Activists Happy to Give Elephant Human Rights

Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Culture News

on April 1, 2023

Advocates from the Nonhuman Rights Project brought a case before New York’s highest court recently, claiming that Happy, an elephant at the Bronx Zoo, should be considered a person.

The Nonhuman Rights Project wanted Happy moved from her “prison” at the zoo to a sanctuary. The Bronx Zoo argued that Happy is not a person and was not illegally imprisoned but was well cared for. New York’s Court of Appeals later ruled in the court’s favor, affirming a lower court decision and deciding that Happy will remain at the Bronx Zoo.

Only humans were created in God’s image.

This ruling upholds the value of human life. Only humans were created in God’s image, and we were given dominion over the animals. While we are called to be good stewards of God’s creatures, we value life by preserving the rights reserved for humans and by not equating animals with God’s image bearers.

This article is from Answers magazine, October–December, 2022, p. 31.