<p>Should a female elephant have some of the same legal rights as people?</p>.<p>That is the question New York state's top court will consider on Wednesday, the latest development in a years-long push by an animal rights group to free Happy the elephant from the Bronx Zoo.</p>.<p>The 51-year-old Asian elephant has called the venerable New York City zoo home since 1977.</p>.<p>Four years ago, the Florida-based Nonhuman Rights Project began asking New York courts to release Happy to one of two elephant sanctuaries in the United States, saying the animal was being illegally imprisoned.</p>.<p>The group said Happy was entitled to habeas corpus, a legal process in which illegally detained people or someone acting on their behalf may inquire about the reason they are being held.</p>.<p>New York's habeas corpus law does not define "person," and the group said Happy should be recognized as one.</p>.<p>"It's now time to have nonhuman animals such as Happy to be seen not as a thing but as a person who has the capacity for rights," Steven Wise, founder and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project, told Reuters.</p>.<p>Happy has been kept apart from other elephants in a one-acre (0.4-hectare) enclosure at the zoo since around 2006, court records show. Elephants are gregarious and family-oriented animals with complex social lives.</p>.<p>Happy's longtime companion, Grumpy, was attacked by two other elephants earlier that decade. Grumpy never recovered from the injuries and was euthanized. Another of Happy's companions, Sammie, later died.</p>.<p>The zoo's other elephant, Patty, lives in an adjacent enclosure separated from Happy by a fence. The zoo has said the two interact with each other.</p>.<p>Prior efforts to grant legal personhood to animals, including chimpanzees, have been unsuccessful.</p>.<p>The Bronx Zoo, run by the Wildlife Conservation Society, has said Happy is well cared for, and that moving the elephant to a sanctuary would not serve her interests.</p>.<p>"The blatant exploitation of Happy the elephant by NRP to advance their coordinated agenda shows no concern for the individual animal," the Bronx Zoo said in a statement on Wednesday, using an acronym for the animal rights group. "Their concern is winning a legal argument, not what is best for Happy."</p>.<p>A New York trial court in February 2020 dismissed the original petition, calling Happy an "intelligent, autonomous being" who "may be entitled to liberty," but not legally a person. An appeals court later upheld that ruling.</p>.<p>The hearing in front of the Albany-based Court of Appeals is scheduled for 2 pm (1800 GMT).</p>
<p>Should a female elephant have some of the same legal rights as people?</p>.<p>That is the question New York state's top court will consider on Wednesday, the latest development in a years-long push by an animal rights group to free Happy the elephant from the Bronx Zoo.</p>.<p>The 51-year-old Asian elephant has called the venerable New York City zoo home since 1977.</p>.<p>Four years ago, the Florida-based Nonhuman Rights Project began asking New York courts to release Happy to one of two elephant sanctuaries in the United States, saying the animal was being illegally imprisoned.</p>.<p>The group said Happy was entitled to habeas corpus, a legal process in which illegally detained people or someone acting on their behalf may inquire about the reason they are being held.</p>.<p>New York's habeas corpus law does not define "person," and the group said Happy should be recognized as one.</p>.<p>"It's now time to have nonhuman animals such as Happy to be seen not as a thing but as a person who has the capacity for rights," Steven Wise, founder and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project, told Reuters.</p>.<p>Happy has been kept apart from other elephants in a one-acre (0.4-hectare) enclosure at the zoo since around 2006, court records show. Elephants are gregarious and family-oriented animals with complex social lives.</p>.<p>Happy's longtime companion, Grumpy, was attacked by two other elephants earlier that decade. Grumpy never recovered from the injuries and was euthanized. Another of Happy's companions, Sammie, later died.</p>.<p>The zoo's other elephant, Patty, lives in an adjacent enclosure separated from Happy by a fence. The zoo has said the two interact with each other.</p>.<p>Prior efforts to grant legal personhood to animals, including chimpanzees, have been unsuccessful.</p>.<p>The Bronx Zoo, run by the Wildlife Conservation Society, has said Happy is well cared for, and that moving the elephant to a sanctuary would not serve her interests.</p>.<p>"The blatant exploitation of Happy the elephant by NRP to advance their coordinated agenda shows no concern for the individual animal," the Bronx Zoo said in a statement on Wednesday, using an acronym for the animal rights group. "Their concern is winning a legal argument, not what is best for Happy."</p>.<p>A New York trial court in February 2020 dismissed the original petition, calling Happy an "intelligent, autonomous being" who "may be entitled to liberty," but not legally a person. An appeals court later upheld that ruling.</p>.<p>The hearing in front of the Albany-based Court of Appeals is scheduled for 2 pm (1800 GMT).</p>