State officials denied a permit for an elephant show at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, according to an animal advocacy group that threatened to sue the state over the issue.
Attorneys with the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, which is based at the University of Denver, threatened to sue Colorado Parks and Wildlife if the agency again issued a permit for the annual elephant show put on by Trunks and Humps.
The group claimed the show at the festival in Larkspur violated Colorado law prohibiting elephants and other animals from being used in traveling acts and forced the elephants to perform unnatural behaviors.
Denying the permit was the correct legal and moral choice, DU law professor and Animal Activist Legal Defense Project director Justin Marceau said in a statement.
“Colorado has admirably outlawed the degrading, abusive use of elephants and other animals in cruel traveling circuses. These animals deserve to be treated with dignity, not dragged from city to city and forced to perform tricks for our entertainment.”
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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Originally Published: June 7, 2025 at 6:00 AM MDT
