A New York State judge has upheld a lower court ruling in a case involving a Niagara Falls, New York chimpanzee.
A group calling itself The Nonhuman Rights Project has been fighting to get Kiko the chimp the same legal status of a human in order to win his freedom.
Kiko is a 33 year old chimp owned by Niagara Falls primate specialist Carmen Presti.
But in his ruling, Appeals Court Justice Eugene Fahey admits it was a tough decision, one he writes "we will not be able to ignore because it speaks to our relationship with all the life around us. "
Fahey adding while a chimp is not a person, there is no doubt it is not merely a thing.