The 55-Year-Old Elephant Named Happy is Dead

A female Asian elephant named Happy, who had lived at the Bronx Zoo since 1977, is now dead. She lived to the age 55, and on May 26, she was euthanized due to her medical conditions. She was not healthy and had falloffs in her kidney and liver function, which resulted in the decision to euthanize her.

The decision of euthanizing her was very hard because Happy had lived for 55 years and had stayed in the Bronx Zoo for almost her entire life. After consideration though, the zoo officials and director decided to end her life painlessly. Happy’s conditions were just worsening due to her old age, and the zoo officials decided it was better to end her life painlessly than for her to live longer and suffer a painful death.

According to undefined, Happy was born in the early 70s and she, along with 6 other elephants, were captured and brought to the United States at a young age. The seven elephants were each named after the “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” characters. The Bronx Zoo acquired Happy and another elephant named Grumpy, and they had to live in the Elephant House with an older female elephant named Tus. Eventually, the three elephants were brought to live in the zoo’s Wild Asia section where they joined two other elephants, Patty and Maxine.

Happy wasn’t just an ordinary elephant though. According to the undefined, Happy showed scientists the possibility of her species having self-awareness; she did this because she thinks her species deserve fundamental human rights. This made her an intelligent and unique elephant who cares about her species. Although she was not successful, she is remembered as the elephant who tried to gain legal rights for animals by showing the scientists that her species can be self-aware.

Even though Happy had many medical conditions, she was still able to open the courtroom doors and try to fight for legal rights for animals. Now that Happy is gone, officials said that the zoo still had Patty on exhibit. Patty who is now 57 years old, lives alone in the zoo, and officials said that she is doing well. Happy lived a long life and her actions to try and help animals gain human rights will always be remembered.