Spain has been very busy over the past couple of weeks. A Spanish parliamentary committee voted last month to make Spain the first country to extend legal rights to apes. According to USA Today, the law would give great apes--like chimpanzees and gorillas--the right to life, freedom from arbitrary captivity, and protection from torture. It would outlaw using great apes in experiments, circuses, TV commercials, or films. Zoos would still be allowed but only under improved conditions. In solidarity with the great ape, Pedro Pozas, the secretary-general of the Spanish Great Ape Project, declared, "I am an ape."

But there is also a push to go further. The European Court of Human Rights is considering the case of Matthew Hiasl Pan, a 28-year old Austrian chimp. The question: Whether a chimp is legally considered a person so that it could have a legal guardian and accept funds for upkeep.