Advocacy Group Presses Bronx Zoo To Prove Elephant Is Healthy After Extended Absence

By Jonathan Custodio, The City

August 9, 2024

One of the Bronx Zoo’s biggest attractions hasn’t been seen by the public in three weeks, according to advocates who want proof that Happy, one of its two elephants, is living up to her name.

In a letter sent Wednesday to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the Bronx Zoo, the Nonhuman Rights Project called for the release of veterinary records and elephant keeper logs and notes dating back to August 1, 2023, along with photos and videos of Happy taken after July 25 that “accurately depict Happy’s condition and the indoor environment where she is allegedly choosing to spend her time.”

The group has been monitoring the elephant exhibit that can be seen on the Wild Asia Monorail since it opened its season in May, as it does every year, and renewed its long-standing call for the zoo to send Happy to an elephant sanctuary.

Last week, THE CITY reported that Happy hadn’t been seen outside its pen since about July 14.

In a statement at the time, the Bronx Zoo maintained that Happy and Patty, the zoo’s other Asian elephant, were both in “good health” and that Happy “is hanging back in other indoor/outdoor areas around the people who care for her, opting for their company (and more frequent contact and treats) over the exhibit area.”

Happy has not been seen by the public since then, and the Bronx Zoo did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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