Bronx Zoo Elephant Happy Will Remain in Enclosure, Not Legally a Person BRONX ZOO ELEPHANT Happy Isn't Legally a Person ... Animal Staying Put 718 6/14/2022 10:56 AM PT
Matthew Perez
Updated on March 07, 2026
Happy the elephant will NOT be freed from the Bronx Zoo ... after New York's highest court ruled the animal is not legally a person and is thus not being illegally detained.
The ruling from the Court of Appeals came down Tuesday ... a 5-2 decision rejecting an animal rights organization's argument that Happy deserves the same liberty rights as a human.
Remember ... the Nonhuman Rights Project sued to get Happy out of the zoo and moved to a more spacious sanctuary, arguing the Asian elephant is worthy of protections afforded to people as a cognitively complex and autonomous animal. Happy was captured in Asia back in the '70s when she was only 1 year old and has been at the Bronx Zoo ever since.
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