#FreeHappy: New York Court of Appeals hears historic case demanding personhood rights for Happy the elephant
Happy can’t hear us calling for your right to liberty, just as you can’t hear the rumbles and trumpets of the herd you were stolen from half a century ago. But we’ll never stop calling for it, and for the freedom of all elephants, and we hope you’ll soon be able to become an elephant again and enjoy all the richness of elephant life.
MARISA IATI: Is an elephant legally a person? That’s the central question in a case that New York’s highest court considered Wednesday (May 18, 2022) in a dispute over the living quarters of Happy, an Asian elephant at the Bronx Zoo.
The Nonhuman Rights Project, an animal rights organization, argued that Happy is an autonomous and cognitively complex animal entitled to the same right of protection against unlawful imprisonment that people have. The zoo contends that the elephant is well cared-for and that her holding is not illegal…
In a hearing, the seven-member New York State Court of Appeals asked attorneys for both parties about the definition of autonomy, how the elephant’s bodily liberty could be achieved and the potential effects of a decision that Happy should be moved…
In Happy’s case, her attorneys contend that she is so autonomous and intelligent that she has a right to bodily liberty. She passed a mirror self-recognition test in 2005 — an indication of her self-awareness, her advocates say. Their legal argument focuses on the common-law right of habeas corpus, which is typically used to determine whether a person’s detention is lawful.
The Nonhuman Rights Project also makes a practical argument: Happy is not, in fact, happy in captivity, the organization says. The group is seeking to move her from the zoo, where she has lived since 1977, to one of the country’s two elephant sanctuaries where, the advocates say, she would have more space and interaction with other elephants.
The zoo contends that Happy’s attorneys are discounting her well-being in service of winning a legal argument. Happy is treated compassionately, has contact with another elephant and has bonded with her zookeepers, the organization says…
The court also sought to determine the scope of the Nonhuman Rights Project’s argument. One of the judges asked an attorney for the group if she was seeking a ruling just for Happy or for a broader group of elephants… “What we’re saying is that she has a right to bodily liberty and that that makes her no longer a thing,” Steven Wise, president of the Nonhuman Rights Project, said in an interview. “She’s a person”…
Wise, said in the interview that if the court rules in favor of Happy’s release, his organization will ask other New York zoos to release their elephants to sanctuaries. The Nonhuman Rights Project filed a similar lawsuit in central California this month, demanding the release of three elephants at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo — part of the group’s stated attempts to “free as many animals from captivity as possible.”
Happy, roughly 50 years old, was born in the wild and named after a dwarf from the movie “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Happy’s living space at the Bronx Zoo is separated by a fence from that of the zoo’s other elephant… The New York Court of Appeals is expected to rule in Happy’s case in the coming months. SOURCE…
Remarks by NhRP Attorneys Following Happy’s Historic Hearing:
The New York Court of Appeals became the highest court of an English-speaking jurisdiction to hear a case demanding a legal right for a nonhuman being. Below are remarks prepared by NhRP Attorneys Monica Miller and Elizabeth Stein for delivery outside the courthouse in Albany immediately following the historic hearing to #FreeHappy from the Bronx Zoo to a sanctuary.
It has been a tremendous honor to argue for Happy’s right to liberty today–not just for Happy but for all elephants. As we hoped, the judges asked the kind of questions Happy deserves–questions that go to the heart of her case and what we, what you, and what people in New York and around the world recognize as the injustice of her thinghood, or rightlessness.
With your support, we made the strongest case possible for her freedom and responded to the judges’ questions with all the rigor Happy deserves, pointing to the centuries of precedent, and the robust, diverse support, that are on the side of granting her release from unlawful imprisonment in the Bronx Zoo.
In the coming weeks, this Court will have the opportunity to delve into our written arguments and all the briefs and affidavits filed in support and decide whether to do the right thing under New York law by bringing elephants’ legal status into the 21st century.
They must also overturn the appellate court decision in our chimpanzee rights cases that wrongly, and dangerously, held that you have to be able to bear duties to have legal rights. We know the day is coming soon when courts around the world will understand and condemn the suffering and rightlessness of beings like Happy. Some courts have already begun to…
In arguing for Happy’s right to liberty, we honor who elephants are. Who Happy could be if the Court of Appeals does its duty and orders her release to a sanctuary where she can regain her autonomy and dignity and live freely with other elephants. Happy doesn’t know we’re gathered here on this historic day to fight for her freedom. For her, today is exactly like yesterday and the day before.
Happy’s plight at the Bronx Zoo is beyond dispute. But depending on what the Court of Appeals decides, Happy’s tomorrow can be very different. She can spend the rest of her life as an elephant and not a prisoner. Happy, you can’t hear us calling for your right to liberty, just as you can’t hear the rumbles and trumpets of the herd you were stolen from half a century ago. But we’ll never stop calling for it, and for the freedom of all elephants, and we hope you’ll soon be able to become an elephant again and enjoy all the richness of elephant life. SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEO: