Advisory Board Members
The Advisory Board consists of relevant leaders and experts in the big cat protection community and beyond who advise Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance members and staff on issues facing big cats in the U.S.
Brittany Peet – Advocacy
Brittany Peet is the Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement for the PETA Foundation. Peet, an attorney, works on behalf of animals who are held captive in roadside zoos, traveling shows, and the film and television industries through legal and regulatory actions and public advocacy campaigns. She also negotiates and coordinates wild and exotic animal rescues for PETA, and has overseen the rescues of more than 400 chinchillas, 72 bears, 39 tigers, 11 chimpanzees, and 2 baboons.
Delcianna Winders – Attorney
Delcianna Winders is a clinical professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School, where she directs the Animal Law Litigation Clinic. She previously served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at the PETA Foundation, the first Academic Fellow of the Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program, and a visiting scholar at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. She has practiced animal law for more than a decade and taught the subject for nearly as long. Winders’ animal law scholarship has been published in numerous top-ranked law review journals, and she has also published extensively in the popular press. Winders received her BA in Legal Studies with highest honors from the University California at Santa Cruz, and her JD from NYU School of Law. Following law school, Winders clerked for the Hon. Martha Craig Daughtrey on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Captain Cindy Machado – Law Enforcement
Captain Cindy Machado is the Director of Animal Services for Marin Humane and has enjoyed working there since 1984 helping to protect all species of animals. After her formal education in animal science, she quickly realized the positive difference she could make in helping the lives of animals through her role in animal law enforcement. She is a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) and regularly utilizes her expertise in exotic animal issues to train and educate other animal shelter personnel and law enforcement officials on handling investigations and inspections involving captive wildlife. She coordinates and is an adjunct professor for the Animal Law Enforcement Academies hosted by Marin Humane and Santa Rosa Junior College.
Captain Machado has been involved in the successful passage of animal protection legislation at the local and state levels, in addition to developing inspection regulations and investigative strategies that further protect exotic animals. She also served on the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition, a group formed to educate and discourage wild animals as pets.
Rodi Rosensweig – Public Relations
Rodi Rosensweig is the Senior Principal Strategist of Public Relations at the Humane Society of the United States. Before joining the HSUS she had her own PR firm where clients included animal welfare organizations (among them the Fund for Animals and Born Free), theater and television production companies, actors, authors, healthcare and consumer lifestyle clients. Prior, she was the Director of Media Relations for the ABC Television Network in New York where she oversaw publicity for the daytime program lineup and talent roster. She began her career in public relations at Paramount Pictures and was then a Senior Publicist at Showtime. In addition, Rodi has worked as an adjunct Professor at several universities including NYU and University of Hartford. She holds a B.A. in theater from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an M.S. in communications and public relations from Boston University.
Tim Harrison – Disaster Preparedness
Tim Harrison, retired Police Officer/Firefighter/EMT-Paramedic, City of Oakwood (near Dayton, OH.) Currently an Adjunct Instructor for TEEX/NERRTC (National Emergency Response and Recovery Center) at Disaster City/EOTC, Texas A&M College. Author of “Wild Times,” Tales from Suburban Safaris,” and “Wildlife Warrior, More Tales from Suburban Safaris” chronicling over 45 years of rescuing, relocating and caring for dangerous wild/exotic animals. Tim is the subject of the award-winning documentary, “The Elephant in the Living Room” which features his work with his non-profit organization, Outreach for Animals. Tim has been highlighted in magazines and on television shows such as National Geographic Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, ABC’s 20/20 TV show, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and TV Tokyo. His mission is to teach proper behavior around wildlife.
Dr. Evelyn Brunt – Veterinarian
Dr. Evelyn Brunt is a a Veterinarian currently practicing medicine in Colorado at a Humane Society as well as a general practice. After she completed undergraduate school, she did two internships at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge before becoming one of their Staff Biologists. After 3 years with TCWR she decided to pursue a career in veterinary medicine.
Dr. Brunt graduated in 2013 from Louisiana State University with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. In school she tracked shelter medicine and also volunteered with Louisiana State Animal Response Team (LSART) for large scale animal rescues during natural disasters. She was the head veterinarian during TCWRs Colorado Project in which 115 animals were triaged, treated, and relocated over a five month period. She is passionate about animal welfare and improving quality of life for animals, big and small.
Scott Carter – Animal Husbandry
Scott Carter is the Chief Life Sciences Officer for the Detroit Zoological Society. He is the executive leader of the mission of the DZS, including animal care, health, welfare and conservation as well as education programs, which include formal and informal programs, humane education and fine and performing arts. He is part of the DZS’s 5-member Executive Leadership team, responsible for leadership, strategy and implementation of mission.
