Shannon Keith is an activist attorney, professor, multi-award-winning filmmaker and the founder and president of Beagle Freedom Project (BFP). Shannon formed BFP in 2010, a non-profit rescue and advocacy organization, in order to rescue animals from testing and experimentation, legislate to end it and advocate for the animals imprisoned in labs.  

As an attorney, Shannon has challenged the archaic law that animals are considered property. She brings her activism to the courtroom, making sure to change the language and culture of how we view and treat animals, by using language encouraging companionship rather than ownership, and thereby advancing the concept that animals are sentient beings deserving of legal recognition beyond that of an inanimate object. Her cases resulted in several lower court opinions awarding damages for the emotional distress of animals, thereby recognizing they were deserving of legal recognition.  

As a professor, Shannon has taught several Animal Law courses in law schools across the country and has been a frequent guest speaker on animal law in over a dozen schools including UCLA, Lewis & Clark, Southwestern and USC.  

As a filmmaker, she focuses on stopping the problem at its roots through educational documentaries and has won several awards for her groundbreaking films exposing animal cruelty. Her first documentary, “Behind the Mask,” explores the underground world of those activists who break the law to save animals. “Skin Trade,” her second documentary, exposes the cruelty, fraud and deception in the fur industry. Her third documentary, “Sanctuary,” delves into the world of primates exploited for the exotic “pet trade,” entertainment and testing.  

Since 2010, Beagle Freedom Project has rescued over 4,000 animals from laboratories, where they were experimented on for cosmetics, products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and sick scientific curiosities. These animals would have been otherwise killed after the experiments ended, but BFP, with its inventive campaigns, secured their release finding them loving homes as well as educating the public about the fraudulent practices of animals testing via these incredible ambassadors.  

To its ultimate mission of ending animal testing, BFP focuses on changing laws. Since 2014, BFP has passed its signature legislation, “The Beagle Freedom Bill” in seventeen states, making it mandatory to release animals after testing instead of killing them. This is the first step of many towards ending testing.  

In 2024, Shannon was able to shut down an animal testing facility in Oklahoma that housed and tested over 250 dogs and cats, securing their safety, the property, and the relinquishment of the owner’s USDA animal testing license.  

Shannon was presented with an Assembly Resolution by the State of California recognizing her work in ending animal testing in part by closing an animal testing facility in Oklahoma.  

In 2026, Beagle Freedom Project joined a coalition to become the rescue partner in negotiations with the second largest breeding facility in the United States, Ridglan Farms, and ultimately succeeded in the release of the animals, over 500 of whom BFP oversaw.