Protect The Harvest | Nonhuman Rights Project Loses Another Habeas Case for Elephants

As we have reported previously (here, here, here, here), an animal rights group called the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) has a history of filing fruitless cases to establish that animals should have the same basic rights as people. NhRP has used the common law and statutory writ of habeas corpus in an effort to “liberate” elephants and apes from various U.S. zoos and other facilities. None of these cases has succeeded. The most recent failure occurred this month in Colorado where a state court judge denied a habeas writ with respect to five African elephants residing at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society. Nonhuman Rights Project, Inc. v. Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society, et al., No. 23CV31236 (Colo. Dist Ct., El Paso County Dec. 3, 2023).

Like virtually every case before it, the Colorado court noted that “[b]ecause the NHRP seeks an expansion of existing legal rights rather than enforcement of already-existing rights, its project is appropriately directed to the legislature, not to this Court. Existing law, which it is this Court’s responsibility to interpret and apply, compels dismissal.” Slip. op. at 9.

The court held that neither the elephants nor NhRP had standing to sue and, even if they did, the petition did not make a prima facie showing that the elephants are unlawfully confined.

The elephants had no standing because they are not “persons” entitled to invoke the writ of habeas corpus under Colorado law.