Lawyers for Happy, a 47-year-old Asian elephant that lives alone at the Bronx Zoo, are traveling this week to a court in a rural county in the northwest corner of New York for a hearing scheduled for Friday on their efforts to get the animal released.

At issue is the legal personhood of nonhumans who come before the court.

The effort is being led by the Nonhuman Rights Project and its president, Steven Wise, who has been advocating for years to establish legal rights for animals. He and the group recently fought for the release of two chimpanzees, Tommy and Kiko, from captivity in New York, but ultimately lost.