Five elephants at a Colorado zoo may be “majestic” but, since they’re not human, they do not have the legal right to pursue their release, Colorado’s highest court said Tuesday.

The court ruled Tuesday that elephants couldn't be released because animals don't have the same rights as humans. The group that filed the suit said that the animals were experiencing stress, physical issues,

The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a national civil rights organization’s ninth attempt to declare animals legal persons in court and secure them the right to challenge their confinement and custody.

Five elderly African elephants at a Colorado zoo will stay there, after the state's highest court said the animals have no legal right to demand their release because they are not human.

DENVER — Five elephants at a Colorado zoo do not have the legal right to pursue their own freedom from a Colorado zoo, the state’s highest court ruled Tuesday. The ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court follows a similar court defeat in New York in 2022 for an elephant named Happy at the Bronx Zoo in a case brought by the same animal rights group.

The high court rejected arguments that elephants qualify as “persons” under state law and suggested animal advocates turn to the legislative branch to expand legal rights.

On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that elephants do not have the same rights as humans after the Nonhuman Rights Project sued the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo over the conditions of its elephants.

The lives of the "Golden Girls" elephants in Colorado Springs has attracted the ire of In Defense of Animals, an activist group, but zoo officials stand by the facility.

The Colorado Supreme Court followed in the steps of its counterparts on Tuesday and rejected the idea that an animal rights organization could petition for the release of five captive elephants in Colorado Springs.

Judges ruled a bid to free five elderly African elephants from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was based on a law that only applied to humans.