Spain to extend rights to apes

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans.

Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans.

"This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity," said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project.

A LEADING scientist has warned a new species of "humanzee," created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting.
In an interview with The Scotsman, Dr Calum MacKellar, director of research at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, warned the controversial draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill did not prevent human sperm being inseminated into animals.

He said if a female chimpanzee was inseminated with human sperm the two species would be closely enough related that a hybrid could be born.

He said scientists could possibly try to develop the new species to fill the demand for organ donors.

Leading scientists say there is no reason why the two species could not breed, although they question why anyone would want to try such a technique.

Keli wrote:Published Date: 29 April 2008
By JENNY HAWORTH

A LEADING scientist has warned a new species of "humanzee," created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting.
In an interview with The Scotsman, Dr Calum MacKellar, director of research at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, warned the controversial draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill did not prevent human sperm being inseminated into animals.

He said if a female chimpanzee was inseminated with human sperm the two species would be closely enough related that a hybrid could be born.

He said scientists could possibly try to develop the new species to fill the demand for organ donors.

Leading scientists say there is no reason why the two species could not breed, although they question why anyone would want to try such a technique.

Is "Ziggy" Zwahili for "Bonzo?"

The 70s was the hippie era, synonymous with rock n roll, drugs, Woodstock etc. but during the same time a very intriguing creature was making headlines the world over. Oliver, a chimpanzee, was considered a human-chimp hybrid due to his unusual appearance and his human-like behaviour. He would walk upright like human beings, was habitually bipedal, preferred human company rather than chimps, smoked cigars and loved to mix drinks and that instantly gave him celebrity status. Mind-boggling isn’t it? Was he part human, or the missing link? Read on…

Here’s the story

Oliver was captured in 1970s from the African Congo region and sold to animal trainers from South Africa - Frank and Janet Burger. Oliver possesses a flatter face than his fellow chimpanzees (as his teeth were removed), his ears and jawline were shaped a bit differently than the normal chimps, powerful shoulders straight and broad, arms swinging at his sides – instead of hunched forward and using his hands and arms, like most chimps and less hairy. He immediately learned to drink, enjoy coffee, watch television in the evening and also preferred human females to female chimps, and to such an extent that he made sexual advances toward Janet Burger and other women. As a result she sold Oliver to a New York appellate lawyer Michael Miller in or before 1976. This was the time when Oliver came into the limelight, with Miller raking in the moolah and promoting him as a ‘missing link.’ He travelled around the world and made appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Oliver was a jet-setter.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bp1.blogger.com/_Mi7AIQ22soI/RZFGC30v9OI/AAAAAAAAAHk/as82JfiQIWE/s320/oliver.jpg&imgrefurl=http://fractalenlightenment.blogspot.com/2006/12/oliver-legendary-humanzee.html&h=240&w=226&sz=16&hl=en&start=20&tbnid=hHVCvn20TOL2nM:&tbnh=110&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhumanzee%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG