An Entertainment Abuses Article used with permission from All-Creatures.org
In Defense of Animals reports on the tragic news that Happy the elephant has died in captivity at the Bronx Zoo. She never got the opportunity to enjoy the peace and freedom of a sanctuary.
Happy the Elephant Dies at the Bronx Zoo
From Staff, IDA In Defense of Animals, idausa.org
May 2026
Photo Credit: Gigi Glendinning
NEW YORK (May 28, 2026) — In Defense of Animals is deeply saddened by the death of Happy, an Asian elephant at the Bronx Zoo who has been at the center of an ongoing battle to send her to a sanctuary.
“Happy never had a chance to live a happy life. She was taken from her home in Asia at just one year old and shipped to Lion Country Safari in Florida. In 1977, she was moved to the Bronx Zoo, where she has been for the last 48 years. Happy, at 55, would still be considered in her prime in her home country, but life in a zoo takes a terrible toll on elephants, and Happy suffered from severe arthritis and inoperable uterine tumors. She is famous for her role in proving that elephants are self-aware. And she made headline news with a landmark lawsuit by the Nonhuman Rights Project, filed in order to gain her freedom to sanctuary. Happy and her zoo mate Patty lived separate, isolated lives in their tiny enclosure. It's too late for Happy, but in her honor, we urge the Bronx Zoo to do what it promised when Maxine died in 2018: close the exhibit and send its last elephant, Patty to a true elephant home, a sanctuary where she can finally experience her life as close to the wild, free elephants she was meant to be,” said Courtney Scott, Elephant Consultant for In Defense of Animals.
The Bronx Zoo has the dishonorable distinction of being featured on In Defense of Animals’ annual list of the 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants in North America nearly a dozen times since it was first published in 2004, most recently in 2021 over concerns about Happy.
In Defense of Animals’ alert asking zoo management to release Happy and Patty to sanctuary has been signed by 18,269 people.
Posted on All-Creatures.org: June 1, 2026
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