Ricky Gervais, Moby Trumpet Call To Free Bronx Zoo Elephants

NEW YORK CITY — No joke, Ricky Gervais wants to free the Bronx Zoo's elephants.

And Moby is spinning a sad song about sorry conditions for the zoo's elephants.

The comedian and musician banded together this week with the release of "10 Worst Zoos for Elephants 2021" — an annual ranking by the In Defense Of Animals advocacy group.

The Bronx Zoo made the list for the 10th time, according to the ranking.

"Elephants are sensitive, emotional, and highly intelligent beings — seeing them suffer mentally and physically behind bars is heartbreaking," Gervais, who created "The Office," said in a statement.

"I personally urge all zoos on the 10 Worst Zoos list to urgently retire elephants to accredited sanctuaries so they may live their lives with dignity," he said.

Patch sought comment from the Bronx Zoo about the list and received this response from a spokesperson: "No thanks."

Animal advocates have long decried conditions for elephants at the Bronx Zoo.

One such pachyderm — Happy — has been the subject of a potentially groundbreaking legal battle. Happy is a person and deserves the same rights, advocates argued in a lawsuit.

The story of Happy and her elephantine Patty compatriot features prominently in the list. The pair is separated by a barrier in a one-acre enclosure, the list recounts.

"A study in 2006 reported that Happy successfully passed the mirror self-recognition test," the list states. "Happy proved that elephants are not only vastly intelligent but also self-aware, which is thought to correlate with higher forms of empathy and altruistic behavior. Happy’s reward for her contribution to science has been 16 years of solitary confinement in which she is poignantly self-aware of her own bleak and lonely existence."

Advocates believe Happy should be released from her 1-acre Bronx home to a 2,300-acre sanctuary in Tennessee.

They don't just stop at her, but all elephants in the zoos on the list.

"The list of 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants is a shocking alarm call exposing how elephants are suffering and dying," Moby said in a statement. "Zoos fail to meet elephants’ unique needs because it’s impossible to replicate their natural living environments.

"I stand with In Defense of Animals against the captivity of elephants in zoos and call for all elephants on the 10 Worst Zoos list to be retired to accredited sanctuaries where they can live in peace, out of the public eye."

Read the full list here.