Happy, a female Asian elephant in her early 50s kept at New York’s Bronx Zoo since 1977, has not been seen in her exhibit for months. Activists allege something’s amiss.

Speculation has been brewing for months about Happy’s no-show, prompting the Wildlife Conservation Society that operates the facility to put out a statement on July 31 saying, “Nothing is wrong with Happy” and “Happy has been choosing to not go out into the area visible from the monorail.”

Zoo officials say Happy has been spending time in other areas with caretakers for contact and treats — and wanders into the exhibit outside visiting hours.

“Happy has recently opted not to be in the exhibit during the day, but she has gone into that area in the morning before the zoo opens. Happy is choosing to spend her time near the barn interacting with staff,” zoo officials said this month, according to The New York Times.

The Nonhuman Rights Project, which previously tried and failed to have Happy declared a legal person entitled to habeas corpus rights, claims that Happy has lost the will to live.

On Sunday, the group posted on Facebook that it had been two months since it or other advocates had seen Happy in the zoo’s exhibit yard. The group also said the zoo’s elephant barn, “with its barred and chain-lined cages, looks more like a prison than a barn.”

Happy has been seen in a dirt pen next to the barn, the NRP said, adding that in past years Happy appeared in the main area of the elephant exhibit on alternating days with Patty, another female Asian elephant in her 50s kept at the zoo, who doesn’t get along with Happy. The elephants are on public display from May through October.

In August following a complaint by the NRP, the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service inspected the elephant habitat and found that “no noncompliant items [were] identified during this inspection.”

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.