Historic Move Towards Animal Rights In Spain

In an historic move Spain has become the first country to grant rights to an animal:

In what is thought to be the first time a national legislature has granted such rights to animals, the Spanish parliament’s environmental committee voted to approve resolutions committing the country to the Great Apes Project, designed by scientists and philosophers who say that humans’ closest biological relatives also deserve rights.

- Times Online

While this is an extremely important move towards greater debate and understanding of the issues around human exploitation of animals, unfortunately the Great Ape Project is still based upon the speciesist attitude that rights are dependant upon the specific species biological closeness to humans. The Great Ape Project disregards the true principle of animal rights; the notion that all species should be granted moral equality and be liberated from exploitation and suffering.