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What we're arguing this Thursday in Colorado
Can elephants be denied recognition of their liberty simply because they aren’t members of the human species? Or is recognition of their right to liberty supported by considerations of science, evolving societal norms, and the fundamental principles of justice, liberty, and equality?
This Thursday in a historic hearing, we’ll be urging the Colorado Supreme Court to reject the position that five elephants confined in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo can be denied the right to liberty protected by habeas corpus simply because of their species membership, i.e. the fact that they’re elephants.
Before you scroll to learn more about what we’re arguing in this milestone case, will you consider becoming a monthly donor [[link removed]] ? Monthly donations of any amount ensure we can steadily build on our progress and effectively challenge wealthy institutions like the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo that have a vested interest in elephants remaining things with no rights.
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Known as the Great Writ, the writ of habeas corpus has long been celebrated for its flexibility and potential to evolve. Throughout history, it has been flexibly used to challenge unjust confinements, including the unjust confinement of individuals with few or no rights, such as enslaved people, women, and children. This history supports our use of the Great Writ to challenge the unjust confinement of Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo.
The position that only humans can have rights is arbitrary and irrational because it ignores the central importance of the elephants’ proven autonomy and extraordinary cognitive complexity. In Colorado, autonomy is a supreme and cherished common law value, which lies at the heart of the right to liberty. Accordingly, to exclude elephants from invoking the protections of habeas corpus despite their proven autonomy is to hold that autonomy does not matter. It is to hold that the fundamental principles of justice, liberty, and equality, which command the protection of autonomy, do not matter either.
The Colorado Supreme Court thus has a choice to make: it can either affirm the fundamental values and principles that courts are duty-bound to uphold, or it can reject them. We contend that it must do the former, as the latter is untenable.
The Nonhuman Rights Project will argue before the Colorado Supreme Court on October 24th. Learn more and get involved on our Colorado campaign page [[link removed]] .
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The NhRP is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation (Tax ID #: 04-3289466). It is solely through your donations that we can continue to work for the recognition and protection of fundamental rights for nonhuman animals.
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