The court rejected efforts by a civil rights group to have her sent to a sanctuary.

For 45 years, an elephant named Happy has lived in captivity in the Bronx Zoo in New York. Currently, she is one of the only two elephants still on the property, though she is housed separately from the other elephant due to them not getting along. An animal civil rights group, the Nonhuman Rights Project, recently made a case for Happy to released to an elephant sanctuary on the grounds that she has not been receiving sufficient social interaction. They have advocated for Happy to be legally declared a person, and that her place in the zoo is illegal confinement.

Today, the high court of New York ruled that, while Happy is an undeniably intelligent creature, she can not be deemed a full person, and therefore the zoo is under no obligation to release her. “While no one disputes the impressive capabilities of elephants, we reject petitioner’s arguments that it is entitled to seek the remedy of habeas corpus on Happy’s behalf,” Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote in the ruling. “Habeas corpus is a procedural vehicle intended to secure the liberty rights of human beings who are unlawfully restrained, not nonhuman animals.”

Lauren Choplin, a spokeswoman for the Nonhuman Rights Project, told CNN that while the group is disappointed by the loss, they will continue to fight for Happy and animals like her. “This is not just a loss for Happy, whose freedom was at stake in this case and who remains imprisoned in a Bronx Zoo exhibit. It’s also a loss for everyone who cares about upholding and strengthening our most cherished values and principles of justice – autonomy, liberty, equality, and fairness – and ensuring our legal system is free of arbitrary reasoning and that no one is denied basic rights simply because of who they are,” Choplin said.