*NEWS UPDATES"
- VICTORY IN SPAIN
- GAP BRAZIL
The Great Ape Project: An Idea, A Book, An Organization
The idea is founded upon undeniable scientific proof that
non-human great apes share more than genetically similar DNA with their human
counterparts. They enjoy a rich emotional and cultural existence in which
they experience emotions such as fear, anxiety and happiness. They share the
intellectual capacity to create and use tools, learn and teach other languages.
They remember their past and plan for their future. It is in recognition of
these and other morally significant qualities that the Great Ape Project was
founded. The Great Ape Project seeks to end the unconscionable treatment of
our nearest living relatives by obtaining for non-human great apes the fundamental
moral and legal protections of the right to life, the freedom from arbitrary
deprivation of liberty, and protection from torture.
The book, which is the collective work of a group of scientists
and scholars, is a multi-faceted analysis that compels readers to question
the arbitrary denial of fundamental rights and protections to non-human great
apes despite the morally significant characteristics they irrefutably possess.
It demands a reflective consideration of extending basic protections to the
non-human great apes and forces us to come face to face with the moral and
ethical dilemmas of continuing to allow these unconscionable deprivations
to exist.
The organization is an international group founded to work
for the global removal of non-human great apes from the category of mere property,
and for their immediate protection through the implementation of basic legal
principles designed to provide these amazing creatures with the right to life,
the freedom of liberty and protection from torture.