An elephant may never forget but they also can’t use habeas corpus to get out of a zoo.
A court has decided that since elephants are not people, the habeas corpus rule does not apply, The Associated Press reported.
An animal rights group called the Nonhuman Rights Project had been trying to get five elephants freed from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs.
The group attempted to use a process used by prisoners to get out of jail and to send the pachyderms packing to an elephant sanctuary.
The Nonhuman Rights Project claimed that the elephants at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo – Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo – have shown signs of brain damage because the zoo is a prison for the intelligent and social creatures that would have miles of land to roam daily if they were released.
The group wanted them to be released to one of two accredited elephant sanctuaries in the U.S. because they don’t believe the animals can live in the wild any longer.
The zoo said that moving them and possibly putting them with unfamiliar animals would be cruel due to their age and habits. They are not used to being part of a large herd.
The court said the ruling “does not turn on our regard for these majestic animals. Instead, the legal question here boils down to whether an elephant is a person. And because an elephant is not a person, the elephants here do not have standing to bring a habeas corpus claim,” the AP reported.
The decision by Colorado’s Supreme Court was 6-0, Reuters reported.
The Nonhuman Rights Project said the ruling “perpetuates a clear injustice” and said in the future courts will rule that creatures other than humans would have a right to liberty, the AP reported.
The group did not say if it will take the case further, Reuters reported.
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