Kevin Schneider is the Executive Director of the Nonhuman Rights Project. The NhRP was featured in the documentary Unlocking the Cage and works to secure fundamental rights for nonhuman animals through litigation, legislation, and education. Specifically, the NhRP is involved in ongoing litigation to change the common law status of great apes, elephants, dolphins, and whales from mere “things” to “legal persons” that possess such fundamental rights as bodily liberty and bodily integrity. Kevin earned his law degree from Florida State University in 2013 with a specialization in environmental and land use law. He graduated with a B.A. in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, in 2009. We discuss the differences between animal welfare laws and rights, the history of habeas corpus, the legal definition and application of personhood, the clients of the NhRP, and the common counter arguments of opponents to legal rights for nonhuman animals.

Links from episode

Nonhuman Rights Project

Nonhuman Rights Project Progress

Happy the Elephant

Elephant Mirror Test

Dolphin Mirror Test

Chimpanzee Memory Test

Unlocking the Cage

Sandra’s personhood status in Argentina