Court ruled that the habeas corpus statute did not apply to the animals because they were not human
The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled in a 6-0 decision that African elephants Jambo, Kimba, LouLou, Lucky and Missy cannot leave Colorado Springs zoo Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, reported Reuters.
The ruling, which was delivered last week, ends a 19-month legal battle. Animal rights non-profit Nonhuman Rights Project had filed the case on the elderly elephants’ behalf, arguing that they should be placed in sanctuaries. The group cited the habeas corpus statute.
Nonhuman Rights Project presented the court with affidavits from seven animal biologists affirming that elephants were highly social and mobile creatures possessing cognitive abilities like empathy and self-awareness – similar to humans. The boredom and stress resulting from zoo confinement could result in brain damage, the group claimed.
However, the court noted that the habeas corpus statute applied only to persons, regardless of cognitive, psychological, or social sophistication.
“Because an elephant is not a person, the elephants here do not have standing to bring a habeas corpus claim,” Justice Maria Berkenkotter wrote in a statement published by Reuters, clarifying that the court’s judgment was not affected by “our regard for these majestic animals generally or these five elephants specifically.”
Berkenkotter added that legislators were better placed to expand nonhuman animals’ legal rights, rather than judges, and that legislators would make the status of nonhuman animals clear if they meant to count them as human.
In its oral argument, Nonhuman Rights Project conceded that it was not seeking total freedom for the elephants, just a different form of confinement. The court explained that this was another cause for the animals to be treated differently from humans.
Nonhuman Rights Project decried the ruling, saying in a statement published by Reuters that it condemned the five elephants to “a lifetime of mental and physical suffering” and “perpetuates a clear injustice.” Cheyenne Mountain Zoo praised the judgment but also said it was disappointed at having to defend the “frivolous” case, pointing out that Nonhuman Rights Project had already lost in similar cases filed against other reputable zoos.
This included a failed bid to free another elephant, Happy, from New York City's Bronx Zoo in 2022. That case was shot down by the Court of Appeals in New York.
“We've wasted valuable time and money responding to them in courts and in the court of public opinion,” Cheyenne Mountain Zoo said in a statement published by Reuters.
The case is Nonhuman Rights Project Inc v Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society et al, Colorado Supreme Court, No. 24SA21.
