The highest court in Colorado denied a claim made on behalf of five elephants at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, ruling that elephants do not have the same rights humans do.

The case was brought by the Nonhuman Rights Project in an attempt to win the elephants their freedom, alleging that the elephants should be released to one of two elephant sanctuaries in the United States and that they can no longer live in captivity due to their age, according to a report.

“The legal question here boils down to whether an elephant is a person,” the court said, “and because an elephant is not a person, the elephants here do not have standing to bring a habeas corpus claim.”

The Nonhuman Rights Project responded by saying that the court was furthering injustice and compared their legal claim to the civil rights and LGBT rights movements.

“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 in a statement, according to the outlet.

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The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo responded by saying that the group is using the court system to fundraise.

“It seems their real goal is to manipulate people into donating to their cause by incessantly publicizing sensational court cases with relentless calls for supporters to donate,” the zoo said in a statement, according to the outlet.