An animal rights group has appeared before a supreme court to argue whether five elephants living at a Colorado zoo can be declared ‘persons’ under the law and one day sue for their freedom.
The animal rights group NonHuman Rights Project argues that the female African elephants living at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo are showing signs of brain damage from decades of captivity.
NonHuman Rights Project argue that the elephants, Missy, Kimba, LouLou, Jambo and Lucky, should be able to pursue a petition of habeas corpus, a process used to dispute unlawful imprisonment, and want the elephants to be moved to a Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries-accredited sanctuary.
“They are suffering immensely and unnecessarily. Without judicial intervention, they are doomed to suffer day after day, year after year, for the rest of their lives,” Jake Davis, a lawyer for the NhRP, said in a submission to the court.
The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo says moving the elephants to an unfamiliar environment would be cruel and risk causing unnecessary stress.
The NhRP has previously filed lawsuits against the Bronx Zoo and the Fresno Chaffee Zoo for the treatment of elephants in those zoos.
