In 2018, animal rights activists filed a lawsuit demanding the “release” of the elephant “Happy”, which now lives in the Bronx Zoo on an area of 1 acre, and allowing him to live in a special reserve of 2,300 acres. The activist group included world renowned primate expert Jane Goodall.
In February of this year, the court dismissed the claim, ruling that from the point of view of the law, the 49-year-old elephant “cannot be regarded as a human being serving a sentence behind bars.” Animal rights activists have filed an appeal. Last week, five judges of the appellate court upheld the lower decision and left Happy at the zoo.
The plaintiffs, however, insist that the verdict is unfair and intend to fight further.
Happy has lived in the Bronx for 43 years. He was caught in Thailand in 1970 and taken to the zoo along with six other elephants. All of them were given the names of the gnomes from the Disney cartoon about Snow White. The Russian version of the name “Happy” in this tale is “Veselchak”. Six of his brothers have already passed away. “Veselchak” lives alone in an elephant. Representatives of the zoo assure that there he is quite comfortable, comfortable and spacious. The elephant spends only six months indoors, the rest of the time is in the open air. So the concerns of human rights defenders are allegedly exaggerated and unfounded.
Newspaper headline:
“Veselchak” will remain in the zoo