Keeping apes for circuses, television commercials or filming will also be forbidden, and breaking the new laws will become an offense under Spain's penal code.How's a simian fellow supposed to earn a living? Give a guy his "freedom" and then make it so he can't get a job? What kind of Sheriff Clark game are they pulling in Madrid?
Actually, this proves once again the responsiveness of Leftist governments to the most urgent needs of their citizens. Spain has no native apes, so this is like an urgent move to be sure the next American Tourister ad not be filmed there.
All kidding aside, this is largely the doing of the Great Ape Project, which is the brainchild of Australia's (and now Princeton's) Peter Singer, and it's bad news.
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.It's not about granting the apes rights, see, it's about taking away yours. (If it were animal cruelty they were against, they'd ban bull-fighting, right?) The point is to make the basis of rights not universal respect for the human person, but a qualitative judgment rendered by the state about your usefulness. Watch out, ye elderly, handicapped, sick, politically incorrect or merely annoying (are you more or less sentient than an ape, a woodchuck, or whatever? Only the judge knows). Wesley J. Smith has more. Click his Great Ape Project topic link.
