'Bronx Zoo Elephant Is A Person' Court Fight Stomps Forward

NEW YORK CITY — Happy, the Bronx Zoo elephant, is both pachyderm and person — and an unhappy one at that.

That's the argument animal rights activists continued this week in front of a New York appeals court, as first reported by the New York Post.

Happy has been "imprisoned" on one acre of land in the Bronx Zoo for more than 40 years, argued Steven Wise with the Nonhuman Rights Project. Appellate judges appeared skeptical they had the standing to grant Happy legal personhood, but Wise said it fell firmly in their purview.

"The rights of any entity is a matter for the courts in the state of New York," he said.

The hearing is the continuation of a long-standing legal battle over Happy's status — whether a beautiful, majestic elephant or a beautiful, majestic elephant with the rights of a person.

The animal rights group believes Happy should be released from her 1-acre Bronx home to a 2,300-acre sanctuary in Tennessee. They received some measure of recognition in February when a Manhattan judge ruled on their case.

"She is an intelligent, autonomous being who should be treated with respect and dignity, and who may be entitled to liberty," Judge Alison Tuitt wrote in her decision.

But Tuitt ultimately wrote she was "constrained" by case law and could not recognize Happy as a person.

That prompted the appeal and arguments Thursday in front of appellate judges. No decision was made.