MEDIA ADVISORY FOR OCT. 6, 2024
Area animal rights activists will join the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) on Sunday, Oct. 6th at 11 a.m. in Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park in Denver, CO to call for the release of the NhRP’s five elephant clients from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to an elephant sanctuary and recognition of their legal right to liberty. On Oct. 24th, Colorado’s highest court will hear arguments in support of elephants’ right to liberty for the first time. The NhRP’s case–the first of its kind in Colorado and the region–is supported by experts in elephant cognition and behavior, habeas corpus, philosophy, civil rights, and animal law.
WHAT: A rally to free the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo elephants ahead of a historic hearing on their behalf. Visuals will include rally-goers with signs. Audio will include rally speeches and chanting.
WHEN: Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
WHERE: Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park (across from the Colorado Supreme Court), 1449 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO
WHO: NhRP Director of Government Relations Courtney Fern accompanied by area animal rights activists. Speakers will include Fern and Dr. Mickey Pardo (a behavior ecologist and postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State University recently in the news for his research on elephant communication).
WHY: This is a milestone case about society’s respect for nonhuman animals. As the NhRP will discuss during the rally, the law needs to recognize what science has long been telling us about who elephants are and how they suffer in zoos. This means recognizing elephants’ right to liberty. For more information on this case, visit nonhumanrights.org/colorado