In a blow to animal rights, Colorado court refuses to free five elephants from lifetime of suffering

Five 'majestic' elephants at a Colorado zoo do not have the legal right to pursue their release since they are not human, said the Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday (Jan 21).

This ruling comes as the Nonhuman Rights Project, an US organisation dedicated to animal rights sought the release of five elephants, Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo from the Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs.

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Why is the organisation seeking the release of these elephants?

As per the Nonhuman Rights Project, the five jumbos were born in the wild in Africa and their captivity in the zoo has resulted in brain damage. It said that the zoo is essentially a prison for the intelligent and social creatures that are known to roam for miles a day in the wild.

The group believed that after years in captivity, the elephants could no longer survive in the wild and was thus seeking their release into two elephant sanctuaries in the United States. Nonhuman Rights Project was seeking the release under Colorado's Habeas Corpus law, which allows a person to challenge illegal detention.

However, the court concluded that the writ of habeas corpus does not extend to "nonhuman animals".

Only for humans

As per the Colorado court, the state's Habeas statute "only applies to persons and not to nonhumans, no matter how cognitively, psychologically, or socially sophisticated they may be."

Slamming the judgment, the animal rights organisation said that the "Colorado Supreme Court opinion perpetuates a clear injustice, stating that unless an individual is human, they have no right to liberty."

"As with other social justice movements, early losses are expected, as we challenge an entrenched status quo that has allowed Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo to be relegated to a lifetime of mental and physical suffering."

"We'll share further analysis of this opinion as well as our next steps in the coming days," it added.

Previously, the group tried but failed to liberate Happy, an elephant at the Bronx Zoo.

(With inputs from agencies)