The New York superior court ruled on Tuesday that an elephant at the Bronx Zoo is not a “person” and that the civil rights group fighting for her release to a sanctuary does not have the right to do it on your behalf.
The elephant, named Happy, has been in captivity since she was one year old and has been kept at the Bronx Zoo for the past 45 years. The group fighting for its release, the Nonhuman Rights Project, claimed the animal does not have “enough social contact” after several of its fellow elephants were euthanized.
After the Bronx Zoo announced it would end its captive elephant program, Happy and one other elephant are the only ones of the species to remain at the site, housed separately due to their “hostile relationship”.
“While no one disputes the impressive capabilities of the elephants, we reject the petitioner’s arguments that he has the right to pursue a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Happy,” Judge Janet DiFiore wrote in the ruling. “Habeas corpus is a procedural act intended to guarantee the freedom rights of human beings who are illegally restricted, not animals.”
The Nonhuman Rights Project defends the legal personality of “autonomous and non-human animals” such as great apes, elephants, dolphins and whales, according to its website.
The group said Happy is an “extraordinary, complex and autonomous cognitive non-human” and argues that she should be recognized as a “legal person” entitled to bodily liberty and immediately released from her “illegal imprisonment” at the Bronx Zoo.
THE CNN contacted the Bronx Zoo and the Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the site, for comment on the decision. Bronx Zoo director James Breheny explained that Happy is housed in a unit adjacent to the zoo’s other elephant, as she has a history of not interacting well with others of her kind.
Breheny said Happy is able to interact with the other elephant through “sound, smell and touch”, and that a transfer to an elephant sanctuary could not guarantee that Happy would have more interactions with others of her kind.
Lauren Choplin, spokeswoman for the Nonhuman Rights Project, said in a statement to CNN that the decision is a defeat for Happy, but that the group will continue their grassroots campaign to free her while considering their next legal steps.
“At the same time, this is not just a defeat for Happy, whose freedom was at stake in this case and who remains trapped at the Bronx Zoo. It is also a loss for all who care to defend and strengthen our values and principles of justice – autonomy, liberty, equality and justice – and to ensure that our legal system is free from arbitrary reasoning and that no one is denied basic rights simply because of who they are,” Choplin said in the statement.
The ruling states that while the group does not dispute that Happy’s residency at the zoo complies with laws governing the care of elephants, it claims that Happy “does not have sufficient social contact with other elephants” due to his living situation. , but does not claim to be subjected to cruel or abusive treatment.
Source: CNN Brasil
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