Five elephants at a Colorado zoo do not have the legal right to pursue their release because they are not human, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

The court said the decision “does not turn on our regard for these majestic animals.”

“Instead, 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.”

If the court had ruled in their favor, the elephants at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs — Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo — could have pursued a legal process that allows prisoners to challenge their detention and they would have been transferred to an elephant sanctuary.

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs held a day camp for kids called Summer Safari Camp. (Getty Images)

The Nonhuman Rights Project said the latest ruling “perpetuates a clear injustice” and predicted that courts in future cases would reject the idea that only humans have a right to liberty.

“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,” the group said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.