Hawaiʻi Becomes the Third State in the Nation Where the Highest Court Will Hear an NhRP Case on Behalf of Captive Elephants

News Release from the Nonhuman Rights Project

June 12, 2026, Honolulu – The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court has agreed to hear a groundbreaking case brought by the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) on behalf of Mari and Vaigai, two wild-born Asian elephants who have spent decades confined at the Honolulu Zoo.

Having granted  the NhRP’s application for a writ of certiorari, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court will review a lower court decision and hear oral arguments concerning whether Mari and Vaigai’s confinement is lawful. The Court’s June 10 order directs that the case be scheduled for oral argument before Hawaiʻi’s highest court.

Mari was captured in the wild and has been confined at the Honolulu Zoo since 1982. Vaigai was captured in the wild and has been confined there since 1992. The NhRP argues that elephants are autonomous beings with complex cognitive, emotional, and social lives and that their profound interest in bodily liberty warrants legal protection.

The case seeks recognition of Mari and Vaigai’s right to liberty through a common law writ of habeas corpus, a legal mechanism historically used to challenge unlawful detention.

“This is a historic moment for Mari and Vaigai and for the broader effort to secure fundamental legal rights for animals,” said Jake Davis, Senior Staff Attorney at the Nonhuman Rights Project and lead counsel in the case. “By agreeing to hear this case, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court has recognized the significance of the legal questions presented. Mari and Vaigai have spent decades deprived of their freedom. We look forward to presenting their case before Hawaiʻi’s highest court and demonstrating why the common law should protect their fundamental interest in liberty.”

The NhRP filed its application for certiorari in April 2026 after the Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the case. The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court’s decision to hear the appeal ensures that the legal issues raised on behalf of Mari and Vaigai will receive full consideration by the state’s highest court.

A date for oral argument has not yet been scheduled.

About Mari and Vaigai

Mari and Vaigai are wild-born Asian elephants currently confined at the Honolulu Zoo. Scientific evidence submitted in the case demonstrates that elephants possess advanced cognitive abilities, form lifelong social bonds, experience complex emotions, grieve losses, solve problems, and have a profound interest in directing their own lives.

COVERAGE:

IDEA: Call in the elephants to testify.  I want to hear it from them.  The elephant whisperer can translate.

ABA: Hawaii Supreme Court will hear case seeking freedom for elephants -- “Should that court ultimately reverse the lower court ruling and recognize that at least certain animals are legal persons entitled to assert their fundamental interests in court, it will be the first court in the nation to do so….” … In 2022, New York’s highest court ruled that elephants are not legal persons, after a writ of habeas corpus did not apply to Happy, an elephant at the Bronx Zoo. 

KHON: Elephants' liberty rights challenged in Hawai'i court

HNN: Hawaii Supreme Court to hear case regarding Honolulu Zoo elephants | Hawaii News Now