(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) has filed a habeas corpus petition with the 4th Judicial District Court demanding the release to a sanctuary of five elephants currently living at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (CMZoo). CMZoo calls the lawsuit malicious and defends its elephant conservation efforts.

NhRP claims five elephants Jambo, Kimba, LouLou, and Missy are showing signs of brain damage and chronic stress based on the elephants’ behavior of rocking, swaying, and head bobbing.

“From the moment their adult family members were likely killed in front of them and they were sold off to be put on display and put to work in circuses and zoos, these elephants’ lives have consisted of one trauma after another,” said NhRP attorney Jake Davis.

NhRP said this is the first litigation of its kind in Colorado and has the support of world-renowned experts in elephant behavior and cognition.

According to NhRP, one of the people who have submitted declarations is Dr. Bob Jacobs, a former professor of neuroscience at Colorado College who has studied the neurological harm of captivity on elephants.

“These elephants deserve much better, and keeping them in captivity in this zoo is a sorry reflection on the human condition,” said Dr. Jacobs. “I wouldn’t want to be confined to an austere, barren environment for a week, let alone a lifetime. But that’s what these elephants must endure, leaving them vulnerable to chronic stress and chronic health problems, including deleterious effects to their very sophisticated brains.”

NhRP said it is asking the 4th Judicial District to issue a writ of habeas corpus, which would require the CMZoo to come to court and justify what NhRP is calling unlawful imprisonment of the elephants.

“Societal norms towards keeping elephants in captivity as well as the legal status of nonhuman animals more generally have changed,” the NhRP writes. “It is time for the common law to evolve to reflect these changes, which do not comport with the elephants’ confinement at CMZoo.”

CMZoo responded to NhRP’s lawsuit by calling it malicious and wasting credible organizations’ time and money. CMZoo said it only learned about the lawsuit after local media contacted them for a response.

“The fact that we first learned about this litigation from a local reporter who received a news release is evidence enough to us that they’re using litigation as a way to gain public attention for their misguided claims,” said CMZoo.

CMZoo said it exists to advance animal welfare and conservation. The zoo has four full-time keepers most days to care for five elephants, and the team consistently studies the elephants’ behaviors and adjusts their care programs to provide more of what they positively respond to.

According to CMZoo, the elephants, multiple times per day move from yard to yard, or indoor space to indoor space, where they find new opportunities to stimulate their bodies and minds. CMZoo said during the summer months the elephants have access to a space called the vacation yard, a two-acre yard that is not visible to guests where the elephants are free to roam as long as they want to.

Depending on rain the elephants might visit the vacation yard multiple times per month. CMZoo said there is a limit on the visits per month as part of a plan to maintain the novelty of the area for them, which makes it physically and mentally stimulating for the elephants according to CMZoo.

CMZoo also responded to common complaints about elephants in human care, claiming elephants don’t walk for fun but for food, water, and safety, and that its five elephants are getting old which is why they don’t walk as much. According to CMZoo they offer a variety of group settings and do not force elephants to share direct space if their behavior shows the zoo they don’t want to. The pairs that live together at the zoo do so because they have shown keepers that is who they share the most positive behaviors.

CMZoo states they would not have elephants at the zoo unless they are helping wild elephants survive. CMZoo said they have partnered with Tsavo Trust a frontline elephant conservation organization working to save wild African elephants and rhinos in Kenya. CMZoo said its elephant feeding opportunity raises $75,000 per year for Tsavo Trust and in total has sent $608,000 directly to elephant conservation.