Hi John! I hope your August has been a good one so far.

It’s been an especially busy month for the NhRP: we just held our second rally for our elephant client Happy at the Bronx Zoo, followed by a five-day all-staff retreat where we took a deep dive into the nonhuman rights lawsuit we have planned for California, among other big projects. The day after our retreat, we argued in the Bronx County Supreme Court on behalf of Happy and are now preparing for another hearing scheduled for September 23rd (stay tuned for details). Visit this page for a recap of the rally (how great is the group photo above?) and this page for my video explanation of what happened at Happy’s hearing and why we’re pleased her case has finally moved forward in the Bronx. 

Something else important happened at the retreat! Through our amazing hosts, Jane Berkey and the Animal Farm Foundation, we met a dog named Tripp, possibly the most cheerful dog in the world, who I decided to foster at my place in Brooklyn. I mention Tripp in part because he was kind enough to pose with me for a photo for Hourglass Cosmetics’ Eye-to-Eye campaign on social media:

You can participate too! Through the end of the month, our friends at Hourglass are generously donating $1 to the NhRP every time someone posts a photo posing eye to eye with their companion animal using the hashtag #hg_eyetoeye and tagging @hourglasscosmetics and @nonhuman.rights.project. Hourglass is a cruelty-free luxury beauty brand whose founder and CEO, Carisa Janes, become a passionate supporter of our mission and work after she watched the documentary Unlocking the Cage, which tells the story of our chimpanzee rights cases. 

Speaking of Unlocking the Cage, we at the NhRP are mourning the recent passing of the film’s co-director, legendary documentarian D A Pennebaker. We were honored to know and work with him. Read NhRP President Steven M. Wise’s post about D A here.

Speaking of Steve, on August 8th, at the invitation of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, he addressed a panel of nine judges during a hearing to determine whether a spectacled bear named Chucho is a legal person with the fundamental right to liberty protected by the writ of habeas corpus. Watch the video here.

Finally, if you’re close to Goshen, Connecticut, please join local activists at the Goshen Fair from 12 to 4 p.m. ET on August 31st, September 1st, and September 2nd for their protests against the Commerford Zoo, the traveling circus that imprisons and exploits our elephant clients Beulah, Karen, and Minnie. Details can be found on the events tab on our Facebook page. Stay tuned for more on this front, and visit this page for the latest in our Connecticut elephant rights cases. As with all our clients, we will never stop fighting for their right to liberty and release to a sanctuary.

Thank you and we’ll be in touch again soon!

Kevin Schneider
Executive Director, the NhRP