The NhRP’s lawsuits are the first and only lawsuits to demand nonhuman animals’ right to liberty. Every legal first we achieve in one case is carried over to the next. In 2023, we expanded our litigation into three new states on behalf of fourteen new clients, incorporating the historic dissenting opinions in Happy the elephant’s case as well as new expert affidavits.
2023 Highlights and Impact
2023 Highlights and Impact
Litigation
2023 began with the Nonhuman Rights Project taking on a new client: Mabu, one of the most exploited elephants in the US.
In late 2022, we learned that Mabu had been transferred to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo in California to be used for captive breeding with Amahle and her mother Nolwazi, who were already our clients. The zoo also transferred our client Vusmusi back to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park because their efforts to use him for breeding weren’t successful.
In February 2023, the NhRP filed a new habeas corpus petition in California’s Fifth District Court of Appeal, demanding Amahle, Nolwazi, and Mabu’s right to liberty. The petition detailed how the Fresno Superior Court was wrong to deny the NhRP’s first petition on the grounds that the petition didn’t allege that the elephants are held in state custody: under longstanding California law, you don’t have to be in state custody in order to challenge your imprisonment. This petition was denied without explanation. We then filed a petition in California’s highest court. In December 2023, the Court denied this petition, also without explanation. By this point the petition had gained the support of over 90 experts in animal law, civil rights, philosophy, and religion.
This denial can’t be appealed. However, we’re persisting with our fight for elephants’ right to liberty in California, and our efforts to free all four elephants to sanctuaries and raise awareness of the injustices of captive breeding and elephant importation continue outside the courtroom through earned media, social media, and grassroots advocacy.
Mabu was part of a group of elephants captured in 2003 from eSwatini (then Swaziland) and imported to the US despite global public outcry. He has twice been moved back and forth between the Tucson Reid Park Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to be used for captive breeding. Since 2003, he’s fathered 15 elephants, 13 of whom are still alive and held captive in US zoos.
All most people see of captive elephant breeding in zoos is a cheerful announcement that an elephant is pregnant. The reality is much darker. For example, female elephants are often chained to the floor and separated from other elephants during the birth of their offspring. In this and many other ways, captive breeding is highly unnatural and cruel to elephants. Recognition of elephants’ right to liberty would put an end to this practice.
Go Deeper
The LA Times
Opinion: Why shouldn’t elephants have rights? They’re intelligent beings who can feel joy and sorrow
In June, the Nonhuman Rights Project filed our first habeas corpus lawsuit in Colorado, demanding the right to liberty and release to sanctuary of five elephants held in captivity in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Jambo, Kimba, LouLou, Lucky, and Missy were born in the wild in Africa, taken from their herds when they were babies, and imported to the US in the 1970s and 1980s. In December, a lower court judge found that “as a matter of pure justice, the NhRP has made a persuasive case that elephants are entitled to be treated with the dignity befitting their species; and that that cannot be done, no matter how conscientious those who care for them may be, if they are confined in zoos that lack the substantial acreage needed to allow them to flourish.” However, despite recognizing the injustice inflicted upon these elephants, the judge concluded that habeas corpus is unavailable to remedy this wrong, which is simply incorrect. The NhRP is appealing this decision to Colorado’s highest court.
Among those who submitted declarations in support of this case is Dr. Bob Jacobs, a former professor of neuroscience at Colorado College who has studied the neurological harm of captivity on elephants. He has personally observed the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo elephants engaging in stereotypic behavior indicative of brain damage from stress and trauma, including rocking, swaying, and head-bobbing.
