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.

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 Colorado high court ruled in favor of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo after an animal rights group alleged the park's elephants were 'unlawfully confined.'