When does human life begin?

[Kaitzilla]

Happy the elephant is not a person, to stay at zoo

New York’s top court has rejected an effort to free Happy the elephant from the Bronx Zoo, ruling in a closely watched case against an animal rights group that said she deserved some of the same rights as humans and should be freed.
The 5-2 decision by the state Court of Appeals on Tuesday affirms an earlier court decision and means Happy will not be released through a habeas corpus proceeding, which is a way for people to challenge illegal confinement.

“A determination that Happy, an elephant, may invoke habeas corpus to challenge her confinement at the Bronx Zoo — a confinement both authorized and, by all indications, compliant with state and federal statutory law and regulations — would have an enormous destabilising impact on modern society,” read the decision. “It is not this Court’s role to make such a determination.”
​

Sad, but I will admit that the two judges who were willing to give a zoo elephant habeas corpus surprise me more than the five who would not.

Right, but elephants act awfully human sometimes.

Elephant Kills Woman Then Returns to Funeral and Tramples Corpse (msn.com)

...After the elephant attacked Murmu, she was rushed to hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries, Lopamudra Nayak, an inspector at the Rasgovindpur police station, told The Print.
Later, as family members gathered to perform a funeral for Murmu, the wild tusker appeared once again.

It approached the pyre and grabbed the body, The Print reported.
The elephant then trampled on her body again, and threw it away before fleeing.
The funeral was completed a few hours later.

Duncan McNair, a lawyer and founder of conservation charity Save The Asian Elephants, told Newsweek that this incident is a reminder that although gentle creatures, elephants can be "dangerous and deadly."
However, McNair said these incidents rarely happen without the elephant having been provoked in someway...

Don't abuse elephants.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Right, but elephants act awfully human sometimes.

Elephant Kills Woman Then Returns to Funeral and Tramples Corpse (msn.com)



Don't abuse elephants.

Every incident of elephant violence I've heard of happened either because of the incredible psychological stress perpetrated on captive elephants, physical/psychological abuse of circus elephants and "working" elephants (ie. those tasked with providing rides for tourists), injuries both physical and mental perpetrated by poachers (obviously I mean the survivors, not the dead elephants), and other forms of human abuse of elephants including being chased, injured, or killed just for being too close to human habitation (the humans being too arrogant to realize that the elephants were there first).