Cleveland Amory (September 2, 1917 – October 14, 1998) was an American author, reporter, television critic, commentator and animal rights activist.

The executive director of the Humane Society of the United States described Amory as "the founding father of the modern animal protection movement.

Zinsser later recalled that they had many discussions about their shared interest in journalism, which at that time was not considered suitable for upper-class young men.

After graduating from Harvard in 1939, he worked as a reporter for the Nashua Telegraph and the Arizona Daily Star, and became managing editor of the Prescott Evening Courier.

Amory continued as a popular commentator for eleven years until 1963, when he was fired in one of his first controversial moments relating to his views on animal rights.

In 1963, Amory learned that the American Legion in Harmony, North Carolina, planned to sponsor a "bunny bop" rabbit killing contest.

At that time, wild rabbits in the United States were widely regarded as both agricultural pests and game animals for hunting and eating.

[6] When he returned, instead of the usual lighthearted commentary expected by the Today show management, Amory proposed, on air and during viewers' breakfast hour, the formation of a hunt club where human hunters would be tracked down and killed for sport, arguing that killing hunters in cold blood would be humane and kind owing to their overpopulation.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Amory wrote another series of bestselling nonfiction books about Polar Bear, a stray, starving white cat that he had rescued from a Manhattan street on Christmas Eve 1977.

In 1988, Amory made his only feature film appearance in the role of "Mr. Danforth" in the comedy-drama Mr. North, starring Anthony Edwards.

[4] Beginning in the early 1960s, Amory, while maintaining his career as an outspoken reporter and commentator, began to devote an increasing amount of his time to animal rights organizations.

[10] The Fund struggled during the first years of its existence but became known in 1979 for sponsoring a removal by air and land of 580 Grand Canyon burros slated for destruction by the National Park Service.

[3] Amory later fought a similar battle to prevent the killing of San Clemente Island's goats by the Department of Defense.

One of Black Beauty's most famous residents was a 25-year-old chimp named Nim Chimpsky who had been used in language experiments when young and then sold as a laboratory animal.

[11] In 1978, Amory purchased the first oceangoing vessel for Captain Paul Watson, the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

[13] Amory took part in many campaigns such as the one waged by Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society against whaling and sealing.

He reportedly enlisted Henry Fonda, Andy Williams and Grace Kelly, and he also recruited Doris Day, Angie Dickinson, and Mary Tyler Moore for his campaigns against fur clothing.