Introduction
(page 3 of 3)
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The trouble is, that while
those guilty of cruelty may be prosecuted, often successfully-Steve has saved
hundreds of animals' lives in the courtrooms-in the legal sense animals are regarded
as "things", as mere objects that can be bought, sold, discarded or destroyed
at an owners whim. Only when animals can be regarded as "persons" in the eyes
of the law will it be possible to give teeth to the often-fuzzy laws protecting
animals from abuse. Rattling the Cage explains how legal rights for animals can
help to stop so much of the abuse that, today, goes unpunished.
As Steve hints in his
last chapter, this book represents a first step towards seeking legal rights for
other animal species, rights modified in appropriate ways for different kinds
of animals. Chimpanzees along with Bonobos are our closest living relatives, differing
from us in structure of DNA by only just over 1%. This makes these apes "our sibling
species"-thus it is fitting that they should be the first to acquire rights -
as surely they will - in the eyes of the Law. In 1995 Steve and I made a presentation
to the Senior Lawyer's Division of the American Association, explaining just why
justice demands that we extend fundamental legal rights to chimpanzees. This book
makes the same point, in huge detail and in clear language, so that lawyers and
judges and law professors - indeed everyone everywhere - will be able to follow
the argument. So that in the end the machinery of the law can be changed in favour
of the Great Apes.
It will be too late for
JoJo, Jade and Dick-they are gone. Yet still I think of them, and I feel deep
shame; shame that we, with our more sophisticated intellect, with our greater
capacity for understanding and compassion, deprived them of freedom, stole from
them the dim greens and browns; of soft gray light of that African forest, the
peace of afternoon; when the sun flecks through the canopy and small creatures
rustle and flit and creep among the leaves. Deprived them of the freedom to choose,
each day, how they would spend their time, and where and with whom. Deprived them
of the sounds of nature, the gurgling of streams, murmuring wind in the branches,
of chimpanzee calls that ring out so clear, and rise up through the tree tops
and drift away in the hills. Deprived them of their comforts, the soft leafy floor
of the forest, the springy, leafy branches from which sleeping nests can be made.
But it is not too late for hundreds of others who are, as this book goes to press,
languishing in man made prisons.
Steve Wise has marshaled
the facts and presented them at a crucial point in Western history-at the end
of a millennium. Let us hope that as we enter the 21st century, the new and more
enlightened attitude concerning our own moral relationship with the rest of the
animal kingdom will be reflected in appropriate changes in the legal system. Certainly
this book, Rattling the Cage, will give the process a mighty shove. Thank you,
Steve."
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