An attempt to free five elephants from a Colorado Zoo has been rejected after a court ruled the elephants were not human.
An animal rights group said Messi, Kimba, Lucky, Lolo and Jumbo are effectively imprisoned at the zoo, and have applied to be transferred to an elephant sanctuary.
She tried to file a lawsuit on behalf of the animals, a legal process that allows anyone to challenge their detention in court.
The Colorado Supreme Court said it boiled down to “whether an elephant is a person” and therefore has the same freedom rights as a human — and ultimately decided they didn't.
It ruled 6-0 in favor of an earlier district court decision stating that the state's habeas corpus process “applies only to persons, not to non-human animals.”
State Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkoetter added in her report that this is true “no matter how cognitively, psychologically or socially developed they are.” to rule.
While it said the five elderly African elephants were “majestic,” the court ruled that the lawsuit could not be brought “because an elephant is not a human being.”
The Human Rights Project (NRP) has petitioned to move the elephants from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to an “elephant-friendly sanctuary” in 2023.
The group said animals have a right to freedom because they are intelligent and emotionally complex animals.
She claimed the elephants showed signs of “trauma, brain damage and chronic stress” and that they were effectively “imprisoned” at the zoo.
The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo rejected the claim, saying the elephants received outstanding care, and a local court backed it.
After the Supreme Court ruling, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo called NRP's lawsuit “frivolous” and said it had “wasted” time and money on the case.
It accused the group of “abusing the court systems to raise funds” and claimed that its goal was to “manipulate people into donating to their cause by constantly posting sensational court cases with persistent calls for supporters to donate.”
The NRP said the decision “perpetuates a clear injustice, stating that unless an individual is a human being he does not have the right to liberty.”
“As with other social justice movements, early losses are to be expected as we challenge the entrenched status quo that has allowed Messi, Kemba, Lucky, Lolo and Jumbo to remain in psychological and physical suffering for life,” the group said in a statement. statement.
An earlier attempt by the NRP to free an elephant named Happy from the Bronx Zoo in New York was rejected after a court ruled she was not a legal person.
