Community Corner
Bronx Zoo's Happy The Elephant Hasn't Been Seen In Two Weeks, Observers Say
The zoo says "nothing is wrong with" the half-century-old pachyderm.
August 1, 2024
Happy the elephant, one of the Bronx Zoo’s top attractions, has not been seen by visitors for at least two weeks, according to the animal-advocacy group The Nonhuman Rights Project, which sends observers on daily monorail rides to observe the elephants.
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When THE CITY asked on Wednesday about Happy’s absence, after a visit to the zoo to see if the pachyderm was present, a spokesperson referred to a statement posted online on Wednesday, titled “From the Bronx Zoo Concerning Happy,” that flatly states “Nothing is wrong with Happy.”
The Zoo did not respond to a follow-up question about when exactly that statement was posted online, and why.
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Both Happy and Patty, the zoo’s other Asian elephant — who monorail riders did see on Wednesday — are “in good health,” according to the statement.
Patty the Elephant Credit: Jonathan Custodio/THE CITY
“Happy has been choosing to not go out into the area visible from the monorail, so Patty is the elephant recently seen by guests,” the statement said, while Happy “is hanging back in other indoor/outdoor areas around the people who care for her, opting for their company (and more frequent contact and treats) over the exhibit area.”
The statement didn’t explain why Happy was now choosing to hang back and avoid the exhibit area.
The Wild Asia Monorail is open every year from May through October, with riders hoping to see wild horses, rhinos and several species of deer, as well as the zoo’s two elephants.
Courtney Fern, the Nonhuman Rights Project‘s director of government relations and campaigns, told THE CITY that the group monitors the zoo’s elephants through staff members and supporters “who will go and ride the monorail and send us footage and report back what they saw, and by monitoring social media posts from zoo visitors.
While either Happy or Patty had generally alternated days being outside their barn over the summer, Fern said, Happy has not been seen since around July 14.
“We’re concerned because, typically, at least this summer, the zoo has alternated between Happy and Patty being outside. So typically, it’ll be one day, Patty will be the elephant who’s outside in the display, or the next day will be happy. Some days it’s like, you know, Patty will be out two days and happy will be out the next day,” said Fern.
“It’s never been more than two days that Happy or Patty haven’t been outside. For a two-week period of Happy not being outside, something clearly is going on.”
Last week, the Nonhuman Rights Project filed a complaint to the United States Department of Agriculture, which investigates animal welfare concerns, about Happy’s absence, noting that it “is not normal behavior for Happy or any other elephant.”
The Sad Story Behind the Name Happy
Happy, who was born in the early 1970s, likely in Thailand, was captured and brought to a Florida petting zoo with six other elephants, each named for one of the dwarves in Snow White.
The Bronx Zoo acquired her and an elephant named Grumpy, who’s since passed away, in 1977, training them to perform tricks, which she did in costume as recently as the 1980s.
The Zoo said in 2006 that it intends to close its elephant exhibit after its two remaining pachyderms die.
The Nonhuman Rights Project in 2022 lost a legal case in New York arguing that Happy deserved a habeas corpus proceeding, where a detainee challenges their unlawful imprisonment, when the state’s highest court ruled 5-to-2 that an elephant, unlike a person, has no such right.
The majority ruled that while the elephant did possess a level of self-awareness and was cognitively complex, it did not have the fundamental human right to bodily liberty and freedom from unfair confinement. Two judges dissented, saying that Happy had a right to petition for her liberty as an autonomous and intelligent elephant.
In 2023, Councilmember Shahana Hanif (D-Brooklyn) introduced legislation that would ban elephant captivity in New York City. Bronx pols slammed the bill, which has yet to receive a vote, as a distraction from other issues like housing and food insecurity, the Bronx Times reported.
This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
