It was probably a good idea for Patrick Lavery, the “owner” of Tommy the chimpanzee, not to make an appearance at the appellate court in Albany, NY, yesterday. Check out what he told a TV reporter.
ABC News10 talked to Mr. Lavery at the used trailer lot where he keeps Tommy in a cage in a barn with a TV for company. News10 aired two versions of the report. in this first one, Mr. Lavery who describes Tommy as “a wild, dangerous animal”, and says Tommy is better off in with him than at one of the nation’s best sanctuaries:
NEWS10 ABC: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports
Mr. Lavery embodies all the reasons why it is so urgent that animals like Tommy be recognized by the courts as having certain fundamental rights – specifically the right to bodily liberty.
The second version aired later in the day with a little more detail about the hearing itself: