Dan Mathews

Dan Mathews, a longtime Senior Vice President at PETA, has produced a wide variety of events and has a lengthy history of advocating for chimpanzees. He campaigned against the use of chimps in cruel experiments for two decades before the National Institute of Health halted research on chimps; persuaded top advertising agencies to stop using chimps and to create pro bono advertising campaigns exposing the hidden cruelties that captive chimps endure; and recruited stars like Alan Cumming and Anjelica Huston to lead the charge in Hollywood to free exotic animals from productions. Dan first visited Save the Chimps shortly after it opened and spoke about the sanctuary at the Great Ape Summit, where he met and began working with Jane Goodall. A familiar figure in Florida, Dan’s protest strategies helped put Sarasota-based Ringling Bros. out of business in 2017, and in 2011 he helped defeat Florida’s “ag gag” bill, which sought to ban filming in slaughterhouses. He also worked with whistleblowers and trainers at SeaWorld Orlando to expose the cruelty orcas endure in captivity. Dan has written two acclaimed memoirs, Committed: A Rabble-Rouser’s Memoir and Like Crazy: Life with my Mother and her Invisible Friends. He has also lectured on animal issues at Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Oxford, and California Polytechnic State universities, and at the University of Florida.