DENVER — 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 Colorado Supreme Court ruling 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 Nonhuman Rights Project. Rulings in favor of the animals would have allowed lawyers for both Happy and the elephants at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs to pursue a long-held legal process for prisoners to challenge detention and possibly be sent to live in an elephant sanctuary instead.

The Nonhuman Rights Project, an animal rights group, also brought the case in Colorado. — Associated Press