The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the Order which granted respondents' motion to dismiss the petition for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Happy, an elephant, and directed the Clerk to enter judgment dismissing the proceeding brought pursuant to CPLR article 70. The common-law writ of habeas corpus is limited to human beings. A judicial determination that species other than homo sapiens are "persons" for some juridical purposes, and, therefore, have certain rights would lead to a labyrinth of questions that common-law processes are ill-equipped to answer. The decisions of whether and how to integrate other species into legal constructs designed for humans is a matter better suited to the legislature.
Matter of Nonhuman Rights Project, Inc. v Breheny, NY Slip Op 07675 (1st Dep't December 17, 2020)
