In a significant legal decision, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled against the Nonhuman Rights Project's attempt to classify five elephants as persons, thereby denying their request to relocate the animals to a sanctuary.
Court Rejects Elephants' Rights Claim, Affirming Their Status as Non-People
Court Rejects Elephants' Rights Claim, Affirming Their Status as Non-People
The Colorado Supreme Court has reaffirmed that elephants do not possess the same legal rights as humans in a recent ruling.
The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that elephants are not considered people, dismissing a lawsuit aimed at relocating five elephants from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to an elephant sanctuary. The case was brought forth by the Nonhuman Rights Project (NRP), which argued that the elephants—Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo—were essentially imprisoned and deserved rights to freedom due to their emotional complexity. The court unanimously upheld a previous ruling, stating that the state's habeas corpus laws apply to humans only, regardless of the animals' cognitive abilities. Despite acknowledging the elephants' majestic nature, Justice Maria Berkenkotter emphasized that they cannot be granted personhood as defined by law. The NRP condemned the ruling as unjust and indicative of a broader struggle for animal rights, while the zoo criticized the lawsuit as frivolous and a misuse of the court system for fundraising purposes.
