Politico By Bill Mahoney 6/14/2022
Elephants are not human beings with constitutional rights, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday.
The Nonhuman Rights Project had challenged the Bronx Zoo’s confinement of Happy, a 41-year-old pachyderm. After several of her companions have died, she and Patty — who do not get along — are the only two remaining elephants at the zoo.
The advocacy group had argued that the situation amounted to a cruel confinement. And Happy, as an intelligent being, should be able to sue under habeas corpus rights against improper detention.
“No one disputes the impressive capabilities of elephants,” Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote in the majority 5-2 decision. But, she wrote, “nothing in our precedent or, in fact, that of any other state or federal court, provides support for the notion that the writ of habeas corpus is or should be applicable to nonhuman animals.”
More:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/14/happy-elephant-bronx-zoo-00039409