Go Deeper
KRDO 13
Animal rights group files lawsuit calling for Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to release elephants
In November, the Nonhuman Rights Project filed our first habeas corpus lawsuit in Hawaii, demanding the right to liberty and release to sanctuary of two elephants held in captivity in the Honolulu Zoo. Mari and Vaigai were born in the wild in India, taken from their herds when they were young, and imported to the US in 1982 and 1992 respectively. Both were given to the municipally-owned Honolulu Zoo as a gift from the Indian government and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The City and County of Honolulu, Department of Enterprise Services, its Director Dita Holifield, and Honolulu Zoo Director Linda Santos are named as respondents in the lawsuit. The lower court judge ordered oral arguments soon after we filed, giving us close to an hour to make our case, which is atypical at such an early stage of litigation. While the judge asked probing questions and took a philosophical approach to the arguments–an indication of how seriously courts are now taking the issue of nonhuman rights–he ultimately denied the petition. The NhRP is appealing this decision to a Hawaii intermediate appellate court.
The Honolulu Zoo has been included on In Defense of Animals’ annual list of the worst zoos for elephants in North America four times. In one incident included in IDA’s assessment, Mari and Vaigai were found playing with a used car battery. In 2011, the zoo opposed legislation that would have required it to provide each elephant with at least one acre of space each. The zoo used bullhooks–a tool used to control elephants through pain and fear of the infliction of pain–on the elephants until 2016.
Go Deeper
On December 7, 2023, the Nonhuman Rights Project filed our first habeas corpus lawsuit in Michigan, demanding the right to liberty of seven chimpanzees held captive in the DeYoung Family Zoo and their release to a chimpanzee sanctuary. The chimpanzees at the roadside zoo previously included Tommy, the NhRP’s client in the first habeas corpus lawsuit brought on behalf of a nonhuman animal in the US and the subject of the 2016 documentary Unlocking the Cage. According to public records, Tommy was moved in 2015 from a cage on a used trailer lot in New York to the DeYoung Family Zoo. The NhRP announced on December 5th that records we’d just received indicated that Tommy died in 2022, “curled up in his sleeping spot” inside a building at the DeYoung Family Zoo. Filed in honor of Tommy, the case is supported by affidavits submitted by experts in chimpanzee behavior and cognition, including Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Dr. Christophe Boesch, Dr. Jennifer Fugate, Dr. William McGrew, and Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold. Five days after we filed suit, a lower court judge denied the NhRP’s habeas corpus complaint because she believes chimpanzees are not legal persons under Michigan’s common law of habeas corpus. The NhRP is appealing this decision to a Michigan intermediate appellate court.
“Humans took everything away from Tommy, first and foremost his freedom, and he suffered because of it his whole life. We look forward to fighting for the chimpanzees who remain in the DeYoung Family Zoo so they can live their lives as chimpanzees.”
- NhRP Litigation Director Elizabeth Stein
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Legislation
Three years after we filed our first nonhuman animal rights lawsuits, we expanded our work to include nonhuman animal rights legislation. The initial stage of this work involved extensive research and planning as well as building relationships and support at the local and state levels. In 2023, our unique legislation began to take root in California and New York.
In September 2023, Ojai, California became the first city in the US to pass legislation that recognizes a legal right for a nonhuman animal–specifically, elephants’ right to liberty. Inspired by our litigation and developed in partnership with the NhRP, the ordinance was introduced by Ojai City Council Member Leslie Rule, a longtime NhRP supporter. In her remarks, Rule thanked our founder Steven M. Wise for creating the NhRP and her colleagues for “never wavering” in their support for the legislation. While no elephant is currently held captive in Ojai, this ordinance made history for animals and will serve as a model for other cities to introduce first-of-its-kind nonhuman rights legislation.
With this ordinance, the Ojai City Council sought to honor Tarra the elephant, who was held in captivity and used in entertainment in Ojai in the 1980s. In 1995, Tarra’s owner founded what’s now the largest elephant sanctuary in the US. Tarra was the first resident.
Go Deeper
Cm. Rule's Remarks
Longtime NhRP supporter and Ojai City Council Member Leslie Rule sponsored the bill and helped ensure its passage.
