one Asian elephant named HappyShe, who has been at the Bronx Zoo in New York for more than 40 years, will remain there after the New York State Supreme Court ruled this Tuesday (June 14). she is not humanin the legal sense, and therefore is not entitled to any fundamental human right.
By a vote of 5 to 2, the appeals court rejected an animal rights group’s argument that Happy was being illegally kept at the zoo and should be moved to a more natural environment, according to the NY Post.
The dispute was based on the fundamental legal principle of Habeas Corpus that humans use to protect their physical liberty and to challenge illegal captivity and whether it should be extended to autonomous and cognitively complex animals like elephants. no‘ the court said.
“While no one disputes that elephants are intelligent beings deserving of proper care and compassion, the relevant courts have duly granted the motion to dismiss the petition.”says Judge Janet DiFiore’s majority decision.
Four years ago, the Floridabased Nonhuman Rights Project (NRP) asked New York courts to release Happy to one of two elephant sanctuaries in the US because the animal was being held illegally. New York’s habeas corpus law doesn’t define “person,” and the group said Happy should be recognized as such.
happily left kept separate from other elephants in a 0.4hectare enclosure at the zoo since 2006, court records show. Elephants are gregarious, familyoriented animals with a complex social life.
Happy’s longtime companion, Grumpy, was attacked by two other elephants earlier in the decade. Grumpy never recovered from his injuries and was sacrificed. Another of Happy’s teammates, Sammie, later died.