A judge has dismissed an animal-rights group’s suit seeking the release of five elephants at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Mary C. McGinley on Thursday granted the zoo’s motion to dismiss the suit by the Nonhuman Rights Project, which argued the elephants share with humans “the fundamental right to bodily liberty.”
The suit seeking the release of the elephants Savanna, Tasha, Angeline, Victoria, and Zuri was filed in October.
The zoo, in its motion to dismiss, contended that under Pennsylvania law, animals are property, and that the right to bodily liberty applies only to humans.
The Nonhuman Rights Project is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that calls itself “the only civil rights organization in the United States dedicated solely to securing rights for nonhuman animals.” It claims captivity harms elephants. While the NhRP has unsuccessfully filed similar suits elsewhere in the past, it called the suit against the zoo the first of its kind in Pennsylvania.
In a statement, the zoo noted that it is accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and said that its elephants “are thriving under the compassionate care of their dedicated and expert professional staff.”
The NonHuman Rights Project said in a statement that while it lost the case, “Judge McGinley’s engagement with the arguments … represents progress in our current legal system, where the rights and interests of nonhuman animals are so often invisible.”
The NhRP says it plans to appeal McGinley’s decision in state Superior Court.