Advocate: Rights or not, caged chimp deserves better FacebookTwitterEmail Tommy, a chimpanzee in Mayfield, in a photo provided by the Nonhuman Rights Project. The chimp is owned by Patrick Lavery, who declined to provide a photo or allow the Times Union to visit the animal. Mayfield Meet Tommy. He's a chimpanzee living in Mayfield. And, quite suddenly, he's famous. That's because he's the unsuspecting plaintiff in a groundbreaking case that seeks legal rights for animals. The Nonhuman Rights Project has filed a writ of habeas corpus on Tommy's behalf and is asking a state Supreme Court to release him to a sanctuary for primates.