{"id":246240,"date":"2026-05-28T11:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/246240\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T11:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:53:18","slug":"mourning-happy-bronx-zoo-euthanizes-beloved-elephant-at-55","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/246240\/","title":{"rendered":"Mourning Happy: Bronx Zoo euthanizes beloved elephant at 55"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-block-key=\"hqpu7\">A 55-year-old Asian elephant who captured the hearts of those who saw her at the Bronx Zoo for decades has died.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"29gpf\">The Wildlife Conservation Society\u2019s Bronx Zoo said it euthanized Happy the elephant on Tuesday after a period of hospice care.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"b8rqn\">Happy \u2014 who arrived at the zoo in 1977 \u2014 had been one of two Asian elephants, along with 57-year-old Patty.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"5snsv\">The former started to receive hospice care after suffering from age-related health conditions and signs of potential declining kidney or liver function, according to the zoo.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"13scs\">She passed away surrounded by some of the keepers, curators and veterinarians who had been caring for her for decades, according to the zoo\u2019s interim director, Craig Piper.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"3nsk0\">\u201cMaking the decision to euthanize an animal is one of the hardest and most heartbreaking responsibilities in animal care, requiring immense compassion and love for the animal,\u201d Piper said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"cfu3j\">A necropsy of the elephant showed large inoperable uterine tumors and signs of arthritis.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"4koql\">Public concern over the welfare of both Happy and Patty had followed the pair for decades. Last year, attorneys with the New York City Bar Association <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/lawyers-call-for-transfer-of-bronx-zoos-last-2-elephants-to-sanctuary\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">urged<\/a> city officials to intervene to transfer the zoo\u2019s last two elephants to a sanctuary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 55-year-old Asian elephant who captured the hearts of those who saw her at the Bronx Zoo for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-246240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}