Legal battle over elephant’s stay at Bronx Zoo
Vacant Williamsbridge lot becomes an illegal dump site
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,BTR JANUARY 17-23, 2020 3
BY KYLE VUILLE
Neighborhood litterbugs have made
home in a Williamsbridge vacant lot.
The lot at 3569 Willet Avenue, at East
213th Street, has been vacant for the
past 14 years, according to NYC Buildings
Department records.
The longstanding neighborhood
eyesore has become a health matter
and has some area residents alarmed.
Ronald Washington and his wife,
Catherine, closed on their house just
around the corner from the lot in February
of 2019 after moving from Canarsie,
Brroklyn.
“We picked this neighborhood because
it was affordable and we see the
Bronx as an up and coming place,”
Washington said.
Since the Washington family has
moved in, they’ve witnessed individuals
dump everything from derelict
cars to refrigerators to rotting food
onto the lot.
“It’s rat infested, it’s just out of control,”
Washington said. “How can you
live in the neighborhood and have it
look like that?”
Washington has fi led several complaints
to 311.
The NYC Sanitation Department
responded promptly recently and removed
the offensive trash.
But Washington said as soon as
sanitation leaves people start disposing
their garbage in the lot all over
again.
According to Washington, the property
owner is billed for the clean up,
however DOS would not divulge the
property owner’s name.
DOS has cleared the property of debris
four times in the past year with
the most recent cleaning Tuesday, November
19.
The site has also been summonsed
for dirty sidewalks, according to DOS.
Because the property is privately
owned, multiple steps must be taken
before a clean up is done, according to
the sanitation agency.
The procedure requires NYC Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene
to fi rst issue the owner with a
notice stating the date the site must
be cleaned by or DOS will do the work
and backcharge the owner.
Washington said he has taken photos
of the site and even tried to enlist
the local police precinct on the matter.
“The big word in capital letters is
‘HELP’,” Washington said.
Washington was surprised by his
neighbor’s lack of interest in resolving
the excessive dumping problem.
“They don’t care anymore because
it’s been happening for so long,” Washington
said.
According to the DOB, inspectors
visited the site on Friday, January 10,
2019 and observed several abandoned
cars on the property.
The DOB issued a parking regulation
violation.
The violation was issued to the
owner of the property and was set to go
to the Offi ce of Administrative Trials
and Hearings (OATH) for a scheduled
March 1 hearing, but it was rescheduled
by the respondent, and is currently
slated to be heard this April,
according to the DOB.
The standard penalty for this violation
is $1,250, but the maximum penalty
is $10,000.
As of last week, the vehicles have
not been removed.
Community Board 12 district manager
George Torres said the board has
not received any complaints from residents
about this issue at board meetings.
Through the NYC Finance Department’s
webpage, Plaza Homes LLC,
represented by Alfred Basal, is listed
as the owner.
When the Bronx Times contacted
Basal, he declined to comment on the
property’s maintenance or its future
plans.
A sign warning of exposure to rat poison hangs on a post at the vacant lot on Willet Ave. in
Williamsbridge. According to the Department of Sanitation, the lot has been cleaned four
times by DSNY last year. Photo by Kyle Vuille/Schneps Media
BY JASON COHEN
A legal battle over whether an elephant
has legal rights and if it should
stay in the Bronx Zoo or be relocated
to an elephant sanctuary concluded its
arguments two weeks ago.
On Monday, January 6, the nonprofi
t group Nonhuman Rights Project
(NhRP) argued for a third time in the
Bronx Supreme Court to free Happy
the elephant from solitary confi nement
in the Bronx Zoo.
“The argument that the NhRP
makes is that Happy is a person,” said
NhRP president Steven Wise.
In total, they stated their case for
13 hours, which began in September.
Wise, who has worked for decades as
an animal protection attorney, explained
that his organization and experts
argued that Happy has rights
and should live with other elephants.
Happy resides on an acre of land,
but if relocated to the Elephant Sanctuary
in Tennessee would have 2,600
acres and be with 10 to 15 elephants.
“Elephants are incredibly social,”
he said. “It’s not hard to imagine that
her life would change.”
Happy was born in Malaysia in
1971 and spent a few years in California
before being relocated to the Bronx
in 1977.
In her 40 plus years at the zoo, she
has lived with three other elephants,
but for the past 17 years has been
alone.
Happy’s proof of autonomy was evident
in 2005, when she became the fi rst
elephant to ‘pass’ the mirror self-recognition
test, considered to be an indicator
of self-awareness. The mirror test
is a behavioral technique developed in
1970 by psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr.
as an attempt to determine whether an
animal possesses the ability of visual
self-recognition
Wise said he hopes to have a resolution
in the next few months.
“We think our arguments are excellent,”
he remarked. “Bronx Zoo experts
didn’t say it was wrong to move
Happy.”
However, the Bronx Zoo argues
against NhRP’s assertion that Happy
should be moved.
The zoo is confi dent the court will
rule against NhRP based on existing
controlling precedent set by all four
departments of the appellate division
of the New York State court system.
Twenty-three judges, in New York
have already ruled against NhRP in
similar petitions.
“NhRP attorneys say it is because
the judges don’t understand the law,”
a statement by the Zoo said. “We contend
the judges do understand the law
and understand it very well. New York
State courts have consistently ruled
against NhRP and nothing was argued
in court today or at any point during
these proceedings to change this precedent.”
The zoo further contends that they
have taken care of Happy for years and
always meet her needs.
“Information being perpetuated
by NhRP is inaccurate, misleading
or simply untrue and they know it,”
the statement said. “They deliberately
misstate the truth: Happy is not kept
in isolation; Happy is not languishing;
Happy is not kept indoors for half the
year; Happy is well cared for by professionals
with decades of experience;
and NhRP is not acting in the interest
of the animal.”
An animal rights group and the Bronz Zoo are in a legal battle over the future of Happy the
Elephant. Photo Courtesy Gigi Glendinning