The New York Court of Appeals has ruled that “Happy” the elephant has no human writ of habeas corpus rights that would allow her to challenge her imprisonment at the Bronx Zoo. The 5-2 decision was written by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore with Judges Rowan Wilson and Jenny Rivera dissenting. “Because the writ of habeas corpus is intended to protect the liberty right of human beings to be free of unlawful confinement, it has no applicability to Happy, a nonhuman animal who is not a ‘person’ subjected to illegal detention,” DiFiore wrote. “Happy, as a nonhuman animal, does not have a legally cognizable right to be at liberty under New…