The court ruled that the elephants could not seek release from a Colorado zoo because they were not human
Five elephants at a Colorado zoo have no legal right to seek their release because they are not human, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The court said the decision “does not affect our respect for these magnificent animals”.
“Instead, the legal question here boils down to whether an elephant is a person,” the court said. “And since an elephant is not a person, elephants here have no standing to file a habeas corpus petition.”
If the court ruled in their favor, the elephants at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs — Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo — could have started a legal process that allows prisoners to challenge their detention and would have been transferred to an elephant sanctuary.
CHICAGO’S LINCOLN PARK ZOO LOSES FLAMINGOS, SEALS TO BIRD FLU
Elephants Kimba, front, and Lucky, back, at the Colorado Springs Zoo in Colorado. (Cheyenne Mountain Zoo via AP)
Judgment comes after a a similar case in New York 2022, when the court also ruled against an elephant named Happy at the Bronx Zoo.
Both cases were brought by the Nonhuman Rights Project, an animal rights group.
The group argued that the elephants in the Colorado case, which were born in the wild in Africa, showed signs of brain damage because a zoo is essentially a prison for intelligent and social animals that roam the wild for miles a day.
She requested that the animals be released to one of the two authorized elephant sanctuaries in the US because of concerns that they could no longer live in the wild.
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Getty Images)
The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo contested that moving the elephants and potentially placing them with new animals would be cruel at their age and could cause unnecessary stress. The zoo says that the animals are not used to being in larger herds and do not have the skills or desire to join them.
The zoo applauded the ruling and said legal battle on the issue was disappointing, accusing the Nonhuman Rights Project of “abusing the court system” to raise funds.
“Their real goal seems to be to manipulate people into donating to their cause by constantly publishing sensational court cases with relentless appeals to supporters to donate,” the zoo said in a statement.
BABY GORILLA FOUND IN AIRCRAFT CARGO IN TURKISH ZOO
The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs held a day camp for children called Summer Safari Camp. (Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The Nonhuman Rights Project said the latest ruling “perpetuates a clear injustice” and predicted that courts in future cases would reject the idea that only humans have a right to freedom.
“As with other social justice movements, early losses are expected as we challenge the entrenched status quo that has allowed Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo to be relegated to a lifetime of mental and physical suffering,” the group said in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
