Good morning. It\u2019s Friday. Today we\u2019ll look at the life of Happy the Elephant.<\/p>\n
Happy the Elephant, a Bronx Zoo mainstay who set herself apart by displaying a surprising level of self-awareness, died on Tuesday<\/a>. She was 55.<\/p>\n The cause was euthanasia, preceded by a hospice stay because of deteriorating health issues, zoo officials announced late Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cShe died peacefully surrounded by the keepers, curators and veterinarians who have cared for her, some for more than 30 years,\u201d Craig Piper, the zoo\u2019s interim director, said in a statement. \u201cTheir longstanding, deep relationships were invaluable to Happy throughout her life.\u201d<\/p>\n Happy, an Asian elephant, was best known as the central character of a high-profile court case brought in 2018, in which an animal rights advocacy group argued that the elephant was being illegally held at the zoo and should be sent to an animal sanctuary instead. The case advanced all the way to New York\u2019s highest court, where it was shot down in 2022 by a 5-to-2 vote.<\/p>\n The organization behind the case, the Nonhuman Rights Project, had centered its claim on the idea that Happy was entitled to habeas corpus, a legal principle that entitles people to contest illegal confinement. Happy was entitled to such a human privilege, the group argued, because she had exhibited astonishing levels of cognitive ability.<\/p>\n In 2005, Happy aced what\u2019s called a \u201cmirror self-recognition test,\u201d in which she touched an X mark on her forehead with her trunk while gazing into a mirror. She was the first elephant to show such a level of self-awareness \u2014 the only other animals who had done so were human babies, apes and dolphins.<\/p>\n Christopher Berry, the Nonhuman Rights Project\u2019s executive director, said in a statement on Thursday that the elephant\u2019s \u201csuffering\u201d would \u201cnot be in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHappy will always be remembered as the elephant who opened the courtroom doors for legal rights for animals,\u201d Mr. Berry said. \u201cTwo judges from the New York Court of Appeals issued powerful dissenting opinions in support of her right to liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n Happy was born in the early 1970s, most likely in Thailand, where she was captured at a young age and brought to the United States, landing first at a Florida petting zoo with six other elephants, each named for \u201cSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs\u201d characters.<\/p>\n She and another of the seven, Grumpy, also a female, were acquired by the Bronx Zoo, where they lived with an older female, Tus, in the Elephant House. They were trained to do tricks, give rides to children and perform at \u201cElephant Weekends.\u201d<\/p>\n Eventually, as zoos across the United States revamped or eliminated elephant exhibits, partly in response to a growing animal-rights movement, the three were moved to the zoo\u2019s Wild Asia section, where they joined two other elephants, Patty and Maxine.<\/p>\n Tus died in 2002. Soon after, Patty and Maxine attacked Grumpy, fatally wounding her. Happy could no longer be kept with them. A younger female elephant brought in to be her new companion soon died. From that point onward, Happy was separated from Patty \u2014 and, until she died, Maxine \u2014 by a fence that divided the zoo\u2019s roughly two-acre, tree-lined elephant enclosure.<\/p>\n To animal-rights activists, the fence was cruel, impeding Happy\u2019s ability to live in a way that was true to her highly social elephantine nature. Zoo officials insisted that Happy was not isolated and that she and Patty touched trunks, smelled each other and communicated.<\/p>\n In announcing Happy\u2019s death, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the Bronx Zoo, reiterated its position that the Nonhuman Rights Project lawsuit was frivolous, noting that it had \u201calways focused on what was best for Happy\u2019s health and psychological well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n Happy is survived by Patty, a 57-year-old Asian elephant who officials said was doing well. Patty is now the sole elephant still on exhibit at the zoo.<\/p>\n Weather<\/p>\n Today will be sunny, with a high near 79. Expect partly cloudy skies tonight and temperatures around 54.<\/p>\n ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING<\/p>\n In effect until June 19 (Juneteenth).<\/p>\n QUOTE OF THE DAY<\/p>\n \u201cThey are 85-plus.\u201d \u2014 David Von Hollweg, vice president of Rudd Management<\/a>, which manages about 45 buildings in Manhattan, on tenants who are likely to skip the mailbox and deliver their checks by hand<\/a> to the company\u2019s office in Midtown East.<\/p>\n Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Beating Deaths of Homeless Men<\/p>\n A man convicted of killing four homeless men in Chinatown in 2019 was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n A jury found that Randy Rodriguez Santos, 31, had bludgeoned the men with a 15-pound metal bar as they slept. The men who were killed ranged in age from their late 30s to their 80s.<\/p>\n The judge who sentenced Mr. Santos, Laura A. Ward of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, said that Mr. Santos\u2019s case exemplified the \u201ccoming together of three horrible symptoms of this city: homelessness, mental illness and narcotics abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Santos\u2019s lawyers had tried to argue that he should not be found guilty because of mental disease or defect. At the time of the murders, Mr. Santos himself appeared to be homeless and was experiencing mental health problems. His lawyers said that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and that he heard voices. On the night of the killings, Mr. Santos believed he needed to kill 40 people in order to save his own life.<\/p>\n Just before Justice Ward informed him of his sentence, Mr. Santos addressed the court, saying that he felt \u201cbad about what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wish it never happened,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mind is much better now. I feel like a different person now.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Santos was 24 at the time of the crimes, having immigrated from the Dominican Republic five years before. In response to Mr. Santos\u2019s lawyers\u2019 claims that he was unaware of what he was doing when he killed the four men, prosecutors argued that he understood his actions and had gone as far as to rehearse them a week before in Chelsea, when he attacked a sleeping man with a stick.<\/p>\n Ahead of his sentencing, Mr. Santos intimated that he was aware he would be incarcerated for some time and that he would put the time to good use by completing his education and learning English.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be somebody when I get out of the jail,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n METROPOLITAN diary<\/p>\n Near Union Square<\/p>\n Dear Diary:<\/p>\n On a quick visit to New York recently to see some Broadway shows, my wife and I overheard two women talking on the sidewalk as we passed a Paper Source store on Fifth Avenue near Union Square.<\/p>\n \u201cI hear they have some wonderful papaya in there,\u201d one of the women said enthusiastically.<\/p>\n Her companion briefly appeared perplexed but then recovered.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s papyrus,\u201d she said quietly.<\/p>\n \u2014 Paul Pavlis<\/p>\n Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here<\/a> and read more Metropolitan Diary here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning. It\u2019s Friday. Today we\u2019ll look at the life of Happy the Elephant. 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