In a historical decision for elephants, Happy has been granted a Writ of Habeus Corpus. This order means that Tracey A. Bannister of the Orleans County Supreme Court will rule if Happy is a legal person. The Nonhuman Rights Project has secured this precedent-setting ruling using the evidence that Happy is cognitively complex and self-aware-- she is the first documented elephant to demonstrate this capacity through a mirror self-recognition test.

As Steven Wise, the President of the Nonhuman Rights Project, addressed to the court, "It's wrong to treat them as if they're basic, inanimate beings. They are autonomous beings. They are extraordinarily cognitively complex and they ought to have fundamental legal rights that protect these fundamental cognitive characteristics.”

If the judge rules in Happy's favor, the isolated Bronx Zoo elephant, will be retired to a sanctuary and become the first animal with at the very least a basic legal definition of personhood.