Happy the elephant is not a person, a court rules

Happy the elephant is intelligent and deserving of compassion, but she can't be considered a person being illegally confined to the Bronx Zoo.

The case that tested the boundaries of applying human rights to animals was decided by the state court of appeals.

The zoo and its supporters warned that a win for advocates at the Nonhuman Rights Project could lead to more legal actions on behalf of animals in zoos.

The majority of the court agreed.

While no one disputes that elephants are intelligent beings deserving of proper care and compassion, a writ of habeas corpus is meant to protect the liberty of human beings and does not apply to a nonhuman animal like Happy.

Happy won't be released through a habeas corpus proceeding, which is a way for people to challenge illegal confinement, because of the decision. Allowing Happy to challenge her confinement at a zoo would have an enormous destabilizing impact on modern society.

"Indeed, followed to its logical conclusion, such a determination would call into question the very premises underlying pet ownership, the use of service animals, and the enlistment of animals in other forms of work."

Happy is a well-cared-for elephant and not a person, according to the Bronx Zoo.

According to the advocates at the Nonhuman Rights Project, Happy is deserving of the right reserved in law for a person.

The fact that Happy is an animal does not stop her from having legal rights according to two judges. Happy is not allowed to live her life because she is being held in an environment that is unnatural to her.

Her captivity is cruel and unfair. She remains a captive, a spectacle for humans, and every day we are diminished.

The ruling can't be appealed. The Nonhuman Rights Project has not succeeded in similar cases.

Steven Wise said he was pleased it succeeded in persuading some of the judges. He said that the group has a similar case going on in California as well as in other states and other countries.

He said that they would take a close look at why they lost and try to prevent it from happening again.

Happy was a 1-year-old when he was captured and brought to the US. Happy arrived at the Bronx Zoo in 1977 with another elephant, who was killed in a fight with two other elephants.