{"id":45833,"date":"2025-01-24T23:51:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T23:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/elephants-arent-people-and-cant-sue-to-leave-a-zoo-colorados-top-court-rules\/"},"modified":"2025-01-24T23:51:54","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T23:51:54","slug":"elephants-arent-people-and-cant-sue-to-leave-a-zoo-colorados-top-court-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=45833","title":{"rendered":"Elephants Aren’t People and Can’t Sue to Leave a Zoo, Colorado’s Top Court Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n \"an
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LouLou, an elephant at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, was one of five that the Nonhuman Rights Project claimed in a lawsuit should be able to live in a sanctuary.
\n Molly Condit<\/span>
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On Tuesday, Colorado\u2019s highest court ruled that five elderly African elephants do not have legal standing to sue to leave a local zoo, because they aren\u2019t human. The Supreme Court of the state ruled 6-0 against the Nonhuman Rights Project, the animal rights organization that brought forward the case.<\/p>\n

The group alleged that the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo\u2019s five elephants\u2014named Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo\u2014were \u201cunlawfully confined,\u201d according to the ruling<\/a>. They made their case under the principle of habeas corpus, which allows legal persons to challenge their confinement.<\/p>\n

Elephants have a \u201cright to bodily liberty, because they are autonomous and extraordinarily cognitively and socially complex beings,\u201d the organization argued, according to the ruling. The animal rights group cited affidavits from seven biologists explaining that elephants can experience empathy and self-awareness, as humans do, per Reuters<\/a>\u2019 Jonathan Stempel.<\/p>\n

One affidavit suggested the animals \u201csuffer from chronic frustration, boredom and stress<\/a>\u201d when they\u2019re deprived of a variable environment, exercise and the social opportunities of the wild. The group wanted the creatures to be transferred to an elephant sanctuary.<\/p>\n

Though the court ruled unanimously against the animal rights group, the case \u201cdoes not turn on our regard for these majestic animals generally or these five elephants specifically,\u201d wrote Justice Maria Berkenkotter<\/a> in the decision<\/a>. \u201cInstead, the legal question here boils down to whether an elephant is a person as that term is used in the habeas corpus statute. And because an elephant is not a person, the elephants here do not have standing to bring a habeas corpus claim.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Missy, an African elephant at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo<\/p>\n

Molly Condit<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo cheers the decision in a statement<\/a>, calling the legal affair a \u201cfrivolous lawsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we\u2019re happy with this outcome, we are disappointed that it ever came to this,\u201d the zoo writes. \u201cFor the past 19 months, we\u2019ve been subjected to their misrepresented attacks, and we\u2019ve wasted valuable time and money responding to them in courts and in the court of public opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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,\u201d they add.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time the Nonhuman Rights Project has fought for the release of elephants. In 2022, the organization lost<\/a> a similar court case on behalf of Happy, an Asian elephant at the Bronx Zoo in New York. That time, however, two judges ruled in favor of the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Happy\u2019s] captivity is inherently unjust and inhumane. It is an affront to a civilized society, and every day she remains a captive\u2014a spectacle for humans\u2014we, too, are diminished,\u201d wrote judge Jenny Rivera<\/a> in her dissent at the time, per the Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a>, the Nonhuman Rights Project says the Colorado decision \u201cperpetuates a clear injustice.\u201d But they also suggest the tides will turn on cases like this one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas the court refused to look beyond the species membership of our clients, we envision a legal system that respects the conscious experience of individuals regardless of their biological label,\u201d says Christopher Berry<\/a>, executive director for the Nonhuman Rights Project, to Newsweek<\/a><\/em>\u2019s Tom Howarth.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big part of our challenge is simply overcoming the inertia of the status quo\u2014and that requires time and education,\u201d Berry adds to Rachel Pannett at the Washington Post<\/a><\/em>. \u201cAs we overcome that inertia, more and more judges will find the motivation and courage to rule in our favor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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