Bronx Zoo elephant Happy spotted in public for first time in weeks with significant damage to feet, activists say

Whether she’s happy or not is apparently up for debate.Happy, the famous Bronx Zoo Asian elephant, was recently spotted in public for the first time in nearly 10 weeks — and sparked concern from the activist group that monitors her well-being.A photo posted to the Nonhuman Rights Project Instagram account on Wednesday showed the pachyderm laying down in a sand pit inside her enclosure — a pattern of behavior which “isn’t normal” for Happy — with “significant damage” to her feet, the post’s caption read.“As far as is known, this pattern of lying down in the exhibit yard isn’t normal for Happy,” the activists at the NhRP wrote.“From the time we began monitoring this exhibit in 2018 until her disappearance from view this summer, we and our sources only ever observed Happy in a standing position in this yard.”The zoo, however, maintains that Happy is in tip-top shape — and that the NhRP isn’t as attune to her needs as the zoo’s expert team.“They know nothing of the individual elephant, her likes, dislikes or habits,” a spokesperson for the Bronx Zoo told The Post Thursday. “It’s quite normal for healthy elephants to lie down and actually shows she is comfortable and feels secure in that area,” the spokesperson said, adding that there are “no serious issues” with Happy’s feet — and that any nail cracks are managed with routine pedicures.Meanwhile, the NhRP called the zoo’s comments “minimizing” of the elephant’s ailments and contends Happy is anything but. “Free-living elephants don’t need foot treatment or “pedicures,” and foot disease is one of the leading causes of captive elephant death,” Lauren Choplin, the communications director for NhRP, told The Post.“She’s stuck in a tiny exhibit which can’t meet her physical or emotional needs or the needs of any elephant,” Choplin added.

“If the Bronx Zoo truly cared about elephants’ freedom of choice, she and Patty would be in a sanctuary ...