Animals Have Rights Too!!

This story is unbelievable but it strangely enough falls in line with the general direction of jurisprudence in the modern day:

A federal court is being asked to grant constitutional rights to five killer whales who perform at marine parks - an unprecedented and perhaps quixotic legal action that is nonetheless likely to stoke an ongoing, intense debate at America's law schools over expansion of animal rights.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is accusing the SeaWorld parks of keeping five star-performer whales in conditions that violate the 13th Amendment ban on slavery. SeaWorld depicted the suit as baseless.

Laurence Tribe, professor of law at Harvard, gave his support of PETA's case stating that "[p]eople may well look back at this lawsuit and see in it a perceptive glimpse into a future of greater compassion for species other than our own."

So I guess the next logical step is to enact laws mandating that only animals that consent to be sold can be lawfully held by their masters  And concomitant to this is that animals will now have legal standing which means that they now will also have to abide by the laws, e.g., no urinating in public parks, and no more breaking into trashcans on garbage day.

Of course Tribe and other fellow supporters of animal rights in the law professoriat would never think of including fetuses as deserving of protection under the Constitution...