BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Five elephants in a Colorado zoo could someday sue for their freedom, if the state’s Supreme Court sides with an animal rights group and declares them “persons” under the law. But first, the justices had a few questions about cats and dogs.
“How do I know when it stops?” Justice Melissa Hart said during Thursday’s hearing, wondering whether this ruling might someday lead to emancipating people's pets. At stake is whether the elephants from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo should be treated as people under the law. It was a question asked several times but never really answered.
The animal advocacy group, the NonHuman Rights Project, says Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo — born in the wild in Africa — should be able to use a long-held process that's mainly for prisoners to dispute their detention. The group says the elephants are showing signs of brain damage because the zoo is essentially a prison for such highly intelligent and social animals, known to roam for miles a day. They want the animals released to one of the two accredited elephant sanctuaries in the United States because the group doesn't think they can live the wild anymore.
The group unsuccessfully sued in 2022 on behalf of an elephant at the Bronx Zoo named Happy. The highest court in New York ruled that Happy, while intelligent and deserving of compassion , cannot be considered a person who is illegally confined with the ability to pursue a petition seeking release. The N.