US court dismisses chimp lawsuit

A US judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to free a pair of chimpanzees on the basis that they deserved "personhood" status.

Steven Wise, president of the Nonhuman Rights Project, second left, and Assistant Attorney General Christopher Coulston, second from right, appear in Manhattan State Supreme Court, in New York, Wednesday, May 27, 2015. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, Pool) Source: POOL AP

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to free two chimpanzees from a New York state university by arguing the human-like animals deserve "personhood" status.

State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe writes in a decision made public on Thursday that she is bound by a higher court's decision from considering Leo and Hercules as people.

The Nonhuman Rights Project had filed court papers in Manhattan to remove the chimpanzees from Stony Brook University on Long Island, where they are used in locomotion studies.

Lawyers had hoped to place them in a Florida sanctuary.

In May, Jaffe heard arguments for and against releasing the mammals.

Nonhuman Rights Project lawyers have argued the highly intelligent chimpanzees are "autonomous and self-determining beings".