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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: June 2007

Attempt to legally adopt chimp goes to appeal

 

VIENNA--Austrian judge Barbara Bart on April 24, 2007 rejected the request of British teacher Paula Stibbe, 38, a longtime resident of Vienna, that she be allowed to legally adopt Hiasl, 26, a male chimpanzee, whom she has visited weekly at a now bankrupt sanctuary since 1999. Stibbe immediately appealed the verdict.

Stibbe petitioned to adopt Hiasl, she said, out of concern that he might be sold to a laboratory outside of Austria. Bart ruled that the adoption could not proceed because Hiasl is neither a mentally impaired human nor in a crisis situation requiring emergency intervention.

Using chimps and other great apes in experimentation is already illegal within Austria. Recalled World Society for the Protection of Animals educational projects manager Jasmijn de Boo, who recently helped to found pro-animal political parties in The Netherlands and Britain, "In the year 2002, the last chimps were retired from vivisection at the labs of the company Baxter in Orth at the Danube, east of Vienna. The retirement opened up debate on the justification of experiments on all apes," leading to the December 2005 passage of the ban, in effect since January 1, 2006.