Elephant Happy at Bronx Zoo has died

6/1/26

Happy, the Bronx Zoo elephant whose fight for freedom became known around the world, has died.

Just two weeks ago, we asked you to speak out after Tembo died at Topeka Zoo. Now, another elderly elephant has died after spending her final years without the companionship of another elephant.

Happy was not an isolated case. 

Tembo was not an isolated case. 

Again and again, elderly female elephants are left alone in AZA-accredited zoos while the Association of Zoos and Aquariums allows exceptions to its own elephant standards.

Female elephants are highly social animals. The AZA’s accreditation materials state that female elephants should be housed, at a minimum, in groups of three. Yet lone elephants continue to live and die without the company of other elephants.

Please urge the AZA to enforce its own standards and act for elephants kept alone before more elephants die in isolation. (And yes, please act again even if you have already done this. This action has been updated.)