Happy the elephant is not a person, says court in key US animal rights case

Activist group called for Happy's release from New York zoo, calling her cognitively complex and autonomous

New York's top court has ruled that Happy, an elephant residing at the Bronx Zoo since the 1970s, cannot legally be considered a person in a closely watched case that tested the boundaries of applying human rights to animals.

The case brought by an animal rights group argued Happy should be released from the zoo. The Nonhuman Rights Project argued that Happy is an autonomous, cognitively complex elephant worthy of the right reserved in law for a person".