Professor Richard Cupp Quoted in "Are Animals Entitled to Basic Legal Rights, Just Like People?" -- Los Angeles Times

Professor Richard L. Cupp is quoted in the Los Angeles Times opinion article, "Are Animals Entitled to Basic Legal Rights, Just Like People?" The article considers cases in New York and California that are part of a campaign to give legal rights to nonhuman animals.

Excerpts from "Are Animals Entitled to Basic Legal Rights, Just Like People?" 

The New York Court of Appeals noted that habeas corpus was intended to protect people and had never been applied to a nonhuman animal.

Expanding the definition would lead, the court said, to "a labyrinth of questions." It would call into question the very premises underlying not just agricultural animal ownership and laboratory testing of animals but also pet ownership.

And if all animals have the right to sue, well, as one Pepperdine professor put it: "Legal persons can't be eaten."

The complete article may be found at Los Angeles Times (subscription required)