Vermont Law School has been making history in the field of animal law and policy for over three decades, and this week, VLS alum Monica Miller JD‘12 will continue to make history in what has been deemed “the most important animal-rights case of the 21st century.”
On May 18, Miller will appear in front of New York state’s highest court on behalf of the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) to argue that Happy, an elephant who has been held captive at the Bronx Zoo since 1977, should have a fundamental right to liberty and be transferred to a sanctuary.
Happy is the sole remaining elephant of a group of seven young Asian elephants who were taken from their homes and families in the wild. Now more than 50 years old, she lives alone in a small enclosure and can only interact with Patty, the zoo's only other elephant, through a fence. Elephants are extremely social animals, and they evolved to walk many miles every day. Happy is the first elephant to demonstrate self-awareness in the mirror test -- a significant component of some understandings of personhood -- and is now the first elephant to have a state high court decide whether she is entitled to a habeas corpus hearing to determine the legality of her captivity.
The NhRP filed a petition to extend the common law of habeas corpus to Happy in October of 2018, and the case has been making its way through the courts since then. While there have been advancements in the quest for personhood for nonhuman animals outside of the United States, when the New York Court of Appeals granted the NhRP’s motion to appeal last May, it marked the first time the highest court in an English-speaking jurisdiction agreed to hear a case involving a writ habeas corpus brought on behalf of a nonhuman animal.
The lawyers behind this case have strong ties to Vermont Law School. Steven Wise, President and Founder of the NhRP, taught one of the nation’s first animal rights law courses at VLS in 1990, and continued to teach here for many years. During a recent presentation, Ms. Miller, lead counsel for Happy in the upcoming argument, shared that she chose to attend VLS because of the course offerings in animal law, and started volunteering with Wise as a second-year law student. Ms. Miller was offered a position with the NhRP before graduation, and has been instrumental in its efforts to extend the common law right of bodily liberty to nonhuman animals for more than a decade. She is an experienced litigator and has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits.
"VLS alums across the United States are leading the charge to change the world for animals, and Monica Miller is a shining example, inspiring the growing number of students who recognize that justice isn’t only for humans," said Professor Delcianna Winders, Director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at VLS.
Happy’s hearing will take place after 2:00 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday, May 18, and there will be a pre-hearing rally outside of the Albany, New York, courthouse at noon (both events will be livestreamed). Professor Pamela Vesilind has reserved the Nina Thomas Classroom for the VLS community to watch and discuss the arguments, and to support a fellow Swan.