A Colorado court has ruled that elephants cannot sue to be released from a zoo because they are not human. About this informs Associated Press.
Human rights activists have previously argued that elephants are highly evolved, social creatures who deserve freedom and the opportunity to live in conditions better than those offered by captivity. They believed that the elephants had the right to seek this through the courts.
The case involved five elephants from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs: Missy, Kimbe, Lucky, Lulu and Jumbo. However, the state Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that elephants are not persons and therefore cannot sue. The court’s decision emphasizes that this “does not affect our respect for these majestic animals.”
A similar case was heard in New York in 2022, when Happy the elephant from the Bronx Zoo also failed to win freedom through the courts. Both cases were brought by the NonHuman Rights Project (NHRP), which claims that zoos are prisons for intelligent creatures like elephants and harm their physical and mental health.
Elephants, which originate in Africa, are used to open spaces and free movement over long distances, NHRP attorney Jake Davis said. In zoos like Cheyenne Mountain, animals suffer due to limited space and inadequate conditions, leading to stress, behavioral disorders and even brain damage. Davis insisted on the need to transport the elephants to specialized sanctuaries in California or Tennessee.
Zoo officials said that transporting the animals would only increase their stress, given the elephants’ age and habits, and would not improve their conditions. They welcomed the court’s decision and accused the NHRP of “abusing the judicial system” to raise funds.
The NHRP, in turn, expressed disappointment with the court’s decision, calling it a “perpetuation of injustice.” The organization believes that in the future the courts will abandon the idea that the right to freedom belongs exclusively to people.
