Today we issued the following press release regarding our elephant client Minnie:
Review by Connecticutâs Highest Court Sought in Elephant Rights Case as Groups Urge Governor to Help Free Elephant from Traveling Circus
~ The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) is also requesting a temporary injunction to prevent the Commerford Zoo from moving the NhRP’s elephant client Minnie out of state ~
Media Contact:
Lauren Choplin
lchoplin@nonhumanrights.org
856.381.9447
Sept. 27, 2019âHartford, CTâToday the Nonhuman Rights Project and twelve other organizations sent a letter to Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, urging his office to take action to help free an elephant named Minnieâthe NhRPâs client in ongoing elephant rights litigationâfrom a traveling circus to an elephant sanctuary.
The NhRP has also filed papers in the Connecticut Supreme Court asking it to hear the NhRPâs appeal of an Appellate Court decision issued in August in Minnieâs case and to grant a temporary injunction preventing her owner, the Goshen-based Commerford Zoo, from moving her out of state. As the NhRP writes, âMinnieâs removal from Connecticut would strip this Court of its jurisdiction to grant Plaintiffâs Petition for Certification and consider the merits of Plaintiffâs appeal. In turn Minnie would be irreparably harmed by losing her only opportunity to be freed of her long and lonely imprisonment and sent to either The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee or the Performing Animal Welfare Society near Sacramento, California, where she would be able to live out her years in a place that respects her autonomy, her complex cognitive abilities, and her complex social and psychological needs.â
With the recent death of the NhRPâs elephant client Beulah at Massachusettsâ Big E fair and confirmation from the USDA that the NhRPâs other elephant client Karen died in March, Minnie is now the NhRPâs sole surviving elephant client held captive and exploited by the Commerford Zoo, which the USDA has cited over 50 times for failing to adhere to the minimum standards required by the Animal Welfare Act.
The letterâwhose signatories include the PETA Foundation, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the Humane Society of the United Statesâstresses the state and federal governmentâs failure to protect the Commerford elephants and the life-or-death urgency of Minnieâs situation: âBecause Minnie is now without the company of other elephants and remains in an environment radically unsuited to elephant well-being, the need for her release is more urgent than ever.â
As detailed in the NhRPâs motion for a temporary injunction, the NhRP believes the Commerford Zoo intends to move Minnie to Florida, which âwill only condemn her to exploitation that will end, as it did with Beulah and Karen, with her death.â Requests for temporary injunctions are generally sought at the trial court level; the NhRPâs motion is likely the first time the Connecticut Supreme Court will consider such a request.
On Sept. 15, 2019, Beulah collapsed and died from a reported heart attack at the Big E in West Springfield, MA, where the Commerford Zoo had transported her to serve as entertainment. That same day, a member of the group Connecticut Residents Seeking Sanctuary for the Commerford Animalsâa signatory to the NhRPâs letterâphotographed Beulah lying motionless on her side in a parking lot on a patch of grass barely larger than her body as a handler sat nearby. Karen died over six months ago after not having been seen in public since last summer. Her cause of death is not yet known.
In its request for permission to appeal, the NhRP argues the Supreme Court should accept the case for further review because Minnieâs case is of fundamental public importance as it concerns âwhether an autonomous, self-determining, and otherwise exceedingly cognitively complex being ⌠can legally be imprisoned for life, whether a third party may employ The Great Writ of Habeas Corpus to test the legality of her imprisonment, and what meaning liberty and equality have in such cases.â The Appellate Courtâs decision also directly conflicts with controlling Connecticut Supreme Court precedent. Earlier this month, the Appellate Court denied en banc review of its decision, which, as the NhRP maintains, wrongly asserted that the elephants are not legal persons. In the petitions for a common law writ of habeas corpus the NhRP has filed on behalf of Beulah, Karen, and Minnie with support from world-renowned elephant experts, the NhRP argues the elephants are legal persons with the fundamental right to liberty.
Both the Performing Animal Welfare Societyâs sanctuary in California and The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, the USâs two accredited elephant sanctuaries, have offered to provide Minnie with lifetime care no cost to the Commerford Zoo.
- Letter to Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont
- Petition for certification (i.e. request for permission to appeal)
- Motion for temporary injunction
To learn more about Beulah, Karen, and Minnieâs lives and the NhRPâs litigation on their behalf, visit this page. To download a photo of Minnie for use in media coverage, visit this page and credit Gigi Glendinning.
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About the Nonhuman Rights Project
The Nonhuman Rights Project is the only civil rights organization in the United States working through litigation, legislation, and education to secure fundamental rights for nonhuman animals.