Huge step for apekind

Spanish Parliament took an unprecedented step last week by extending legal rights to apes, becoming the first country to make such a bold effort on behalf of the highly intelligent creatures.

The country’s environmental committee agreed to support the Great Ape Project, whose mission is to gain rights for gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees, the species with which humans share 99 percent of their DNA.

Spain has no wild apes, so many Spaniards found the decision odd. Still, the resolutions adopted by Parliament will ban the use of the animals in circuses, TV commercials, film and harmful experiments.