Whether she's happy or not seems debatable.
Happy, the Bronx Zoo's famous Asian elephant, was recently seen in public for the first time in nearly 10 weeks, sparking concern from activist groups monitoring her health.
photograph Posted on the Non-Human Rights Project Instagram account On Wednesday, the caption of a post showed the pachyderm lying in a sandbox in its enclosure, with “significant injuries” to its paws, in a behavior pattern that was “unusual” for Happy.
“As far as is known, this pattern of lying down in the exhibition hall is not normal for Happy,” NhRP activists wrote.
“From the time we began monitoring this exhibit in 2018 until she disappeared this summer, we and our sources had only observed Happy standing in this garden.”
But the zoo maintains that Happy is in excellent condition and that NhRP is not as responsive to her needs as the zoo's team of experts.
“They know nothing about the individual elephants, their likes, dislikes, habits,” a Bronx Zoo spokesperson told the Post on Thursday.
A spokesperson said: “It is normal for a healthy elephant to lie down and it shows that it is actually comfortable and secure in its position.'' '', adding that cracked nails are managed in daily life. Pedicure.
Meanwhile, NHRP called the zoo's comments “minimizing” the elephant's illness and insisted that Happy was never the case.
“Free-living elephants do not need foot treatments or pedicures, and foot diseases are one of their main diseases. Cause of death of captive elephants” Lauren Choplin, NhRP communications director, told the Post.
“She is confined to a small exhibit that cannot meet her physical and emotional needs or the needs of the other elephants,” Choplin added.
“If the Bronx Zoo really valued elephants' freedom of choice, she and Patty would already be in the sanctuary.”
The drama began in mid-July, when NHRP sounded the alarm over Happy's disappearance from public life. In a July 31 statement, the Bronx Zoo insisted there was “nothing wrong with Happy,” concluding that the elephant “has chosen not to venture into areas visible from the monorail.”
A spokesperson for the Bronx Zoo elaborated on Thursday: “For some reason, she hasn't been out in the exhibit recently during the day,” adding, “She prefers to hang out by the barn and we're letting her do whatever she wants.” I let it happen,” he said.
The zoo said Happy finally returned to the area where monorail passengers can see him last week.
NhRP has been fighting for Happy's freedom since 2018, perhaps most famously taking his incarceration case to the New York Court of Appeals, which ruled in 2022 that Happy would be legally protected. (The trial concluded with a ruling that the person was not the person.)
A Bronx Zoo spokesperson said a recent inspection by the Department of Agriculture in response to a complaint from NhRP found no problems with Happy or any of the zoo's other elephants.
“There is something wrong with Happy,” a group of activists wrote this summer after filing an Animal Welfare Act complaint. We worked with the Department of Agriculture on behalf of the elusive elephant.
“It is extremely concerning that Happy has been confined indoors for at least a week, and we fear that the physical and mental pain she has suffered for decades may now reach crisis point. I am.”
The Bronx Zoo paints a very different picture of the pachyderm's mental state, pointing the Post to a video taken last week in which Happy appears to be “relaxing and taking a dust bath.”
“Despite some reports, she is not confined indoors and has access to indoor and outdoor spaces, and she chooses where she wants to be,” the spokesperson added. Ta.
