Dear John,
As I reflect on the past year, I want to share a simple and heartfelt thank you. Your support is the reason the Nonhuman Rights Project can continue to push for justice, even and especially when our work challenges a long-held legal status quo.
Thanks to you, we achieved something remarkable in Michigan this year. For the first time, a court was asked to consider whether chimpanzees held in a roadside zoo deserve the protection of habeas corpus—the Great Writ—and the right to bodily liberty under Michigan’s common law. This case, brought on behalf of the DeYoung Prisoners, received support from well-known experts in chimpanzee cognition and behavior, including the late Dr. Jane Goodall. While the Michigan Court of Appeals didn’t rule in our favor this October, the hearing itself represents real progress.
Firsts matter. They open doors that were previously shut. They spark discussions that once seemed impossible. They show that the belief in freedom for nonhuman animals is no longer an outlier. It is now firmly presented in the courts, where it belongs.
This moment didn't happen by chance. It happened because YOU chose to be a part of our team—to help us fight for nonhuman animals. Your generosity fuels the research, legal action, and persistence needed to confront a system that has viewed animals as rightless for centuries. It allows us to stand up, time and again, for our clients and for the principle that fundamental rights, like the right to liberty, should be recognized and protected for all autonomous beings, regardless of species.
We understand this work can be slow. However, it also builds over time. Each filing, each argument, and each historic first adds to a future where justice is not constrained by outdated ideas but by what science and research shows us about nonhuman animals.
Thank you for being part of that future. We are truly grateful to walk this path with you!
Wishing you a beautiful holiday season,
Gabby Mora
Development Manager, the NhRP
