Biography
Jonathan Paul is an animal activist who was involved in animal liberations through the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), an international, underground organization of animal rescuers who seek to free captive animals from research labs, fur farms, factory farms and anywhere else animals are being caged and mistreated. He was sentenced in June 2007 to four years and three months in prison for his involvement in the arson of the Cavel West Horsemeat Slaughterhouse in Oregon, a company that killed 500 horses a week. Jonathan received the harshest sentence in proportion to any of the other indicted activists because he refused to reveal the names of the individuals involved in exchange for a reduced sentence, and because the US government viewed him as an “animal rights leader.” He was released on July 1st, 2011 after spending 3 years in prison and six months in a half-way house.
In 1987, Jonathan co-founded Hunt Saboteurs US, a worldwide organization that uses direct action to stop the hunting of animals. For five years, he protected bighorn sheep, deer, Tule elk and black bears from being shot by hunters by putting his body between their guns and the animals. In 1990, Jonathan spent a year documenting the horrific practices of fur farms around the country. In 1995, he co-founded the non-profit Sea Defense Alliance which seeks to stop the annual shark hunt in the waters off Santa Cruz, California, and to protest the low frequency sonar ships looking for oil off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. In 1999, his organization, Ocean Defense International, worked for four years to protect whales off the Washington coast by steering their boats between the whales and Makah tribesmen with high powered rifles.
