The three jumbos who have now got themselves a lawyer
MINNIE, Beulah and Karen are elephants who for decades have belonged to a familyowned travelling zoo in Connecticut. Over the years, they’ve also been hired out for appearances in advertisements, movies and weddings.
And on Monday, they got a lawyer, although they did not ask for one. The prominent animal rights attorney Steven Wise filed a writ of habeas corpus petition on behalf of the elephants, arguing that they are “legal persons” with a right to bodily liberty and asking the Connecticut Superior Court to order their release to a sanctuary.
Wise and his legal group, the Nonhuman Rights Project, have unsuccessfully made this argument several times before in New York, where their plaintiffs were chimpanzees. As in those cases, the elephant lawsuit cites a wide body of scientific research establishing the species’s advanced cognitive abilities and complex social lives – evidence of what the legal team says is the elephants’ “autonomy”.
If the court granted a writ, it would be allowing the elephants to challenge the legality of their detention and acknowledging their “personhood”. That could usher in profound changes in legal status for animals, which are currently considered property in the eyes of the law. But critics contend that it might also weaken the rights of some people.
Tim Commerford, owner of the Commerford Zoo, which owns the three elephants, said in a phone interview that he had not seen the lawsuit and had not been aware it was coming. The animals range in age from 33 to 50 and have all belonged to the zoo for at least 30 years, he said.
“They’re part of our family,” he said.
Legal personhood is a term that is not reserved for human beings. US courts have determined that corporations can be legal persons, and a New Zealand court has extended the label to a river. Courts in Argentina and Colombia have also recognised legal personhood for chimpanzees and a bear. But the Nonhuman Rights Project’s previous attempts in New York have been stymied by rulings that rejected personhood for chimps based on the animals’ inability to bear legal responsibilities and social duties.
Wise said the New York courts were “clearly wrong” about this point, which he hopes the Connecticut court will view differently. He said the project chose Connecticut as its next site for a case even before finding clients – the elephants – because the legal team judged the state’s common law to be favourable to their arguments. What’s more, he said, elephants might stand a better chance than chimps, in part because “apes are so close to us that it makes some people uncomfortable”.
“Judges may view us in a different way when we’re dealing with an animal that doesn’t look anything like us but has many of the same characteristics,” Wise said. Those characteristics, he said, were explained in affidavits from leading elephant experts which cite the animals’ empathy, self-awareness and long-term memory, as well as an ability to use calls and gestures to discuss, plan and execute a course of action. “They engage not only in innovative problem-solving, but engage in co-operative problem-solving.”.
Commerford, the zoo owner, said Beulah, Minnie and Karen had ample space and stimulation. Removing them would be akin to taking away a house cat that is “comfy at your house”, he said. “It’s not right to rip them from my family, from their home,” he said.