ANN CHYNOWETH
DIRECTOR, ANIMAL FIGHTING & CRUELTY CAMPAIGN

Ann Chynoweth is the director of the Animal Fighting and Cruelty Campaign.  She works with law enforcement and the media to highlight and prosecute individuals involved in animal cruelty to the fullest extent of the law.

Chynoweth worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state law enforcement officials in 2004 on an unprecedented bust of hog-dog fighting rings in Arizona, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia. She obtained the first animal cruelty prosecution for the mental suffering of an animal in an animal cruelty case.

With the assistance of law enforcement, Chynoweth has obtained several other firsts--the first conviction for selling dog fighting videos over the Internet, the first felony prosecution for animal neglect in Tennessee and the first known case where a fugitive was extradited for misdemeanor animal cruelty. She worked with a district attorney in California to upgrade the charges from Fish and Game violations to 16 counts of felony animal cruelty when officials found more than 100 dead and dying tigers. She also worked to secure a nine-count indictment against a woman in Alabama who was selling dogs over the Internet.

In the animal protection field for more than 15 years, Chynoweth worked for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Animal Legal Defense Fund and In Defense of Animals before joining The HSUS.

Chynoweth received a law degree from Vermont Law School in 1994 and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Trinity College in 1988.