Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Chimp loses bid for 'personhood' status VIENNA, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- An Austrian provincial court appeal to declare a chimp named Matthew "Hiasl" Pan a person has been turned down. Advertisement Haisl was imported into Austria 25 years ago for use in laboratory experiments but has been living in retirement recently at the Vienna Animal Sanctuary, Arkangel Magazine reported. After the sanctuary declared bankruptcy recently, Haisl faced deportation. The appeal concerns an application made in February by Martin Balluch, president of an animal rights group, to be granted legal guardianship of Haisl but the chimp needed personhood status before being granted a legal guardian. Balluch and his legal team said they will appeal to the Austrian High Court in Vienna. "It is astounding how all the courts try to evade the question of personhood of a chimp as much as they can. After all, chimps share 99.5 percent of genes with us humans," Balluch told the magazine. "The question is: are chimps things without interests, or persons with interests." Advertisement Man hacked at coughing assault charge MORRISVILLE, N.C., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A North Carolina man was charged with assault on a government official, who contends the man intentionally coughed on him. Morrisville, N.C., police officer Chris Gill alleges Kent Kauffman assaulted him after being ticketed for driving without wearing a seatbelt, a misdemeanor, the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. reported. Kauffman, the arrest report indicated, looked into Gill's eyes before "hacking" in his face, a Morrisville police spokeswoman said. "He says I coughed in his face," Kauffman said. "But that would only work if he had a 4-foot-long face." Kauffman said he developed a cough after his dog died of kidney failure recently. Britain goes after smoking drivers LONDON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- British smokers may be losing one of the last places they could light up in peace -- their own cars. Under new regulations, drivers who crash while smoking could be prosecuted for driving while distracted, The Telegraph reported. That would mean a fine of around $5,000, nine points on their licenses or even a suspension. The Department of Transportation has added 42 pages and 29 additional rules to the new Highway Code. The code was last revised in 1999. Advertisement In addition to listing smoking as a "distraction," the code now advises drivers to pull over if the sun is in their eyes. Drivers cannot be ticketed simply for smoking behind the wheel. But it could make crashes far more expensive and unpleasant. Man accused of stealing 3,000 shoes WAUKESHA, Wis., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A man accused of stealing 1,500 pairs of shoes from middle and high schools in Wisconsin did so to satisfy a footwear fetish, police said. Erik D. Heinrich of Kenosha, Wis., was free on $10,000 bail in the case charging him with three counts of burglary for stealing shoes from three high schools and one middle school in the Waukesha, Wis., area, Milwaukee television station WTMJ reported. Heinrich, 27, was convicted of breaking into a Kenosha high school in 2005, having entered no-contest pleas to felony burglary and misdemeanor counts of obstructing an officer, disorderly conduct and theft. The burglary conviction in that case was dismissed in 2006 after Heinrich completed one year of probation, which included counseling, and performing 50 hours of community service.
