US court rules that elephants are not people

A court has ruled that five elephants from Colorado zoo are not people after an animal rights group argued that they were effectively imprisoned.

A court has ruled that elephants are not legally regarded as people.

This bizarre judgement is the result of an ongoing bid to free five elephants from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado. Named Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo, an animal rights group called The Nonhuman Rights Project (NRP) put forward a claim that they are ‘effectively imprisoned.’ They filed to move all five to an elephant sanctuary.

The group tried to bring a habeas corpus claim on behalf of the animals. This is a legal process which allows a person to challenge their detention in court.

NRP argued that the elephants showed signs of ‘trauma, brain damage, and chronic stress,’ adding that they had a right to freedom because of their complex emotions and high intelligence.

Ultimately, the Colorado Supreme Court stated that the issue swayed on ‘whether an elephant is a person’ and therefore has the same liberty rights. In this case, it was concluded that elephants are not people and therefore do not have identical legal standing.

State Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter ruled that while the animals were ‘majestic,’ the animal rights group’s claim couldn’t be brought forward because ‘an elephant is not a person.’

It’s worth noting that Cheyenne Mountain Zoo rejected the allegations made toward the treatment of the animals. They said that the elephants received ‘remarkable care.’ After the Supreme Court ruling, the zoo also called the lawsuit ‘frivolous’ and a waste of time and money.