A couple of years ago, photographer David Slater was out and about shooting photos in the wild when a monkey by the name of Naruto took his camera and snapped what could be considered the world’s first monkey selfie. It seemed like a rather humorous moment which quickly took a turn for the worse as Slater found himself a long and drawn out legal battle over the rights of the photo.However the good news is that it looks like the lawsuit has finally come to an end as Slater and PETA (who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Naruto) managed to reach a settlement. As part of the agreement, Slater has agreed to donate 25% of any future revenue derived from using or selling the monkey selfie, and that the money will be donated to charities that help protect the habitat of Naruto and other crested macaques in Indonesia.
In a joint statement that was issued by both parties, “PETA and David Slater agree that this case raises important, cutting-edge issues about expanding legal rights for nonhuman animals, a goal that they both support, and they will continue their respective work to achieve.” PETA lawyer Jeff Kerr adds, “PETA’s groundbreaking case sparked a massive international discussion about the need to extend fundamental rights to animals for their own sake, not in relation to how they can be exploited by humans.”
It is a rather interesting case and one that could be used as a precedent for the future, and for the most part we reckon that Slater is probably extremely relieved that it is all over, with a recent report from The Guardian revealing that Slater spent all of his money trying to defend himself and to fight this case, to the point where he could not even afford to fly himself to San Francisco to attend one of the hearings.
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