Letter: Do apes want human rights?

I THINK that we can be kind to animals without the need to grant them honorary personhood ('Plan for the apes', Review, 11 July). Trying to destroy the boundary between apes and human beings as if it were a Berlin Wall is intellectually arrogant and trifling with an explosive moral issue. When was man given the authority to re-designate and co-opt apes into the human camp? I have yet to see the minutes of an extraordinary meeting between apes and man where the apes pushed for a new status.

We as humans have unique qualities and characteristics: emotions, intelligence, feelings, love, organisational ability, benevolence, compassion, etc. Do apes possess these human qualities?

Human beings think and worry about the possible extinction of some species because of these special qualities. Animals are driven by instinct and do not bother about our existence, let alone our rights. They do not think like us.

Langson King Daka

Leicester