The court ruled: The "happy" elephant will remain imprisoned because it is inhuman
In a 5-2 vote, the New York Court of Appeals rejected the animal rights organization's argument that Happy, who has been at the Bronx Zoo for 40 years, is being held illegally and should be transferred to a more natural atmosphere.
News agencies
15/06/2022
Wednesday, 15 June 2022, 12:39 Updated: 12:49
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An Asian elephant named "Happy", who has been staying at the Bronx Zoo for more than 40 years, will have to stay there - the New York State Supreme Court ruled yesterday (Tuesday) that she is not legally human and therefore not entitled to rights. A basic person.
In a 5-2 vote the Court of Appeals rejected the animal rights organization's argument that Happy is illegally kept at the zoo and should be moved to a more natural atmosphere.
Happy alone in a small area of the zoo (Photo: Reuters)
The claim depends on the basic legal principle of the Bias Corpus or "brought it in his body."
It is an order seeking a judge to order the authorities to bring before the court, physically, a person imprisoned by the authorities and discuss his detention, and if the detention is illegal - to release the person.
The court discussed whether it could be applied to elephants, which are the most cognitively complex animals, and ruled against.
"No one is questioning the impressive abilities of elephants, but we reject the plaintiff's arguments that the elephant is entitled to the protection of the legal principle," Judge Janet Defiora said.
"The Bias Corps is a procedural tool that aims to ensure the liberties of people who are illegally detained, not animals," she ruled.
Judge Rowan Wilson objected, writing that the court has an obligation to "recognize Happy's right to claim her liberty not only because she is a wild animal that should not be imprisoned and displayed, but also because those rights define us as a society."
Judge Jenny Rivera, who also objected, wrote that Happy is "held in an unnatural atmosphere and that does not allow her to live her life as she should: an independent elephant with self-determination who is supposed to live in the wild."
Happy and petty on both sides of the fence (Photo: Reuters)
The ruling brought an end to the first case of its kind in the English-speaking world that reached the Supreme Court, the New York Times reported.
The lawsuit was filed by a group that supports the rights of animals, as part of a long-running effort to free animals in captivity.
Last month, the organization similarly managed to free three elephants from the Fresno Zoo in California.
In a statement yesterday the group said the opposing judges provide "a huge hope for a future where elephants will no longer suffer as much as the happy suffer, and where the rights of protected animals alongside human rights".
The group wants to release the Bronx Zoo, which it calls a "prison," into one of two large elephant reserves.
"Happy is depressed and complicated," Stephen Wise, the organization's founder, said in an interview with the New York Times.
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No more elephants added.
The Bronx animals too (Photo: Reuters)
The Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the Bronx Zoo, has rejected Wise's arguments about Happy.
"Professionals with years of experience take good care of her and she has made contact with them," the organization said in a statement, adding that the lawsuit is "blatant exploitation."
Happy is held in the Wild Asia Department of the Zoo.
She and another Asian elephant named Peti Zoo in an 8-square-foot area separated by a fence surrounded by trees. She was born in the early 1970s apparently in Thailand and was captured at a young age. , Each named after one of Snow White's dwarfs.
The Bronx Zoo bought her and the Grampi elephant, in 1977. The two initially lived with an older elephant named Thas at the Elephant House. A football game with football players or firefighters.
The elephants were eventually relocated to the wild Asian region, due to heavy pressure from animal rights movements.
Thas died in 2002.
A few months later, Patty and an elephant named Maxine attacked Grampy and she died as well.
The crew had to keep their mouths away from those elephants.
In 2006 a young elephant named Sammy was brought in to serve as a friend to Happy, but she too died shortly afterwards.
The zoo decided not to add more elephants, and focused on helping extinct animals in the wild.
Happy was left alone on one side of the fence after Pashti died, with Maxine on the other.
The zoo staff claims that the mouth is not isolated and that she and Petty are able to touch each other using their trunk and smell each other.
"Basic right to liberty"
Happy has become a symbol of human rights.
In 2018 the Court of Appeals rejected Wise's Bias Corpus order in the name of two chimpanzees.
Eugene Fahi, a judge at the time in court, denied the request but wrote that "the issue poses a deep dilemma regarding ethics and policies that require our attention. The question of whether an inhuman animal has a fundamental right to freedom protected by the Bias Corps is profound and has long-term consequences. In the end, we can not ignore it, "he wrote.
Mifal Hapayis works to promote culture and art in Israel.
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