--- title: "Lawyers File on Behalf of Elephant to Make Her a Legal Person" description: "A New York elephant named Happy is getting her day in court after activists filed to establish her as a legal person in the eyes of the law." date: "2022-05-12" modified: "2022-05-12" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/lawyers-elephant-legal-person" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "animal rights" - "elephants" - "the digest" - "zoology" --- # Lawyers File on Behalf of Elephant to Make Her a Legal Person ![A New York elephant named Happy is getting her day in court after activists filed to establish her as a legal person in the eyes of the law.]() *\Image: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images\* ## Elephant Case A New York elephant named Happy is getting her day in court, after activists filed to establish her as a legal person in the eyes of the law. As the [*Wall Street Journal* reports](), lawyers from the Nonhuman Rights Project have filed a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Happy to establish her legal personhood — and thusly free her from captivity at the Bronx Zoo, where she's lived and been on display since 1977, where she was taken when she was just six years old. "The elephant is being imprisoned against her will," Steve​n Wise, Happy's lawyer from the NRP, told the *WSJ*. "For more than 40 years she has been kept as a prisoner." ## Truncated Argument As the [NRP notes on its website](), Happy became the [first elephant to "pass" the mirror recognition test](), which purportedly indicates an animals' self-awareness, in 2005. That same year, the site notes, her enclosure-mate Sammie was euthanized following kidney failure, and because she doesn't get along with any of the zoo's other elephants, she's been virtually alone since. Following Sammie's euthanization, the zoo said it would end its elephant captivity once another of their elephants died, though they haven't done so yet. But because Happy has remained in good health despite now being older than 50 years old, she has become "[The World's Loneliest Elephant]()," and is, as [the *New York Post* noted in 2012](), often kept in cages that are only about double the length of her body. Happy's case, which will be seen before New York's state Supreme Court, is one of many that the NRP and other organizations are undertaking to establish more rights for non-humans. And given that "corporate personhood" is a thing, there is, at least, legal precedent for such cases. **READ MORE:** [Happy the Elephant Has Lawyers Arguing to Free Her From the Zoo]() \[*The Wall Street Journal*\] **More elephantine sadness:** [*Congratulations, Earth: Hungry Elephants are Devouring Trash and Dying*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()