On Happy's Fight For Freedom

In 2014, the Supreme Court of India made waves in the animal rights world when it said that animals have protected rights under the nation’s constitution. As it banned a bull-fighting festival, the court said animals have the right to “live in a healthy and clean atmosphere” and “not to be beaten.” That same year, a court in Argentina reportedly ruled in a habeas corpus case that an orangutan named Sandra could be freed from a Buenos Aires zoo and moved to a sanctuary. Even though the ruling was later reversed, Sandra was still moved to a U.S. sanctuary.

Experts say Happy’s case is larger than any one pachyderm. If the NhRP is victorious, it says it would seek to end all elephant exhibits in zoos across the country, believing their efforts would save the complex creatures from stunted lives in captivity. But zoo leaders warn that such a move would have dire consequences for new generations of children and for the future of conservation, as climate change wipes more species off the planet.

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In 2005, Happy showed researchers that she had one more characteristic that long seemed limited to humans and apes. She was the first Asian elephant to pass a mirror test, commonly used by scientists to gauge self-awareness through an animal’s ability to recognize itself. That’s one of the main reasons the NhRP launched a legal battle on her behalf in 2018. But it hasn’t been easy to persuade a court to grant an elephant human rights. When the case reached the Bronx County Supreme Court in 2020, the court said it was “extremely sympathetic to Happy’s plight” but that it was bound by legal precedent to find that Happy is not a person and not being illegally imprisoned. An appellate court later that year also denied habeas corpus relief to Happy. The NhRP appealed to the state’s highest court, which agreed to hear the case.

But the NhRP and elephant experts say contact through a fence isn’t enough to fulfill social needs, and that the elephants’ lives at the zoo don’t come close to the ones they’re capable of having. In the wild, elephants can roam 30 miles each day with their families, Poole says. They’re animated, constantly touching and interacting with the families they’re born into, and autonomous. At the zoo, Happy mostly just stands in place, according to Wise, who visits monthly when the monorail is open and who receives video updates from supporters. Experts say that’s stereotypical behavior for elephants in captivity.

“When you try and take an elephant and put it behind bars in an urban setting, it’s just a recipe for disaster,” Poole says. “As you can imagine if you were locked behind bars, there’s not much to do.”

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So what you can do? Stop going to zoo and circus. Vote with your money.  Use comedy to morally shame the ones who go to zoo, circus and play pool using ivory balls. Don't get angry but use comedy to make a statement with your friends and family. Keep doing this "untiringly" until you kick the bucket and that would be a gratitude filled life.