Shannon Keith is an American

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

lawyer, activist, and documentary director/producer. She is the director of the Animal Liberation Front documentary, '' Behind the Mask: The Story Of The People Who Risk Everything To Save Animals''.

Background

Keith grew up in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, with a house full of animals. Ever since she was a small child, Shannon rescued injured and homeless animals and nursed them back to health or placed them in loving homes. In later life, Keith became an animal rights

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

maker and animal rights lawyer. Animals are considered property, and she has striven to change that fact while defending animal rights activists in the courtroom, saving dogs condemned to death in Los Angeles, as well as litigating against those who abuse animals. Keith has represented a number of well-known animal-rights activists and campaigns, including Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) and

Kevin Kjonaas Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was an international animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest contract Animal testing, animal-testing laboratory. HLS tests medical and non-medical substances on ...

, the former president of SHAC USA, against

Huntingdon Life Sciences Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) was a contract research organisation (CRO) founded in 1951 in Cambridgeshire, England. It had two laboratories in the United Kingdom and one in the United States. With over 1,600 staff, it was until 2015 the larges ...

,Huntingdon Life Sciences Inc. v. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA, Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District Court, Division One, State of California, June 1, 2005. and the

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor, Washington, Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action t ...

. She has saved dogs from being

euthanized Animal euthanasia ( euthanasia from el, εὐθανασία; "good death") is the act of killing an animal or allowing it to die by withholding extreme medical measures. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable (and especially painful) conditi ...

in Los Angeles, and in 2000, she obtained the largest settlement against the City of Los Angeles for the beating to death of a dog by a city employee.Keith's bio
, Animal Consultants International. Circa 2002, Shannon began to challenge the media with her strong message in support of animal liberation actions and activists. In 2004, Shannon started a non-profit, tax-exempt group called ARME ( Animal rescue media education). ARME rescues homeless animals and focuses on stopping the problem at its roots through educational initiatives, including making documentaries about animals and animal activists. In 2006, after three years of filming, Keith released a

about the Animal Liberation Front entitled '' Behind the Mask: The Story Of The People Who Risk Everything To Save Animals''. The documentary was produced in response to what the ALF sees as a growing bias within the mainstream media towards the

animal rights movement The animal rights (AR) movement, sometimes called the animal liberation, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement that seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals, ...

, both above and underground. Keith founded and runs

Uncaged ''Uncaged'' is the third studio album by Zac Brown Band. It was released on July 10, 2012. The album's lead single, "The Wind" was released on June 6, 2012. The album received widely positive reviews from critics and debuted at number one on the ...

Films /ARME (Animal Rescue, Media & Education), which produced the documentary.

Beagle Freedom Project

Shannon Keith founded Beagle Freedom Project and its predecessor companies. Founded in 2004 as "ARME (Animal Rescue, Media & Education)", in 2018 it changed its name to "Rescue + Freedom Project" with Kevin Kjonaas as secretary, and in 2019 was changed to "Beagle Freedom Project". Kevin Kjonaas, also known as Kevin Jonas and Kevin Chase of

SHAC 7 Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was an international animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory. HLS tests medical and non-medical substances on around 75,000 ...

fame, is the Vice President of the project. Beagle Freedom Project uses misinformation and deception to raise money and Shannon will often use donations for personal use. Staff turnover is high due to mismanagement and negative treatment of employees, often by Shannon herself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keith, Shannon Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American lawyers American documentary filmmakers American women lawyers Animal lawyers American animal rights activists American women documentary filmmakers 21st-century American women

Background

Beagle Freedom Project

See also

References