Elephants can't pursue their release from a Colorado zoo because they're not human, court says

DENVER (AP) — Five elephants at a Colorado zoo may be “majestic” but, since they're not human, they do not have the legal right to pursue their release, Colorado’s highest court said Tuesday.

The ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court follows a similar court defeat in New York in 2022 for an elephant named Happy at the Bronx Zoo in a case brought by an animal rights group. Rulings in favor of the animals would have allowed lawyers for both Happy and the elephants at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs — Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo — to pursue a long-held legal process for prisoners to challenge their detention and possibly be sent to live in an elephant sanctuary instead.

The Colorado court said its decision “does not turn on our regard for these majestic animals.”

“Instead, the legal question here boils down to whether an elephant is a person,” the court said. “And because an elephant is not a person, the elephants here do not have standing to bring a habeas corpus claim,” it said in the ruling.

The same animal rights group that tried to win Happy’s release, the Nonhuman Rights Project, also brought the case in Colorado.

The group argued that the Colorado elephants, born in the wild in Africa, have shown signs of brain damage because the zoo is essentially a prison for such intelligent and social creatures, known to roam for miles a day. It wanted the animals released to one of the two accredited elephant sanctuaries in the United States because the group doesn’t think they can no longer live in the wild.

The zoo argued moving the elephants and potentially placing them with new animals would be cruel at their age, possibly causing unnecessary stress. It said they aren’t used to being in larger herds and, based on the zoo's observations, the elephants don’t have the skills or desire to join one.

While welcoming the Colorado court's ruling, the zoo said it was disappointed there had to be a legal fight over the issue and accused the Nonhuman Rights Project of “abusing court systems" to fundraise.

“It seems their real goal is to manipulate people into donating to their cause by incessantly publicizing sensational court cases with relentless calls for supporters to donate,” the zoo said in a statement.

The Nonhuman Rights Project said the latest ruling "perpetuates a clear injustice” and predicted future courts would reject the idea that only humans have a right to liberty.

“As with other social justice movements, early losses are expected as we challenge an entrenched status quo that has allowed Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo to be relegated to a lifetime of mental and physical suffering,” it said in a statement.