LOCKPORT – A Florida-based animal rights groups filed a notice of appeal this week, seeking review of a court ruling that Kiko, a chimpanzee owned by Carmen Presti of Niagara Falls, is not subject to be freed from his cage through the use of laws that prevent imprisonment of humans without charges.
State Supreme Court Justice Ralph A. Boniello III ruled against the Nonhuman Rights Project’s lawsuit Dec. 9, and judges in Fulton and Suffolk counties also turned down the group’s efforts to take control of chimps through the habeas corpus laws.
The case of Kiko the chimp, owned by Presti for 22 years, will be scheduled for argument before the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court based in Rochester. The Nonhuman Rights Project has said its goal all along was to get the case into the appellate courts.
State Supreme Court Justice Ralph A. Boniello III ruled against the Nonhuman Rights Project’s lawsuit Dec. 9, and judges in Fulton and Suffolk counties also turned down the group’s efforts to take control of chimps through the habeas corpus laws.
The case of Kiko the chimp, owned by Presti for 22 years, will be scheduled for argument before the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court based in Rochester. The Nonhuman Rights Project has said its goal all along was to get the case into the appellate courts.