Leading Animal Rights Organizations These are some of the leading animal rights organizations working on issues such as animals in entertainment, animal experimentation, factory farming and other forms of animal exploitation and cruelty. Founded in 1979 by a group of attorneys, the Animal Legal Defense Fund works to strengthen and enforce anti-cruelty laws at the state and federal levels, files lawsuits in animal abuse cases, provides legal assistance to prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, and fosters the emerging field of animal law among legal professionals and in law schools nationwide. The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is considered a radical animal rights group. It aim is to disrupt animal exploitation by rescuing animals from situations of abuse and causing financial loss to the abusers, usually through illegal but nonviolent damage to property. The activists associated with ALF often work anonymously and without any ties to a central organization.
The Animal Protection Institute’s campaigns include opposing circuses, inhumane conditions in transportation of animals to slaughter, cosmetics testing, exotic pets, pet shops and fur trapping. The organization also operates a primate sanctuary in Texas, providing direct care and natural settings for animals rescued from abusive situations in laboratories, roadside zoos, and private possession. Animal Rights International was founded in 1974 by pioneering animal rights activist Henry Spira. It is best known for its groundbreaking campaign to abolish the Draize test, which measured caustic substances by observing the damage inflicted when put in the eyes of conscious rabbits. The group also has campaigns opposing factory farming and other forms of animal cruelty. The Animals and Society Institute seeks to advance institutional change for animals by helping to establish the moral and legal rights fundamental to a just, compassionate and peaceful society. The organization is the result of the merger between the former Animal Rights Network, publisher of The Animals’ Agenda magazine, and Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. When the Animal Welfare Institute was founded in 1951, the organization initially focused on animals used for experimentation. Its work has expanded to address factory farming and other forms of animal cruelty. Founded in 1954, the Humane Society of the United States' major campaigns include opposing factory farming, puppy mills, inhumane sport hunting practices, the fur trade and other forms of animal cruelty. The organization is not affiliated with any local humane societies or animal shelters.
In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization involved in educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts and grassroots activism. The organization also operates animal sanctuaries in Mississippi and Cameroon, Africa.
The International Society for Animal Rights, the first organization to use the term "animal rights" in a corporate name, was founded in 1959. The group sponsors the annual National Homeless Animals Day the third Thursday in August. It's primary campaign is overcoming pet overpopulation and promoting spay/neuter of companion animals, in addition to opposing the use of animals in entertainment and other forms of exploitation. PETA campaigns include ending fur and leather use, meat and dairy consumption, fishing, hunting, trapping, factory farming, circuses, bull fighting and other forms of animal exploitation. PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk has been very visible in the animal rights movement, and the organization is known for its provocative marketing strategies.
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