Bronx Zoo named No. 2 worst zoo for elephants as activists say Happy is one pouty pachyderm: Cruel confinement

The Bronx Zoo was named the No.2 “worst” zoo for elephants as animal activists say its famed trunked resident “Happy” is one pouty pachyderm that should be released to a sanctuary.The zoo’s alleged “cruel confinement” of Happy and the zoo’s other Asian elephant Patty led to the unwanted ranking from the animal rights group In Defense of Animals — with only the Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens faring worse on the list.The No.

1 “worst” LA zoo “epitomizes the tragic phenomenon of ‘aging out,’ where older elephants become burdens to the zoo as their physical and mental health deteriorates rapidly and they lose their breeding value,” the group said.At the Bronx Zoo, Happy and Patty are kept in enclosures thousands of times smaller than their natural range, which can result in chronic stress, arthritis, brain damage, foot disease and early death, a rep from In Defense of Animals said.“Happy’s actions speak volumes: she can no longer mentally cope with her environment,” Courtney Scott, the group’s elephant consultant, said in a statement.“Both Happy and Patty are in desperate need of a stimulating, natural environment with ample space to roam — somewhere they can experience the social and cognitive enrichment they have been denied for so long.”Scott noted 15,000 animal activists have signed a petition urging the zoo to send the elephant pair to a sanctuary “where they can finally find the peace, space, and sense of belonging they deserve.”A spokesperson for the Bronx Zoo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.While the Bronx Zoo vowed to shut down its elephant exhibit in 2006 once one or more of its elephants died, Patty and Happy continue to be held at the zoo until further notice despite neighbor Maxine’s death in 2018, the group said.The zoo also allegedly violates the Association of Zoos & Aquariums standard of care, the activist group said, which mandates elephants live in social groups of a...