WASHINGTON: Colorado's top court ruled on Tuesday that five elephants at a zoo in the United States are not people and, therefore, lack the human right to be released from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, reported German news agency (dpa).
The Colorado Supreme Court found that the elephants – Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo – as non-human animals, were not entitled to "habeas corpus", a legal concept which allows humans to claim unlawful detention in court and seek release.
Habeas corpus did not apply to non-human animals, "no matter how cognitively, psychologically, or socially sophisticated they may be", the court ruling stated.
The Nonhuman Rights Project (NRP), which brought the case, said in a statement that the court's opinion "perpetuates a clear injustice".
The group argued that elephants, born in the wild in Africa, had a right to liberty because they were autonomous, extraordinarily cognitively and socially complex beings.
The NRP had wanted the animals to be released to an accredited elephant sanctuary in the US.
"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," the NRP said.
The zoo had pushed back against any suggestion the elephants were "receiving anything short of remarkable care," the court ruling added.
