‘An elephant is not a person’, court rules

Rights group unsuccessfully argues animals are “imprisoned” in Zoo

Five elephants have lost their day in court after a Colorado judge ruled they’re not, in fact, people.

Elephants Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo are residents of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. An animal rights group argued that the elephants were being “imprisoned” and filed a habeas corpus claim on their behalf — a legal move traditionally reserved for humans challenging unlawful detention.

But the Colorado Supreme Court wasn’t having it. In a ruling that boiled down to “an elephant is not a person”, the court concluded that habeas corpus simply doesn’t apply to non-human animals.

“No matter how cognitively, psychologically, or socially sophisticated they may be,” State Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter said in her ruling, “an elephant is not a person.”

The Nonhuman Rights Project (NRP), the group behind the case, had pushed for the elephants to be sent to a sanctuary, arguing that they are emotionally complex, intelligent creatures who deserve their freedom. It claimed the elephants showed signs of “trauma, brain damage, and chronic stress.”

The zoo defended its care of the animals as top-notch and dismissed the lawsuit as “frivolous”, accusing NRP of “abusing court systems to fundraise” and calling the case a waste of time and money.

NRP, labelled the ruling a “clear injustice” and issued a statement saying:

“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.”

Across the Atlantic, the idea of granting legal personality to animals is gaining traction. City firm Simmons & Simmons recently made waves for its work with the Pacific Whale Fund and Ocean Vision Legal, drafting legislation that would recognise whales in the Pacific Islands as “sentient beings with intrinsic value.”

While the elephants at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo remain firmly classified as just animals for now, it seems the debate over the legal rights of animals isn’t going away any time soon.