Chimpanzees in Michigan are not considered “persons” with human rights, according to the state’s Court of Appeals.

That means the owners of the DeYoung Family Zoo in the Upper Peninsula will not need to defend the confinement of seven chimpanzees.

The Oct. 17 decision by Judges Matthew Ackerman, Brock Swartzle and Chistopher Trebilcock came after a lawyer for the Nonhuman Rights Project argued on Oct. 14 that a court should decide whether chimpanzees are entitled to some of the same rights to liberty as humans.

In its decision, the court said chimpanzees are animals, which previous courts have said should be treated as property.

“No exception exists for ‘intelligent’ animals , which in any event has no natural stopping point ,” the appellate court’s decision reads. The Michigan S

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