New York Supreme Court: Happy elephant does not have the same rights as humans and will remain in a zoo

Happy (elephant) elephant will remain in the Bronx Zoo after the New York Supreme Court rejected the appeal of an animal welfare organization, which argued that he should be given the same rights as humans and be released.

The Albany-based Court of Appeals, by a vote of 5 to 2, ruled that the habeas corpus, which gives a detainee the right to go to court to decide whether his detention is illegal, does not apply to Hapi, despite allegations that The 51-year-old elephant has similar cognitive skills to humans.

“While no one disputes that elephants are intelligent beings who deserve proper care and compassion (…), Happy, as a non-human animal, has no legally recognized right to be free under New York law,” she said. Judge Janet DiFiore in the reasoning of the decision.

DiFiore explained that the release of Hapi could have “enormous destabilizing effects on modern society” and provoke a “flood” of demands for the release of pets or working animals. He added that it is up to lawmakers to decide whether to grant animals the same legal rights as humans.

The court ruling is a defeat for the Nonhuman Rights Project, an animal welfare organization that has been seeking New York courts to release Happy for four years. The Florida-based organization had denounced the “imprisonment” of the pachyderm in a four-acre enclosure, away from the other elephants. The Bronx Zoo, for its part, insisted it was taking proper care of the elephant and had been vindicated by two other, lower courts.