Are animals people too?

Remember this picture that swept around the Internet a few years ago?

A group of chimps gathered to mourn as the body of another one, who died of heart failure, was taken away.

It was a hard heart that didn’t pause to think.

Now, a long-awaited trial contending that a chimp is a person — in this case: Tommy — is finally going to trial.

A mid-level appeals court in New York State today began hearing the case of 26-year-old Tommy, who lives alone in a dark cage in upstate New York. His circus days are over.

Attorney Steve Wise brought the suit contending that animals have rights so that Tommy can live out his years in a chimp sanctuary in Florida.

He argues Tommy has been unlawfully imprisoned and should be released.

Tommy’s owner says the chimp has cable TV and a stereo and is just fine where he is.