Born in a working class neighborhood in Mississippi, Sheri Speede was aware at an early age that she wanted to work with animals. She qualified as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and began practicing in 1985.
Moving to the Portland area in 1988 she soon became a partner in Pacific Veterinary Hospital, a successful southwest Portland practice.
After ten years in private practice, Dr. Speede felt that she needed to do more for animals. She sold her practice and took on the role of Northwest Director of In Defense of Animals, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the exploitation and abuse of animals. "I was compelled to become more involved in animal advocacy," Speede recalls, " to advocate for pets and victims of biomedical research, factory farms and circuses."
As Northwest Director of In Defense of Animals, Speede led campaigns against the use of primates in biomedical research at such institutions as Oregon Health Sciences University's Primate Research Center. She also led a successful effort to stop the sale of Yamhill County shelter dogs and cats for use in research at OHSU and OSU. In addition to her work with In Defense of Animals, Speede co-founded the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, a nonprofit organization dedicated to humanely reducing the population of feral cats through spaying and neutering.
Sheri began working with primates in sanctuaries in the United States, and then in Cameroon, where she volunteered her time and skills to provide veterinary care for primates in a wildlife center that served as a orphanage, and later in a dilapidated zoo in the capital city of Yaounde.
Dr. Speede founded the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center in 1999, as well as In Defense of Animals - Africa, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the survival of great apes.
