Whether she’s happy or not is apparently up for debate.
Happy, the Bronx Zoo’s famous Asian elephant, was recently seen in public for the first time in nearly 10 weeks — and has sparked concern from the activist group monitoring his well-being.
A photo posted Wednesday to the Nonhuman Rights Project’s Instagram account shows the pachyderm lying in a sandbox inside its enclosure – behavior that “is not normal” for Happy – with “significant damage” to its feet , according to the message. caption read.
“As far as we know, this lying down in the show yard is not normal for Happy,” NhRP activists wrote.
“From the time we began monitoring this exhibit in 2018 until its disappearance this summer, we and our sources only observed Happy while standing in this courtyard.”
The zoo maintains, however, that Happy is in great shape and that the NhRP is not as suited to his needs as the zoo’s team of experts.
“They don’t know anything about each elephant, their likes, dislikes or habits,” a Bronx Zoo spokesperson told The Post on Thursday.
“It is completely normal for a healthy elephant to lie down and show that it feels comfortable and safe in that area,” the spokesperson said, adding that there was no “no serious problems” with Happy’s feet – and that nail cracks were routinely treated. pedicures.
Meanwhile, the NhRP has called the zoo’s comments “downplaying” the elephant’s illnesses and says Happy is just the opposite.
“Free-living elephants do not need foot care or ‘pedicures,’ and foot diseases are one of the leading causes of death for elephants in captivity,” said Lauren Choplin, communications director for the NHRP, at the Post.
“She’s stuck in a small exhibit that can’t meet her or an elephant’s physical or emotional needs,” Choplin added.
“If the Bronx Zoo really cared about elephants’ freedom of choice, she and Patty would already be in a sanctuary.”
The drama began in mid-July when NhRP sounded the alarm over Happy’s apparent disappearance from the public eye. In a July 31 statement, the Bronx Zoo said “everything is fine with Happy” and concluded that the elephant “chose not to go out into the area visible from the monorail.”
“For some reason, she recently chose not to go out in the exhibit area during the day,” a Bronx Zoo spokesperson told The Post on Thursday, “preferring to stay near the barn, and we Let her do what she wanted.”
The zoo said Happy finally returned to the area visible to monorail passengers last week.
The NhRP has been fighting for Happy’s freedom since 2018, perhaps most famously bringing Happy’s captivity case to the New York Court of Appeals (which concluded in 2022 when the court ruled that Happy was not a person within the meaning of the law).
The Bronx Zoo spokesperson pointed out that the USDA recently conducted an inspection in response to a complaint from the NhRP, which found no problems with Happy or any other elephants living at the zoo.
“Something is wrong with Happy,” the activist group wrote this summer after filing an Animal Welfare Act complaint with the USDA on behalf of the elusive elephant.
“Confining Happy indoors for at least a week is deeply concerning and we fear that the physical and psychological distress she has suffered for decades has now reached crisis point.”
The Bronx Zoo paints a very different picture of the pachyderm’s psychological state, pointing the Post to a video taken last week of Happy appearing “relaxed and taking a dust bath.”
“Despite some reports, she is not confined indoors and has access to indoor and outdoor spaces,” the spokesperson added, “and she chooses where she wants to be.”
