other zoos that trap animals force them to learn tricks for audiences. This could free these imprisoned animals. I don't think these potential changes would destabilize society but change society for the better. Humans need to start treating our ecosystem, and the other animals that live in it, with respect.

    I think Torrella's article summed it up greatly: "We humans (however unevenly) enjoy certain rights merely because we’re human, while the millions of other species with whom we share the Earth are subject to our whims." Granting personhood to animals would not be a negative but a step in the right direction of giving a voiceless group power to protect themselves. Many of the cons of granting personhood are rooted in profit focused views and don't see the cruelty of animal confinement. Animal confinement can even be dangerous to humans which has been seen through documentaries like Black Fish. Animals deserve the same respect as humans since humans are an animal.

References: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/legal_person#:~:text=Legal%20person%20refers%20to%20a,property%2C%20and%20enter%20into%20contracts.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/6/21/23173019/happy-elephant-bronx-zoo-new-york-lamda-artificial-intelligence-ai-google