Our Testimony
NhRP Director of Government Relations Courtney Fern’s remarks during the hearing
The Bill
Read the full text of this historic legislation: Ordinance Adding the Right to Bodily
Liberty for Elephants to Chapter 4, Title 5 of the Ojai Municipal Code
In March 2023, New York City Council Member Shahana Hanif introduced the first elephant captivity ban in the US–inspired by our litigation to free Happy from the Bronx Zoo. The NhRP worked closely with Council Member Hanif’s office to develop this legislation, which, if passed, would require the Bronx Zoo to respect Happy and Patty’s autonomy by sending them to an elephant sanctuary. The legislation carries forward the huge public debate sparked by our fight for Happy’s right to liberty at the same time as we’ve begun to incorporate the powerful dissents in Happy’s case into all the NhRP litigation that’s followed Happy’s 2022 hearing in New York’s highest court. With support from New York City residents, we continue to work to ensure the legislation's passage.
Three years old. $6,000.
That’s the age Patty was when she was torn from her herd in India along with other calves, and that’s the amount the Bronx Zoo paid for her in 1973. It’s half a century later, and Patty remains in captivity in the “Wild Asia Monorail” elephant exhibit.
Education
Raising awareness of the importance of and legal basis for nonhuman rights has always been an integral part of the work we do. To educate diverse audiences about who our clients are and what we argue on their behalf, we have to keep evolving. That's why, in 2023, we redesigned one of our primary education tools and launched a new education campaign.
In October, we launched a new national campaign that will educate millions of people about the extraordinary cognitive, emotional, and social complexity of elephants, how they suffer in even the “best” zoo, and why they need the right to liberty. Ultimately, this campaign aims to end elephant captivity in US zoos driven by widespread recognition of elephants' right to liberty. Centered on an interactive, information-rich online portal that is the first of its kind for elephants, Free To Be Elephants will tell the story of every elephant held in a zoo accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and indicate which zoos are engaging in unjust practices like captive breeding and the international elephant trade. As we build out the elephants’ individual stories, we’re preparing for phase two of the campaign–grassroots advocacy, which will give elephant advocates everything they need to call on these zoos to end their elephant programs and help elephants across the US find sanctuary. Public awareness and support generated by the campaign will in turn help create a climate in which judges and lawmakers are inspired to recognize nonhuman rights and create real, lasting legal change for elephants.
In June, we launched a brand-new website–our first website overhaul since 2017. Leading with our clients’ life stories and featuring imagery as bold and inspiring as the NhRP mission, the website offers deep dives into our cases and campaigns, the milestones we’ve reached, and the progress we’ve made. It also seeks to educate diverse audiences about the need and basis for nonhuman rights and invites visitors to take specific actions to help free our clients and advance the NhRP’s unique mission. We’ll continue to build out the website in 2024.
Over 20,000 elephants are imprisoned worldwide, forced to live in ways that cause them intense physical and emotional suffering. In our ongoing efforts to shed light on their plight and why they need and deserve the right to liberty, we dedicated the entire week leading up to World Elephant Day on August 12th to raising awareness and crucial funds for ending their harmful and unjust imprisonment. Two key elements of our World Elephant Week campaign resonated deeply with our audience: Happy's story, narrated from her perspective, and a compelling letter from neuroscientist Bob Jacobs that highlighted the devastating effects of captivity in impoverished environments on elephants' brains. We look forward to continuing this important new annual tradition at the NhRP and celebrating World Elephant Week again in 2024.
Press Highlights
2023 By the Numbers
NhRP lawyers might be the ones headed to court, but our supporters’ passionate investment in our mission is what makes the fight for nonhuman rights possible. This includes the time you take to advocate for our clients, the actions you inspire others to take, and the donations you make to help keep the fight going.
Grassroots Advocacy
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Number of emails sent in 2023 to state and local elected officials, regulatory agencies, and our clients’ captors via action alerts
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Signatures added to the NhRP’s Change.org petitions in 2023
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Total signatures on Change.org petitions calling for our clients’ freedom as of December 2023
Financials
2023 Revenue
2023 Expenditures
Program Expenditures
