A Mexico City zoo must implement measures to improve living conditions for an allegedly depressed elephant, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday — the high court’s first-ever ruling in favor of the rights of an individual animal.
The SCJN ordered the San Juan de Aragón Zoo in Mexico City to improve the health and life quality of an African elephant named Ely, who was rescued from a circus 13 years ago.
The ruling confirms a lower court’s order last year in favor of the elephant, which instructed the zoo to “implement the required measures to guarantee the well-being of the elephant, as well as its living conditions and protection.”
Experts say this ruling sets a precedent for future cases.
“This is a relevant and important precedent in our country for all animals living in these types of centers, to ensure that they are properly treated and with dignity,” Marcos Mario Czacki Halkin, Ely’s lawyer, said in a statement.
In the ruling, the panel of four justices agrees that there are no reasons to move Ely to another place, since they didn’t find reasons to determine that the zoo is “committing acts of abuse or animal cruelty against the animal.”
Ely’s problems started in 2016, when she went through several illnesses and her enclosure-mate Maggie, another elephant, died. Elephants are socially intelligent animals that are known to mourn and even bury their dead.
After Maggie’s death, Ely lost weight and began to bang her head against the walls of her enclosure, prompting her defenders to dub her “the saddest elephant in the world.”
Ely’s case reached the courts after activists claimed that Ely suffered from depression due to the conditions she was held in after Maggie’s death, when she was alone without other animals for company.
“I was very moved to see the state Ely was in,” Diana Valencia, founder and director of the animal rights group Opening Cages and Opening Minds, said to CNN about her reaction when she first met Ely. “It was heartbreaking, and I made her a promise. They will stop treating you like this.”
Han pasado 15 días sin que Claudia Sheinbaum pueda tomar una decisión respecto al traslado de Ely, la elefante más triste de México.
Su salud está claramente comprometida y ya no puede esperar.
Ayúdanos a que sea prioridad. pic.twitter.com/0YdMzdcWCL
— Lucía Hernández | Amo La Ciencia (@YoAmoaLaCiencia) September 6, 2022
Valencia admitted that the zoo has improved Ely’s living conditions, but only after public pressure; it expanded the elephant enclosure and added two more elephants in 2023 and 2024, to keep her company.
Veterinarian Gabriela Uribe Acosta, the zoo’s director, expressed confidence that the facility could fully comply with the court’s order to improve Ely’s life. She assured that Ely is stable and not depressed. Uribe also noted Ely is more active and has developed new vocalizations, particularly since the other elephants joined her.
Wednesday’s ruling also follows a recent SCJN decision that declared Mexico City’s laws against animal abuse and cruelty to be constitutional.
With reports from CNN, Infobae and The Associated Press
