Nature & Environment

Judge rules in case of Colorado zoo elephants 'being held prisoner'

By T.K. Randall
January 26, 2025

Image: African Bush Elephants (illustrative)
Credit: Gorgo / (PD) Are zoo animals prisoners who have the right to demand release ? One animal rights group - the Nonhuman Rights Project - certainly seems to think so.

According to the group, five elephants being held captive at a zoo in Colorado have suffered brain damage due to their imprisonment and have the right to be transferred to an animal sanctuary.

The case actually made it to the state's Supreme Court where a judge ultimately ruled that elephants are not "people" and therefore do not have the right to demand release.

The zoo also argued that the elephants were too old for such a move and that it would do more harm than good to have them transferred to a completely new environment with other animals."The legal question here boils down to whether an elephant is a person... and because an elephant is not a person, the elephants here do not have standing to bring a habeas corpus claim," the ruling states.

This isn't the first time such a case has being brought to court, either - back in 2022 the same animal rights group argued that an elephant named Happy should be released from a zoo in New York for similar reasons.

Once again, the question of whether or not an elephant is a person was a critical aspect of the case.

"While no one disputes the impressive capabilities of elephants, we reject petitioner's arguments that it is entitled to seek the remedy of habeas corpus on Happy's behalf," Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote at the time.

"Habeas corpus is a procedural vehicle intended to secure the liberty rights of human beings who are unlawfully restrained, not nonhuman animals."

Source: Motherboard

Tags: Elephants