Human laws cannot be applied to a petition for an Asian elephant to be released from the Bronx Zoo, New York's highest court ruled Tuesday on a 5-2 vote.

The opinion, which is seen as a blow to the animal rights movement, held that a writ of habeas corpus protecting the liberty right of human beings from unlawful confinement had no applicability to an elephant who's resided at the Bronx Zoo for more than 40 years.