Should chimpanzees — complex creatures with thoughts, feelings and the smarts to learn sign language — have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
Steven Wise, a prominent animal rights attorney from Coral Springs, has bet his career on it.
Our cousin the ape is poised to take an evolutionary new step — this time across the threshold into the courthouse.
Leading the landmark legal effort is Wise, 64, founder, president and chief litigator of the Nonhuman Rights Project.
Wednesday, Wise will make the historic argument that two of his clients — chimps Leo and Hercules, now being used for research at Stony Brook University in Long Island — have fundamental rights that protect them from being held captive.