As the NhRP legal team prepares to again argue in the Bronx Supreme Court for the release of our elephant client Happy from solitary confinement in the Bronx Zoo, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to the anonymous donor who recently made a gift of $20,000 to assist with Happy’s elephant rights case. Your generosity will help us continue our legal fight for her right to liberty for however long it takes and with all the resources challenging her legal “thinghood” and lack of rights will require. As with all our nonhuman animal clients, we will work tirelessly to encourage the judges who hear her case to recognize the injustices she has suffered and order her release to a sanctuary where she can finally regain her freedom. Thank you!
Happy is a 48-year-old wild-born Asian elephant who was captured in Thailand and brought to the United States in the 1970s. She has been imprisoned at the Bronx Zoo since 1977 and has lived alone for the past 13 years. She made history in 2005 as the first elephant to demonstrate self-awareness via the mirror test, and in December of 2018 she became the first elephant in the world to have a habeas corpus hearing thanks to the NhRP’s litigation. Learn more about her case here and how to financially support the NhRP here.