Thread: Court to Decide if Whales are People

The film Planet of the Apes (196 has some classic lines. The most famous is “Get your paws off me, you damned dirty apes.” AFI’s “100 Movies . . . 100 Movie Quotes” lists it at #66. A line not on the list, but one I use on a regular basis, is “It’s a madhouse! A madhouse.” (I’m watching Behind the Planet of the Apes [1998] on the anniversary of the debut of The Planet of the Apes in in theaters in 1968 as I write this article.)

A bit of news from a California federal court will cause you to shout along with Charlton Heston that “It’s a madhouse! A madhouse!”

The court is going “to decide for the first time in US history whether amusement park animals are protected by the same constitutional rights as humans.”

The issue is the result of a lawsuit that PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) filed in a “San Diego court on behalf of five orcas named Tilikum, Katina, Corky, Kasatka and Ulises. . . . PETA argues that continuing the whales’ ‘employment’ at SeaWorld violates the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits slavery.” Another California court just ruled that homosexual marriage is found in the 14th Amendment. (These same people want to prohibit gun ownership even though the 2nd Amendment clearly gives all citizens the right to “keep and bear arms.”)

“It’s a new frontier in civil rights,” said Jeff Kerr, PETA general counsel, who described the hearing as a “historic day.”

It’s OK to kill preborn humans, but don’t capture whales. If PETA or any animal rights group wants to stand up for whales, I don’t have a problem with them — I saw Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) — but please don’t try to make your case by appealing to the Constitution.

PETA’s general counsel said, “Slavery does not depend on the species of the slave any more than it depends on race, gender or ethnicity. Coercion, degradation and subjugation characterize slavery and these orcas have endured all three.”

Where does PETA’s logic end? What if whales are afforded the same rights as humans? Does this mean that whales can be prosecuted for killing other mammals such as sea lions, seals, walruses, and even large whales?

Will whale rights extend to chimpanzees? Sir David Attenborough narrates a Planet Earth episode that shows a violent and bloody Chimpanzee attack. One chimp is thrown to the ground, literally pulled limb from limb, and then eaten. Following PETA’s arguments, should the “murdering” and cannibalistic chimps be prosecuted? If animals are given human rights, should they abide by human legal sanctions?



It truly is a madhouse, an upside-down world where whales are afforded more protections than humans and homosexual marriage becomes a legal reality.

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Court to Decide if Whales are People


Welcome to the "New World"

San Diego federal judge tosses killer whale 'slavery' case

Associated Press
Posted: 02/08/2012 04:14:51 PM PST
Updated: 02/08/2012 04:15:00 PM PST

SAN DIEGO -- A federal judge in San Diego on Wednesday dismissed an unprecedented lawsuit seeking to grant constitutional protection against slavery to a group of orcas that perform at SeaWorld parks, saying the 13th amendment applies only to humans.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller stopped the case from proceeding two days after he became the first judge in U.S. history to listen to arguments in court over the possibility of granting constitutional rights for members of an animal species.

"As 'slavery' and 'involuntary servitude' are uniquely human activities, as those terms have been historically and contemporaneously applied, there is simply no basis to construe the Thirteenth Amendment as applying to non-humans," Miller wrote in his ruling.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed the lawsuit in October and named five whales as plaintiffs. PETA says the wild-captured orcas are enslaved by SeaWorld because they are held in concrete tanks against their will and forced to perform in shows at its parks in San Diego and Orlando, Fla.

SeaWorld called the lawsuit baseless and a waste of the court's time and money. Legal experts say it opened an interesting debate about the expansion of animal rights.

PETA attorney Jeffrey Kerr says his organization does not plan to give up his fight to protect the orcas but he did not specify what the next action will be.

"This historic first case for the orcas' right to be free under the 13th Amendment is one more step taken toward the inevitable day when all animals will be free from enslavement for human amusement," Kerr said in a statement. "Today's decision does not change the fact that the orcas who once lived naturally wild and free, are today kept as slaves by SeaWorld. PETA will regroup and determine how to continue to work for the legal protection they deserve."

SeaWorld denies any mistreatment of the animals and says their parks have raised awareness that has helped conservation efforts. They also say they have rescued orcas injured in the wild.

San Diego federal judge tosses killer whale 'slavery' case - San Jose Mercury News