Denver, Colorado - Colorado's top court ruled on Tuesday that five elephants at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo are not people and do not have a right to be released from captivity.

The Colorado Supreme Court found that the elephants – Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo – as non-human animals, were not entitled to "habeas corpus," a legal concept which allows humans to claim unlawful detention in court and seek release.

Habeas corpus did not apply to non-human animals, "no matter how cognitively, psychologically, or socially sophisticated they may be," the verdict said.

The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), which brought the case, said in a statement that the court's opinion "perpetuates a clear injustice."

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The group argued that elephants, born in the wild in Africa, had a right to liberty because they were autonomous, extraordinarily cognitively and socially complex beings.

The NhRP had wanted the animals to be released to an accredited elephant sanctuary in the US.

"As with other social justice movements, early losses are expected as we challenge an entrenched status quo that has allowed Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou, and Jambo to be relegated to a lifetime of mental and physical suffering," it said.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo celebrated the ruling, calling the suit "frivolous" and accusing NhRP of staging a publicity stunt.