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Should elephants have the same rights as people? A Colorado court may decide

Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo have lived in Colorado Springs for decades in the elephant exhibit at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

Colorado's highest court will hear arguments Thursday on whether the older African female elephants should be legally able to challenge their captivity under a long-held process used by prisoners to dispute their detention. In a statement ahead of Thursday's hearing, the zoo claimed the NonHuman Rights Project isn't concerned about the elephants but is just trying to create a judicial precedent that would allow the captivity of any animal to challenged. “We hope Colorado isn’t the place that sets the slippery slope in motion of whether your beloved and well-cared-for dog or cat should have habeas corpus and would be required to ‘go free,’ at the whim of someone else’s opinion of them,” it said.

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