The drama around a Bronx Zoo elephant named Happy continues. Finally, the Bronx elephant resurfaced after being mysteriously absent for 10 weeks. However, an activist group claims the elephant appears injured.
They're concerned about her health after she resurfaced. A photo shared by the Nonhuman Rights Project Instagram account shows the elephant for the first time. She was laying in a sand pit. They say that this isn't normal for the elephant. They also say that Happy has significant damage on her feet.
"As far as is known, this pattern of lying down in the exhibit yard isn't normal for Happy," the activists at the NhRP wrote. "From the time we began monitoring this exhibit in 2018 until her disappearance from view this summer, we and our sources only ever observed Happy in a standing position in this yard."
The zoo denies there is anything wrong with the animal.
"They know nothing of the individual elephant, her likes, dislikes or habits," a spokesperson said. "It's quite normal for healthy elephants to lie down and actually shows she is comfortable and feels secure in that area." The zoo claims that the animal's feet are just fine and that there's nothing that a pedicure won't cure.
Battle For Happy
However, the nonprofit group called out the zoo. "Free-living elephants don't need foot treatment or 'pedicures,' and foot disease is one of the leading causes of captive elephant death," Lauren Choplin, the communications director for NhRP, said. "She's stuck in a tiny exhibit which can't meet her physical or emotional needs or the needs of any elephant. If the Bronx Zoo truly cared about elephants' freedom of choice, she and Patty would be in a sanctuary already."
Previously, the activist group accused the zoo of hiding Happy. She disappeared from view for 10 weeks. "For some reason, she recently chose not to go out into the exhibit space during the day," a Bronx Zoo spokesperson elaborated, "preferring to hang back by the barn, and we let her do what she wanted."
"Something is wrong with Happy," the activist group previously wrote. "Happy's confinement indoors for at least a week is deeply concerning and we fear that physical and psychological distress that she has suffered from for decades is now reaching a point of crisis."
However, the zoo denied this.
"Despite some reports, she is not confined indoors and has access to indoor and outdoor spaces," the spokesperson added, "and she chooses where she wants to be."
