Bela Animal Legal Defense & Rescue

Defending Those
Who Cannot
Speak for Themselves

Civil rights litigation in federal, state, and administrative courts. Animal legal defense. And the world's only known dedicated American bison sanctuary. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit fighting from Montana.

Get in Touch The Sanctuary
Jaysen McCleary — Founder, Bela Animal Legal Defense and Rescue
Mission
Justice Has No Species

Bela Animal Legal Defense and Rescue exists because the legal system fails the voiceless. We fight for animals facing cruelty, neglect, and systemic injustice — and for the people who protect them. When municipalities overreach, when due process vanishes, when power operates without accountability, Bela fights back.

We operate the only known dedicated American bison sanctuary in the world. We litigate civil rights cases in federal, state, and administrative courts. We do not quit.

What We Do
Practice Areas
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Animal Legal Defense

Municipal overreach, dangerous dog laws, breed-specific legislation, shelter reform, and animal cruelty prosecution support. We challenge the systems that treat animals as disposable property.

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Civil Rights Litigation

Federal, state, and administrative court actions under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and § 1985. Due process violations, judicial misconduct, First Amendment retaliation, and ADA enforcement. We hold power accountable.

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Bison Sanctuary Operations

Rescue, rehabilitation, and lifetime care for American bison on fifty acres of Montana rangeland. Veterinary intervention for every injury. No bison sold. No bison slaughtered. Every animal has a name and a life expectancy of thirty-five years.

Jaysen McCleary
Founder
Jaysen McCleary

Former Managing Director at Bear Stearns who predicted the 2008 financial crash. On his own since seventeen. McCleary rose through Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank before reaching the top of Wall Street — then walked away to build something that mattered. Two of those firms no longer exist. He saw it coming.

On March 2, 2016, he drove to Montana and founded the American Bison Sanctuary. He walks into a pasture every morning with two-thousand-pound animals that can jump a six-foot wall running uphill and kill a man with a single motion. He does it because he spent the past ten years raising orphaned bison — and there is a relationship of love and respect built over years, months, weeks, days, and hours spent with them.

Bison are highly intelligent and wildly athletic. They form friendships, have a sense of humor, and hold grudges. Each one has an extremely distinct personality — bold or cautious, gentle or headstrong, playful or stoic. They live for thirty-five years. The commitment McCleary made in 2016 extends to 2051 for some of these animals. Even when they die of natural causes, they get a respectful burial.

27
Bison
50
Acres
2016
Founded
35yr
Lifespan
The Sanctuary
The Only One in the World

The American Bison Sanctuary is the only known facility on Earth operating as a true sanctuary — not a reserve, range, or conservation herd — for American bison. Every other bison operation in the world culls, sells, auctions, or slaughters animals for population management. We do none of those things.

Each bison has an extremely distinct personality. Some charge the fence line when you approach. Others walk up and press their foreheads into your chest. They form friendships, have a sense of humor, and hold grudges. Allie, Ray, Sir William, Boogie, Faith, Lakota — they are family, not livestock. The sanctuary also houses rescued potbelly pigs and steers, because the commitment is to every animal, not just the ones on the logo. When a calf breaks its leg, we call the vet and cast it. When an animal grows old, it grows old here. Even when they die of natural causes, they get a respectful burial. This is their home. Forever.

We placed our first two bulls with a rancher in Darby, Montana for a life of breeding — with a right of return and first refusal should the animals need health care or the owner's circumstances change. That is how a sanctuary operates: lifetime accountability, not abandonment.

Visit americanbisonsanctuary.org →
McCleary with bison at the American Bison Sanctuary
The Road Here
A Life in Full
Age 17
On His Own
Left home at seventeen. No safety net, no fallback. Built everything from scratch.
Wall Street
Wall Street
Rose from Lehman Brothers through Citigroup and Deutsche Bank to Managing Director at Bear Stearns. Two of those firms collapsed. He predicted the crash before it happened.
Pro Bono
Animal Rights Law
Turned legal training toward the voiceless. Challenged municipal dangerous dog laws, fought breed-specific legislation, and exposed systemic failures in animal control enforcement.
March 2, 2016
American Bison Sanctuary Founded
Drove to Montana and founded the world's only known dedicated American bison sanctuary. Started with a handful of rescued animals. Now home to twenty-seven bison on fifty acres of rangeland with two spring-fed ponds and mountain views.
Present
Bela Animal Legal Defense & Rescue
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating the bison sanctuary, litigating civil rights cases in federal, state, and administrative courts, and defending animals and the people who protect them. The fight continues.
Contact
Let's Talk

Whether you need legal defense for an animal rights matter, have a civil rights case, or want to support the sanctuary, we want to hear from you.

[email protected]
Bela Animal Legal Defense and Rescue • 501(c)(3) Nonprofit • EIN 47-4692652 • Montana