Dear John,
Today is a solemn anniversary.
January 31st marks 20 years that Happy has been held alone at the Bronx Zoo—two full decades in solitary confinement.
Twenty years without the companionship of another elephant. Twenty years without the social bonds elephants naturally depend on for comfort, safety, and joy.
For a species whose lives are built around lifelong relationships, shared caregiving, and constant social contact, solitary confinement isn’t just unnatural, it’s tortuous. And for Happy, her prolonged suffering is seemingly never ending.
Happy was born in the wild in 1971, captured as a baby, and sold into captivity. She has spent nearly her entire existence in small enclosures without choice over any aspect of her life. In 2006, she became the first elephant to pass the mirror self-recognition test—a profound sign of cognitive complexity, as this test is used to demonstrate self-awareness. That same year, Happy found herself suddenly alone after the death of her companion. She has remained in solitary confinement ever since.
Twenty years of rotating between a small, barren enclosure and barred stalls in a tiny cement barn. Twenty years of forced isolation, without the ability to touch or bond with another member of her species.
No elephant should endure this and Happy is not the only one. Patty, the other elephant confined at the Bronx Zoo, is also living alone, deprived of the meaningful social opportunities every elephant needs to thrive.
Happy and Patty are cognitively, emotionally, and socially complex beings for whom there is robust and abundant scientific evidence of self-awareness and autonomy. Yet, their lives have been defined by solitary confinement and loneliness. Their imprisonment is a grave injustice, and it must end.
They deserve sanctuary.
They deserve companionship.
They deserve freedom.
Today, in honor of Happy’s twentieth year alone, we’re asking you to take one simple action.
Please fill out our action alert to send an email to the new CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society, urging him to release Happy and Patty to an accredited elephant sanctuary.
