An appeals court in New York will consider whether chimpanzees should be given the same legal rights as humans.

The non-profit organisation Nonhuman Rights Project launched the legal battle in a bid to establish the "legal personhood" of Tommy, a 26-year-old chimpanzee.

The animal rights group want Tommy to be declared "a cognitively complex autonomous legal person with the fundamental lead right not to be imprisoned."

They say the chimpanzee's detention in a "small, dark, cement cage in a cavernous dark shed" in New York is "morally wrong," and want Tommy moved to a sanctuary in Florida.

"As a matter of both liberty and equality, Tommy should be seen as a person," spokesman Steven Wise said.

A bonobo lies at the world's only sanctuary for the endangered great ape outside Congo's capital. Credit: REUTERS/Katrina Manson

The original lawsuit was thrown out, as were three similar lawsuits filed on behalf of other chimpanzees.

Wise appealed the decision and the case will go before the state appeals division in Albany on Wednesday.

He said after visiting Tommy: