The climate crisis requires transformational changes to our food systems, which contribute around one third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Animal rights activists try to draw attention to this issue through direct action campaigns. However, it remains largely unknown how these disruptive protests affect public opinion. We conducted the first in-depth investigation of the short and long-term effects of a disruptive animal rights protest, Animal Rising’s protest at the UK Grand National horse race. We found that immediately after the protest, respondents’ awareness of the action was linked with more negative attitudes towards animals. However, these negative effects dissipated after six months, suggesting that high-profile disruptive protests trigger short-term emotional reactions that fade over time. Cross-sectional comparisons revealed overall positive shifts in attitudes towards animals over the six-month period. We also found that the protest triggered a sharp increase in media and public attention, as well as mobilization for the protest group. This evaluation suggests that an initial emotional backfire effect of disruptive animal rights protest might be a necessary short-term setback in the general direction of a progressive shift to how society thinks about animals.