A Bronx County Supreme Court judge has dismissed a petition that argued an elephant living alone at the Bronx Zoo has had her "personhood" violated by being "unlawfully imprisoned."
Judge Alison Tuitt issued the decision Tuesday to dismiss a habeas corpus petition filed by the animal advocacy group Nonhuman Rights Project on behalf of Happy the elephant, who has lived at the zoo for 42 years. For more than the past decade, she's been held separately from the other elephants in a one-acre enclosure.
The Nonhuman Rights Project sued the Bronx Zoo in 2018, demanding recognition of Happy's legal personhood and her right to bodily liberty, and called for her to be transferred to an elephant sanctuary .
While not recognizing the personhood argument, Tuitt's decision sympathized with the idea of transferring Happy from the zoo to a dedicated elephant sanctuary as "extremely persuasive."
"This court agrees that Happy is more than just a legal thing, or property. She is an intelligent, autonomous being who should be treated with respect and dignity, and who may be entitled to liberty,” Tuitt said in her decision. "Nonetheless, we are constrained by the caselaw to find that Happy is not a "person" and is not being illegally imprisoned."
Jim Breheny, Director of the Bronx Zoo and EVP of Zoos & Aquarium at the Wildlife Conservation Society, said in a statement that the decision is sound: “We are pleased with the Bronx County Supreme Court’s decision today to dismiss the Nonhuman Rights Project’s petition. The court rejected NhRP’s ill-conceived attempt to have an elephant at the Bronx Zoo, Happy, declared a 'person,' entitled to protection under the writ of habeas corpus. In doing so, the court supported the Bronx Zoo’s legal position and we believe this decision is in Happy’s best interests."
"In this case, NhRP tried to use the common law writ of habeas corpus, an important legal protection for unlawfully imprisoned human beings," Breheny added. "NhRP’s continued failed attempts to grant habeas corpus to animals demeans all the people who have sought such relief."
In a tweet, the NhRP said they would appeal.
Happy, a 49-year-old Asian elephant called the zoo's "loneliest elephant" by the NY Times, has been living on her own for more than a decade. For much of her life, Happy did have a partner named Grumpy, another Asian elephant. Grumpy died in 2002 after she was fatally injured in a confrontation with the zoo's two other remaining elephants Maxine and Patty. Happy was then briefly paired with a young elephant named Sammy, but he also died soon after contracted a liver disease and was euthanized—the zoo's third elephant death in just four years, according to the Times.
In the past, animal advocacy groups have accused the Bronx Zoo of mistreating its elephants, citing cold winters and cramped cages, as well as Happy's isolation. But the zoo has said that Happy shows "no signs of physiological or psychological stress," and maintains a close bond with her caretakers. Sending Happy to an animal sanctuary could be traumatic if she lost those bonds, according to the zoo's conservationists.
“In fact, Happy is not kept in isolation – she has contact with another elephant; Happy is not languishing; Happy is not kept indoors for half the year; Happy is well cared for by professionals with decades of experience," Breheny said in the statement, and added, "The Bronx Zoo takes excellent care of Happy and will continue to do so, along with all animals here at the zoo. Her well-being is assured by our dedicated staff and all the expertise they bring in providing excellent care for her for more than 40 years."
The Bronx Zoo has announced that it would be ending the elephant exhibit once one or two of their remaining animals died—admitting that it would be inhumane to sustain the exhibit with just one animal, or two that didn't get along.
