Bronx Zoo elephant named Happy isn’t a person, court rules
Associated PressALBANY, N.Y. — Happy the elephant may be intelligent and deserving of compassion, but she cannot be considered a person being illegally confined to the Bronx Zoo, New York’s top court ruled Tuesday. The decision written by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said that “while no one disputes that elephants are intelligent beings deserving of proper care and compassion,” a writ of habeas corpus is intended to protect the liberty of human beings and does not apply to a nonhuman animal like Happy. Extending that right to Happy to challenge her confinement at a zoo “would have an enormous destabilizing impact on modern society.” And granting legal personhood in a case like this would affect how humans interact with animals, according to the majority decision. Operators of the Bronx Zoo argued Happy is neither illegally imprisoned nor a person, but a well-cared-for elephant “respected as the magnificent creature she is.” The advocates at the Nonhuman Rights Project argued that Happy is an autonomous, cognitively complex elephant worthy of the right reserved in law for “a person.” Two judges, Rowan Wilson and Jenny Rivera, wrote separate, sharply worded dissents saying the fact that Happy is an animal does not prevent her from having legal rights.
History of this topic
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'Majestic, but not human': Why a US court has refused to release 5 elephants from Colorado zoo
Firstpost
Colorado zoo elephants have no right to seek freedom because they're not human, court rules
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The elephant in the courtroom: Civil rights group argues denying personhood to animals contradicts the rule of law
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