The mysterious disappearance of an elephant named Happy at New York’s Bronx Zoo has caused an uproar as animal activists float theories.
Happy has been one of the zoo’s main attractions since its arrival in 1977 and is usually seen by park visitors riding the monorail through the Wild Asia exhibit.
However, Happy, who is in his fifties, has not been seen in the zoo’s outdoor enclosure since July, leaving many zoo visitors disappointed.
Zoo spokesperson Mary Dixon told DailyMail.com that the elephant was already in an exhibit before the park opened and appeared on Saturday – but one visitor claimed her just Patti.
Zoo director Jim Breheny previously shared a video of Happy “in the exhibit…taking a dust bath.” [and] food” on the morning of September 12 on his X account, but the comments below the clip were suspicious of the clip.
“There’s no way to know for sure this was yesterday,” one X user wrote. “It would have made sense if the NYT journalist had seen her [and] I took a picture of Happy.’
Happy has been one of the zoo’s main attractions since she arrived in 1977 and is usually seen by park visitors as they ride the monorail through the Wild Asia exhibit
“Happy recently chose not to be in the exhibit during the day, but she went to the exhibit area in the morning before the zoo opens,” a zoo spokesperson told DailyMail.com
Despite the zoo insisting there is nothing wrong with the elephant, her absence from public life has led many to speculate that Happy is, well, not happy.
“She may choose not to go outside because she is depressed and has lost the will to live, and going outside no longer brings her joy. Or she could be in pain,” Courtney Fern of the Nonhuman Rights Project told the newspaper New York Post.
Elephants at the zoo have been separated into pairs since one was injured in a herd attack in 1977.
But Happy has been alone since her last companion died in 2006. The New York Times reported.
Patty, the only other elephant now at the Bronx Zoo, still spends her day in the open enclosure.
This has raised fears that Happy may be lonely.
Caitlin O’Connell, an elephant scientist and instructor at Harvard, told The New York Times, “Elephants need social interaction to thrive, and as migratory animals, they enjoy large spaces where they can forage and graze.”
Fern also stressed that the elephant’s behavior is “not normal” and claimed that she is “most likely not coming out because there is something wrong with her mentally or physically.”
However, the zoo has repeatedly denied that anything is wrong, claiming that the elephant simply chooses to hang out behind the scenes with employees rather than use public spaces.
“Happy recently chose not to be in the exhibit during the day, but she went to the exhibit area in the morning before the zoo opened,” a zoo spokesperson told DailyMail.com.
‘As we previously stated, Happy chooses to spend the day near the stable and interacting with the staff, rather than in the exhibition area.
Courtney Fern of the Nonhuman Rights Project emphasized that the elephant was not behaving normally, claiming that she is “most likely not coming out because there is something wrong with her mentally or physically.”
‘She is given access to the exhibition space every day, but she does not choose to spend her time there. Despite some reports, she is not confined indoors, but has access to indoor and outdoor spaces and chooses where she wants to be.”
This comes weeks after the zoo was first forced to release a statement Statement of July 31 to address growing concerns surrounding the elephant.
It started by stating that there is ‘nothing wrong with Happy’ and then emphasized that the animal is in ‘good health’.
On August 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture “conducted a targeted inspection of the elephants at the Bronx Zoo,” a spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Thursday.
The zoo also recently released footage of Happy wandering around the outdoor enclosure before park opening hours in an effort to reassure the public
The spokesperson said the report found the “zoo met or exceeded USDA standards of care.”
“Our veterinary and animal care teams have stated that Happy appears and is doing well,” the spokesperson added.
But critics are still not satisfied, especially after learning that a New York Times reporter was denied access to the animal before and after hours.
Dixon told The Times that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service had also inspected the elephants, their sheds and their enclosures. Additionally, the zoo’s own veterinarians had examined Happy and said she “looks fine and is doing well.”
The barn door remains open so Happy can leave at any time, Dixon told The Times.
Despite this, Fern’s group is not convinced that all is going well and generally believes that elephants should not be kept captive, she told The Times.
“There is nothing wrong with Happy,” Zoo spokesperson Mary Dixon said in a July 31 statement, while emphasizing that the elephant is “in good health.”
On August 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture “conducted a targeted inspection of the elephants at the Bronx Zoo,” a spokesperson told DailyMail.com
The zoo community strongly disagrees with the activists’ stance on captivity, pointing to their extensive conservation work and new and improved methods of animal care.
“We’ve learned how to better care for them, how to meet their needs and how to manage them from a physical standpoint, and from a psychological and social standpoint,” said Dan Ashe, the president and chief executive of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, told The Times.
The zoo previously had to fight to keep their prized Happy after Fern’s organization challenged the elephant’s confinement in the New York Supreme Court in 2020.
The group attempted to argue that Happy was essentially the equivalent of a rights-entitled person, and therefore should not be kept in a cage as this was a violation of habeas corpus.
However, the activists lost their challenge in 2022, when the court ruled that ‘no one’ disputes that elephants are intelligent beings who deserve proper care and compassion’, they are not the same as humans.