The Dresden Zoo went to court Tuesday to challenge Environment Minister Juergen Trittin's order forbidding the import of four baby elephants taken from the wild in Africa and abused.
Zoo director Hubert Luecker said the complaint was filed with an administrative court in Cologne.
The elephants, which were to be sent this month to the Dresden and Erfurt zoos in eastern Germany, were part of a group of 30 young elephants captured in August from herds in Botswana and taken to a South African farm.
A South African judge ruled early this month that the animals had been abused and deprived of water at the farm. He granted temporary custody to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
But while the judge approved the export of four baby elephants to Germany and three to Switzerland, Trittin last week said Germany would protest the abuse of animals by not accepting them in its zoos.
Others argue the elephants may face a worse fate if they don't come to Germany.
Norbert Otto, a federal lawmaker from Erfurt, demanded in parliament Tuesday that Trittin take steps to prevent the animals from being put to sleep in South Africa.
In addition, the cultural minister of Saxony, of which Dresden is the capital, asked the state's 740,000 school children to write letters of protest urging Tritten to allow the elephants into Germany. (aet-pfg)