Thus the Financial Times today. “Chimps are not people, but they deserve our respect and care,” explains the newspaper. I could not believe my eyes when I read the title and byline, and so I delved into the article. It has to do with the Nonhuman Rights Project, an American advocacy group whose board includes the primatologist Jane Goodall. The group is hoping to smash the species barrier by persuading an American court to regard chimpanzees not as property but as persons. This would mean that animals currently kept in research laboratories would be released to Chimp Haven, a retirement forest in Louisiana. The group compares its campaign to the anti-slavery movement. And so forth. Having learned this much, I left the article. I only wonder when will laboratory rats and mice also come to be regarded not as property but as persons. Released to Chimp Haven, they would thrive. They, too, are our relatives, after all. Duty of care is their fair lot, as well.