(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-16 16:05

Austria's Supreme Court has turned down a petition by animal rights activists to have a chimp declared a person, media reported Wednesday.

The Vienna-based Association Against Animal Factories has sought to have the chimpanzee, Matthew Hiasl Pan, declared a person in hopes of gaining guardianship of the animal.

The animal shelter where Pan and another chimp, Rosi, have lived for 25 years filed for bankruptcy protection, threatening to leave them homeless.

Donors have offered to help support him, but under Austrian law, only a person can receive personal gifts.

The court's decision follows in the footsteps of a similar ruling last fall. In September, a provincial judge in the city of Wiener Neustadt dismissed the case, ruling the rights group has no legal standing to argue on the chimp's behalf.

The group said it would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. It argued only personhood will ensure he isn't sold to someone outside Austria, where he's protected by strict animal cruelty laws.