The Colorado Supreme Court ruled this week that five elephants at a zoo south of Denver, although “majestic,” lack legal personality and therefore They cannot be considered human with the legal right to request their release.
The ruling, announced Tuesday, reaffirmed that the elephants Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo, at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, do not qualify as “people,” thus ending a long legal battle started by the Nonhuman Rights Project (NRP).
The organization had attempted to relocate the five elephants to a sanctuary, arguing that They suffered mental and physical anguish in captivitybut the justices unanimously concluded that elephants are not “persons,” even in a legal sense.
“The legal question here boils down to whether an elephant is a person. And since an elephant is not a person, elephants in this case have no standing to file a habeas corpus claim,” the ruling states, referring to the legal process used to challenge the unlawful imprisonment of people.
The judges They rejected the NRP position that the cognitive and emotional capacities justify the legal personality and fundamental rights of these elephants. Those abilities include long-term memory, grieving behaviors, self-awareness and intentional communication, NRP representatives said, citing scientific studies.
The organization that seeks the freedom of elephants
The NRP had called for elephants to be treated like “quasi-persons” who deserve moral and legal consideration. But, according to the court, elephants do not meet that definition and therefore cannot make legal claims regarding their confinement.
The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo expressed its “satisfaction” with the ruling and his “disappointment” over the now-concluded legal battle, accusing NPR of “abusing court systems to raise funds.”
NPR indicated that eventually courts will reject the idea that only humans have a right to liberty. “As with other social justice movements, defeats are expected as we challenge a ‘status quo’ that has allowed (the five elephants) to be relegated to a life of mental and physical suffering,” he added.
In the US, other similar rulings have occurred in New York, where a legal battle over an elephant named Happy at the Bronx Zoo in New York in 2022.
The decision in Colorado reaffirms the ‘status quo’, considering elephants as property, but not as people.
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