A panel of judges in New York has ruled that Happy the Elephant is not a human being and therefore, not entitled to fundamental human rights.
The ruling stems from a case where the Nonhuman Rights Projection filed a petition seeking to move Happy to an elephant sanctuary, claiming its rights were being violated because zoo officials were illegally holding the animal hostage.
Project attorney Monica Miller told The Associated Press that Happy deserved freedom of choice because she is a highly intelligent animal.
"She has an interest in exercising her choices and deciding who she wants to be with, and where to go, and what to do, and what to eat...And the zoo is prohibiting her from making any of those choices herself."
The New York Court of Appeals disagreed with Happy being considered a person, but that she is entitled to receive proper care.
"Because the writ of habeas corpus is intended to protect the liberty right of human beings to be free of unlawful confinement, it has no applicability to Happy, a nonhuman animal who is not a 'person' subjected to illegal detention...Thus, while no one disputes that elephants are intelligent beings deserving of proper care and compassion, the courts below properly granted the motion to dismiss the petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and we therefore affirm."