Spain’s landmark law: A new dawn for great apes

Perhaps it is because apes are so much like us as humans that we feel pain and sorrow at the story of animals like chimpanzees living alone in wretched cramped conditions in a circus cage.

The Spanish government has just recognised that, because apes are “sociable animals”, just like human beings, keeping them in isolation without company is “inhumane”.

It has just enacted a law aiming to eradicate practices harming “the life, physical integrity, dignity and survival of great apes”.

Almost 150 primates including gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees could benefit from the draft law, say activists.

Animal welfare laws have also been tightened in the country, which have increased jail sentences for animal abuse.

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There might well be those who think that people have more important issues to deal with than worrying about animal welfare – after all, many of us eat animals every day.

But the Spanish example should give us pause for thought about how we treat all the living creatures which share the planet with us.

What sets us apart as humans is the ability, we believe, to think and reason and, from that, show compassion to the vulnerable.

Do we not have a duty to be kind and not to inflict suffering?