Dear John,

As Monica Miller, the lawyer who’ll be arguing on behalf of Happy, said in today’s seminar about this historic elephant rights case, “This is such a big deal! … We knew this wasn’t going to happen overnight, we knew it was going to take a while, and so it’s amazing that it’s been pretty much a decade since we filed our first case and we’ve finally made it to the Court of Appeals.”

Currently, the NhRP is deep in final preparations to argue on May 18th before the highest court in New York, which will have the chance to right the tremendous wrong of Happy’s 45 years of imprisonment by the Bronx Zoo and the Wildlife Conservation Society. After spending hundreds of hours drafting our 14,000-word brief, holding near-daily, hours-long Zoom meetings to make sure every word is exactly right, and steadily gaining support from the leading experts on elephant cognition and behavior, habeas corpus, animal law, philosophy, religion, and more, we believe we’re putting forth the best possible legal argument for Happy’s freedom.

Please consider making a donation today to support the legal costs and other efforts involved in Happy’s case. Your help is urgently needed to shift the legal status quo for Happy and fuel the NhRP’s efforts to win actual, enforceable legal rights for members of other species.

A reminder to please join us in person in Albany or virtually on FreeHappyNow.com on May 18th, the day of Happy’s historic hearing and rally. As you heard in today’s seminar, the more people we have joining us, the louder and clearer the message we’ll send to New York’s highest court and everyone paying attention to our fight to #FreeHappy: The time has come to recognize and protect elephants’ right to liberty.

Watch and share the recording of today’s seminar here. You can also check out Monica’s YouTube playlist featuring some of the elephant videos she, as Happy’s lawyer, finds most inspiring. Lastly, please read and share The Wall Street Journal article that was published today about Happy’s case. 

Together we are making legal history for elephants and other nonhuman animals!

Mickey Suzuki
Development Director, the NhRP