A lifelong student and admirer of American wild horses, Scott Beckstead is a leading voice for our wild herds in his role as director of campaigns for Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action. He grew up with horses on his family’s farm and spent much of his childhood and youth on horseback in the mountains of Idaho. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Utah State University and his JD from the University of Utah, Beckstead worked as a litigation attorney in private practice for 17 years on the central Oregon coast before going to work full-time in the animal protection sector.
During his time on the coast he also served as the mayor of Waldport, Oregon from 2002 to 2007. He became known for his special expertise in the field of animal law, and has taught that subject at the University of Oregon and Willamette University law schools. In 2000, he co-authored Animal Law, the first casebook on the subject, and continues to teach animal law, wildlife law and policy, the Endangered Species Act, animal agriculture law, and cannabis law and policy as an adjunct professor at Willamette University. Because of his close familiarity with horses, livestock, and farm animals, Beckstead provides training to law enforcement agencies on how to handle and work with those animals, and how to investigate equine and livestock cruelty and neglect.