Mission of the Nonhuman Rights Project
The mission of the Nonhuman Rights Project is, through education and litigation, to change the common law status of at least some nonhuman animals from mere “things,” which lack the capacity to possess any legal right, to “persons,” who possess such fundamental rights as bodily integrity and bodily liberty, and those other legal rights to which evolving standards of morality, scientific discovery, and human experience entitle them.
Specific Goals
To advance this mission, our specific goals are:
1. To persuade an American state high court to declare that a specific nonhuman animal is a legal person who possesses the capacity for a specific legal right.
2. To persuade American state high courts to increase the number of legal rights of any nonhuman animal who is declared to be a legal person to the degree to which it should be entitled.
3. To persuade American state high courts to declare that appropriate nonhuman animals possess the capacities for legal rights and to extend legal rights to them accordingly.
4. To educate the legal profession and judiciary about the legal, social, historical and political justice of the Nonhuman Rights Project’s arguments.
5. To communicate to the public and media the NhRP’s mission and the justice of recognizing specific nonhuman animals as legal persons.
6. To educate the courts, the legal profession, the media, and the public about the state of current knowledge about the cognition of those nonhuman animals who are, or who might be, plaintiffs in the Nonhuman Rights Project’s lawsuits.
Code of Values
We work to attain legal personhood for nonhuman animals by operating within the reigning legal paradigms.
We communicate with the courts, the legal profession, the media, and the public truthfully, authentically, respectfully, and in a dignified manner.
We give credit generously and unfailingly to anyone who assists our work.
We work in harmony with any individual or organization that assists us in advancing our goals.
We treat our coworkers and volunteers with the greatest respect and gratitude for their efforts on behalf of this work.
