Californiabees may be fish , but Colorado elephants are not people . At least , that ’s the opinion of the state ’s Supreme Court , who this week decree that five elephants currently held at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs have no sound right to pursue their dismission from the establishment .
It is , admittedly , a weird determination to have to put on the record – and so , unsurprisingly , it has an equally unusual backstory . It begin a few calendar month ago , in October of 2024 , when creature rights group The NonHuman Rights Project ( NHRP ) establish a legal display case arguing that the Cheyenne Mountain Five – aka Missy , Kimba , Lucky , LouLou , and Jambo – should be declared “ individual ” under the law . Such a ruling would then potentially give the animate being the right to litigate for their own freedom , exploiting a summons mainly used for prisoners disputing their detention , AP News explain .
It ’s a premise that is , perhaps , not as bizarre as it sounds . Elephants are incredibly healthy animate being : “ We know , for model , that they are capable of thoughtful cooperation and empathy , and are capable to recognise themselves in a mirror , ” pointed out Rachel Dale , now a research worker at the University for Continuing Education Krems , in Austria , back in 2017 .
“ These ability are extremely strange in animals and very rarified indeed in non - primates , ” Dale , who was not need in the Colorado suit , explained .
That ’s not all . elephant show many conduct we sometimes like to conceive of asquintessentially human : they get injure comrades food and piddle ; they comfort each other , and show grief when make out ones die . They ’ve even been seenburying their dead .
“ They last in category ; they protect their young , ” wrote Jill Lepore , David Woods Kemper ' 41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School , in The Atlanticback in 2021 . “ They seem to read themselves as individuals , with thoughts that disagree from the thoughts of other creatures . They suffer , and they understand suffer . ”
More than that , there ’s plenty of precedent for non - human entity being considered “ persons ” under US police force . Famously , company are “ people ” ; so too areshipsand , in some place , nature itself . Is bestowing the concept upon an elephant really such a stretch ?
“ The elephant lawsuit might be an edge case , but it is by no means a frivolous case , ” Lepore pointed out , referencing a old case also brought by NHRP – that time in New York , on behalf of an elephant named Happy ( as in Colorado , the courts ruled thatHappy was not a someone ) .
Indeed , for NHRP , the case is all the way - cut : the elephant at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo are being subject to “ genial and physical hurt ” as a result of their captivity , and are show signs of brain equipment casualty , they indicate . It ’s worth noting that all five of the animals were born in the wild , in Africa , and catch as infants in the 1970s and fourscore . Most were sold to menagerie ; Jambo spent a quarter - C in asomewhat notoriouscircus , where she “ would have been controlled with a painful tool called a bullhook,”NHRP wrote , “ as are elephants still used in Circus today . ”
But that foresighted time in enslavement , as well as the group ’s ripe age , is precisely why the fauna should not pull up stakes Cheyenne Mountain , the zoo says . Moving an elephant isno picnic at the best of times , and both of the licenced elephant sanctuary in the US are a minimal 18 - hour drive away . More than that , the menagerie debate , after drop basically their full lives in a small , captive chemical group , the elephant have neither the acquirement nor the desire to join a heavy ruck with unfamiliar members .
With that in creative thinker , the menagerie is “ happy with [ the ] outcome ” of the court judgement , astatementannounced Tuesday – although , they add , they “ are disappointed that it ever total to this . ”
“ For the past 19 month , we ’ve been subject to their distorted attacks , and we ’ve waste valuable time and money responding to them in courts and in the court of public ruling , ” the statement reads . It points out Cheyenne Mountain ’s systematically eminent rankings by the world ; its fundraising for frontline conservation efforts ; as well as its “ historical ” accreditation by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums ( AZA ) .
“ In about 50 age of AZA accreditation , CMZoo was only the quaternary organization to take in a completely ‘ clean ’ report , which mean there was n’t a individual major or minor concern reported , ” they observe – “ include in the strenuous review of our elephant care programme . ”
While disappointing for any elephant hope to , say , donate to apolitical partyor rent an apartment , the Colorado Supreme Court insists its opinion is – ironically – nothing personal .
The determination “ does not flex on our regard for these imperial animals , ” itsaid .
“ rather , the sound motion here churn down to whether an elephant is a person [ … ] And because an elephant is not a somebody , the elephants here do not have standing to institute a habeas corpus claim . ”
