The Great Ape Project (GAP) is a showcase project of the international animal rights movement. Following the award of the gbs Ethics Prize to the GAP initiators Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer three months ago, gbs adviser Colin Goldner took over the post as GAP coordinator in German-speaking countries. His first "official act": Supported by the Giordano Bruno Stiftung, the Albert Schweitzer Stiftung, the Tierschutz-Stiftung as well as the associations "Menschen für Tierrechte", "Tierrechte aktiv" and "Die Tierfreunde", he launched a website that provides information on the goals and strategies of the Great Ape Project.

Finally, with greatapeproject.de, the Great Ape Project offers a German online platform that provides information about the great apes and their current living conditions. First and foremost, the goal is to build a network of supporters through the website that will reinforce the demand for fair treatment of our closest relatives.

In an interview with "Evo-Magazin", Goldner explained his commitment to the relaunch of the GAP as follows: "I see granting basic rights to great apes as a first step towards an urgently needed paradigm shift: great apes represent the fulcrum of the relationship between humans and nature; like nothing and nobody else they define the sacrosanct divide between humans and animals: If they are enshrined 'on the other side', then all other animals are with them. If the confines to apes became permeable, this could be a 'door opener' that would ultimately benefit all animals. In the best case scenario - in analogy to the abolition of slavery - this could lead to the aforementioned paradigm shift, to a radical change in the social consensus on the human-animal relationship."

Further Links:

• The new GAP website
• "Brother Chimp, Sister Bonobo: Rights for Great Apes!" (English version)
• "Bruder Schimpane, Schwester Bonobo – Grundrechte für Menschenaffen" (German version)