He began his career as a zookeeper, and was formerly mammal curator for the Detroit Zoo and Director of Conservation and Animal Welfare. He helped found the DZS’s Center for Zoo and Aquarium Animal Welfare and Ethics and helps to lead the programs of science, advocacy and training that it encompasses. He is a former AZA Taxon Advisory Group chair for bears, and has served on AZA cooperative management committees for a number of mammal species. He is a Professional Fellow, Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Carney Anne Nasser – Advocacy
Prof. Carney Anne Nasser is the Director of the Animal Welfare Clinic at Michigan State University College of Law and is currently one of only four full-time animal law professors in the world. MSU’s Animal Welfare Clinic is only one of seven active animal law clinics in the country. Professor Nasser has cultivated professional expertise in litigation, regulatory matters, legislative/policy, lobbying, and trends in animal law in her more than 14 years of practice, and now supervises law students in the dynamic, multi-disciplinary, and rapidly-developing field of animal law. Prior to her role at MSU, Professor Nasser worked in the non-profit sector, where she served as Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement at the PETA Foundation, and previously as senior attorney for wildlife and regulatory affairs at the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Professor Nasser is published on the topics of the federal Endangered Species Act and Animal Welfare Act and has extensive experience strategizing and deploying creative legal strategies to ameliorate the exploitation of big cats, elephants, bears, primate, orcas, and other exotic and/or endangered animals. Professor Nasser has played a key role in the rescue of nearly two dozen exotic animals, who are now thriving in reputable sanctuaries. An internationally recognized expert on laws impacting big cats and wildlife trafficking, Nasser represented the Animal Legal Defense Fund at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) seventeenth meeting of the parties in South Africa in 2016, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Hawaii in 2016; and has been approved again by the United States government to contribute testimony at the eighteenth meeting CITES treaty parties when they meet in Geneva in August 2019.
Professor Nasser holds a B.A. in political science from U.C. San Diego, a J.D. from Tulane University, and a graduate degree in community advocacy from the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. She is a recognized speaker on the national and international circuit and has served as a media spokesperson on a wide range of animal protection issues, including contributions to National Geographic, Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times; as well as appearances on CNN and on NBC’s nationally syndicated Today Show.
Kivi Leroux Miller – Public Relations
Kivi Leroux Miller is the founder and CEO of Nonprofit Marketing Guide, where she helps nonprofit communications professionals learn their jobs and love their jobs through a variety of training and coaching programs. She has personally mentored hundreds of nonprofit communications directors and communications teams as a certified executive coach. She is a popular keynote, workshop, and webinar presenter, speaking dozens of times each year. Kivi is also the award-winning author of three books, as well as a popular blog.
Bruce Wagman – Attorney
Bruce Wagman is an animal lawyer, an expert strategist, and a true friend to animals. He is a lawyer in the San Francisco office of national law firm Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila and has an almost-exclusive focus on a wide range of animal law matters, including litigation, education, legislative counseling, and consultation. He has practiced animal law since 1992 and represented clients in state and federal courts as well as regulatory and administrative proceedings. Bruce’s clients include numerous animal protection organizations as well as private individuals. He has worked on behalf of birds, cats, chickens, chimpanzees, cows, deer, dogs, dolphins, ducks, elephants, elk, gorillas, horses (domestic and wild), lions, mice, monkeys, pigs, sharks, turkeys, whales and wolves. His practice covers the areas of animal cruelty, wildlife and endangered species protection, puppy mills, and the use of animals in entertainment, biomedical research, and agriculture/food production. He is a coeditor of Animal Law, the first animal law casebook, and is a coauthor of A Worldview of Animal Law, which provides a broad perspective on animal law around the world. He has taught animal law since 1996 and currently teaches at three Bay Area law schools. Bruce writes and speaks regularly in the animal law area, and is author of “Growing Up with Animal Law: From Courtrooms to Casebooks,” Journal of Legal Education, November 2010.
Jay Pratte – Animal Husbandry
Jay Pratte, MA is currently the Behavioral Husbandry & Welfare Manager for Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium and the Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari.
Jay is internationally known for his animal behavior and welfare work. He has been an animal caregiver for nearly three decades and feels privileged during his tenure to have worked with a tremendous variety of animal species, including all eight extant bear species and all of the large cats. His primary focus is training, both of the animals in his care, as well as teaching their caregivers how to train and improve husbandry. Behavioral husbandry training of carnivores is his specialty, focusing on complex medical goals. Jay has trained animals for the film industry and has worked with animals in settings from game farms to AZA accredited zoos, with species ranging from ant colonies to giant pandas.
The past several years have seen Jay involved with training animal keepers and caregivers around the world in operant conditioning techniques, with one of these adventures showcased on Animal Planet’s “Growing Up Panda”. Jay is a founding board member and currently president of the Bear Care Group (www.bearcaregroup.org). His Masters degree is in Zoo and Aquarium Management, has authored numerous publications related to the field, and is a co-editor for the AAZK “Training Tales” column in the Animal Keeper’s Forum. Jay is also an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, teaching Animal Behavior classes and labs, and his own special topics class on Human – Animal Interactions. He regularly acts as a behavior and welfare consultant for several groups dedicated to improving the husbandry and care of animals, and has been instrumental in addressing the welfare of big cats and bears in traveling circuses and substandard roadside facilities.