CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A 50-year-old lonely elephant at New York's Bronx Zoo has a Chicago-based philosopher on her side.
Imagine living in quarantine for 15 years — that's Happy the Asian elephant's reality. She's been in a one-acre exhibit at the Bronx Zoo since 1977. Her most recent companion passed away in 2006. Happy's unhappy circumstances have brought her into a national spotlight, but nothing has happened yet.
World-renowned animal rights philosopher Martha Nussbaum wants to change that.
"When I realized that Happy is totally alone, no other animals around her — she can't have a good life that way. And I think very few animals of any kind, including humans, can have that," Nussbaum said.
Nussbaum is a professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago. She recently submitted an argument for Happy's legal personhood to the New York Court of Appeals.
"We share this whole globe with other sentient beings, who have their own forms of life, and there's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't have legal standing for their concerns to be brought into a court of law," Nussbaum said.
In 2006, Happy became the first elephant to recognize herself in a mirror. Now, she's the first animal to have a habeas corpus case heard on her behalf in an English-speaking court. If Nussbaum's case for Happy's freedom works, Happy will live out her days in the company of other elephants at an animal sanctuary. The court will hear the case later this year.
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