Nathan Runkle, MFA’s Executive Director, became the youngest person ever inducted into the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame when he was honored with the award during the Animal Rights 2009 National Conference in Los Angeles, California on July 19th.
The U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of animal rights for at least ten years. Past inductees include Cleveland Amory, Howard Lyman, Ingrid Newkirk, Peter Singer, Karen Davis, and Paul Shapiro.
During the conference award ceremony, Mercy For Animals took top honors in the “Most Effective Vegan Campaign” category for the organization’s undercover egg farm investigations.
Other award recipients included Dave Bemel of Action for Animals, and Lauren Ornleas of The Food Empowerment Project – both recognized with Grassroots Activist Awards. Jane Velez-Mitchell, celebrated anchor of Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell on HLN (formerly CNN’s Headline News) received the Celebrity Animal Activist Award.
