NY court asked to give chimpanzee 'legal person' status

A US animal rights group is calling on a New York court to recognise a chimpanzee as a legal person, in what is believed to be a legal first.

The Nonhuman Rights Project wants a chimp named Tommy to be granted "legal personhood" and thus entitled to the "fundamental right of bodily liberty".

The group is planning to file the same lawsuit on behalf of three other chimps across New York this week.

It wants the four to be released from their captivity.

They should be taken to a sanctuary that is a member of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, the group argues.

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The lawsuit invokes the common law writ of habeas corpus, the right to challenge unlawful detention.

The group says it is dedicated to changing the common law status of species considered autonomous, and could eventually file lawsuits on behalf of gorillas, orangutans, whales, dolphins and elephants.