A team of animal rights activists has filed a lawsuit in the state of Colorado seeking an order that a highly respected zoo free its elephants.

And the state Supreme Court actually is going to consider it.

A report from Channel 7 in Denver explains the high court is planning to hear arguments in the fight over the rights of the elephants at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado to be free,

Apparently, “free” is a relative term, as they animal rights activists would just prefer they go to a “sanctuary” instead.

The fight comes from the Nonhuman Rights Project, which sued the zoo and its officials for the elephants’ freedom.

“We are so thankful that they felt this case was important enough to hear it,” explained Courtney Fern of the animal rights group. “So we’re very excited and optimistic about the hearing on October 24.”

Fern charged, “So elephants suffer in captivity, they should never be held captive and so we hope the with the Supreme Court that they will right this wrong and they will recognize elephants right to liberty and really demonstrate that the law is following up with science and what many people know to be true.”

The zoo explained, in a statement to the broadcast outlet, “Because our community is smart and capable of seeing through their sensationalism, let’s lay out how absurd their legal position is and let’s call this what it is … a fundraising act playing off people’s love of animals, complete with a publicity stunt in Denver this weekend.”

The animal rights activists explained, “We came to Colorado because Colorado has a very favorable case law for the types of cases that we file and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the elephants there are in great need of rescue, they are five wild born female African elephants who are suffering greatly.”

The zoo warned, of course, that the wrong precedent could have far-reaching impact.

“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.”

Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.