People have been given inalienable rights by law as set in the Constitution which, for one, gives them the right to be free, make their own decisions without being impeded by anyone or anything. This is fundamentally based on the idea that humans have been born with free will and having the capacity to do what is good for them without stepping on other people's rights.
For animals, we never really thought about such and animal rights enshrined in animal welfare laws only govern how people should treat animals. However, we have to also take into consideration that animals, much like people, live in their own societies and communities. Happy is an elephant who is currently in the care of the Bronx Zoo and, since the death of an elephant companion in 2006, has lived alone.
For a member of a species renowned for both intelligence and sociality, the setting is far from natural. In the wild, Happy would share a many-square-mile home range with a lifelong extended family, their bonds so close-knit that witnessing death produces symptoms akin to post-traumatic stress disorder in humans. It would seem that Happy, despite the devotions of the people who care for her, is not living her best life.
So now, an advocacy group called the Nonhuman Rights Project is making a case for animals and has been fighting for Happy's release.
Since 2013, the group has filed lawsuits on behalf of four captive chimpanzees in New York and, in neighboring Connecticut, three elephants used in a traveling circus. They’ve lost those cases, but they have persuaded judges to take them seriously, and in October petitioned a New York state court to order Happy’s release. She wouldn’t be returned to the wild, but would be transferred to a sanctuary in California with more space and the company of other elephants.
(Image credit: Larry Li/Unsplash)