1999 and After: Animal Rights Activist Leaves US for Britian, Will Return and Bring British Organization Home

Kevin Kjonaas. [Source: Anti-Defamation League]Animal Liberation Front (ALF—see 1976) activist Kevin Kjonaas, the organization’s spokesman, is forced to testify before a grand jury as to his knowledge of an ALF “direct action” against a University of Minnesota research facility that released 166 animals from testing labs and caused some $700,000 in damage to equipment. Kjonaas also has his house raided by FBI agents. Instead of staying in the US and facing a second round of testimony, Kjonaas goes to Great Britain, where he becomes active with Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), a British animal rights organization. Kjonaas will return to the US in 2001 and establish an American chapter of SHAC. He will continue to speak for the organization despite a 2004 arrest. [Anti-Defamation League, 2005]