Phil Snyder was best known for 15 years with the Humane Society of the U.S., but was in the field for 20 years before that & 15 years afterward
SEBRING, Florida––Phillip Ryan Snyder, 88, better known as just Phil Snyder, died on November 22, 2025.
Born in Plymouth, Michigan, in 1937, Snyder at his retirement in 2020 was believed to be the longest tenured U.S. humane worker.
This was a somewhat surprising accomplishment, since Snyder was already 33 years old before taking his first job in humane work.
Following a U.S. Navy hitch, Snyder told ANIMALS 24-7 in 2007, “Back in the 1960s,” “I was an American Kennel Club-licensed professional dog handler and trainer. I was also training directors for the northern Indiana and southern Michigan 4H clubs,” and somewhere along the line became an auctioneer.
“That is how I became involved with the first humane society in Elkhart, Indiana,” Snyder recalled. “I started at the Elkhart County Humane Society on March 1, 1970.”
Snyder remained involved with 4H for a time, judging dogs for the Berrien County, Michigan Youth Fair in 1970, and serving as volunteer auctioneer for 4H at the Porter County Free Fair in 1972 and 1973.
“Eventually I gave all that up”
“Eventually I gave all that up,” Snyder said, “and devoted my life to the humane movement. I went to the St. Joseph County Humane Society in Mishawaka, Indiana, in 1976, the Houston Humane Society in Texas in 1981, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1984, and then the Jacksonville Humane Society as executive advisor for six months in 1989.”
Snyder at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, in partnership with other animal welfare organizations, in 1986 formed HELP, short for Hurricane & Emergency Locations for Pets, an ad hoc group seeking “to have a place for pets and the people who don’t want to leave their pets,” he explained to Associated Press.
Snyder in August 1986 appealed to the Hillsborough County Commissioners to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the sale of pound animals to biomedical research use, already prohibited in every other Florida county.
Thwarted by the opposition of a 15-member coalition including the University of Florida, Snyder on October 30, 1986 won an injunction against the practice from circuit judge Vernon Evans. Hillsborough County appealed the injunction and on December 3, 1986 lost again.
Concluded Evans, “I cannot find any merit whatever in the county’s position in this case.”
Muscovy ducks
At the Jacksonville Humane Society, Snyder found himself caught between Muscovy duck lovers and haters.
“We receive calls from apartment complexes that start off with three or four ducks, then end up with 75 or 100 of them within a year,” Snyder told Associated Press.
Recruited by the Humane Society of the U.S. in 1990, Snyder became best known as a regional director representing Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina, working from Naperville, a Chicago suburb.
Great Lakes regional director Sandra “Sandy” Rowlands (1974-2024) represented the Humane Society of the U.S. in the adjoining states of Indiana and Ohio, as well as Michigan and West Virginia, but Snyder for a time also represented HSUS in two more states, seven altogether.
(See Sandy Rowland, 77, longtime Humane Society of the U.S. representative.)
(Facebook photo)
“Phil was my first HSUS mentor”
Recalled Dave Pauli, a Humane Society of the U.S. regional representative and disaster relief coordinator from 1990 to 2025, “Phil was my first HSUS mentor. I was sent to his office to learn how to run the then-new Northern Rockies Office. And what a joy that visit was. His humor, wit and unique perspective on HSUS were exactly what I needed!
“As a fellow sailor and big breed dog lover, I knew we were going to have a great relationship. He and Wendell Maddox,” a Midwest regional director for HSUS from 1985 to 1999, “and I had some pretty good HSUS Expos and regional meetings!”
(Facebook photo)
Caught between HSUS & activists
As a Humane Society of the U.S. regional director, however, Snyder found himself often caught in the middle of conflicts between HSUS institutional positions and local activists in the several states he represented who wanted faster, stronger action on a variety of topics, none more sensitive than dog and cat overpopulation and shelter killing.
In December 2000, an irate activist “asked him why HSUS is approving even a ‘conditional’ use of the gas chamber for shelters when so few of them are using it. His response was that shelters in some states––he gave Tennessee and Alabama as examples––are prohibited by law from purchasing sodium pentobarbital directly, as it is a Class II narcotic.
“The only way they can get it is to have a vet order it for them,” the activist narrated to ANIMALS 24-7, “and according to Snyder, most vets are reluctant to do that if they’re not administering it themselves. He said that HSUS is working to get the laws changed in some states so that shelters can do direct purchase of the drug without having a vet sign off on it. He also said that some shelters in Illinois are using the gas chamber.
Clashed with Steve Hindi
“Snyder also stated that HSUS is afraid that some shelters in rural areas will start shooting dogs as an alternative if HSUS comes out against the chamber.”
Shooting dogs for population control had in fact been routine in much of the rural U.S. South, Midwest, and Southwest when Snyder started in humane work.
Snyder also caught a lot of flak from Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi for perceived indifference toward pigeon shoots, rodeo, and marine mammal exhibition by the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, as well as for actions and inactions of the Hooved Animal Humane Society in Illinois, for which Snyder was a board member.
Eventually Snyder relocated his office from Illinois to Knoxville, Tennessee.
Leaving his association with the Hooved Animal Humane Society, Snyder became a board member for the Elephant Sanctuary at Hohenwald, Tennessee.
Jim Tedford
Jim Tedford, a career humane society director now heading the Society for Animal Welfare Advancement, then briefly headed the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley in Knoxville, prior to the 19-year tenure of Vicky Crosetti.
(See Vicky Crosetti, 66: “She was a good friend,” to animals & humans.)
“I was a young shelter leader who knew far less than I thought I did when Phil Snyder saw something in me,” wrote Tedford to the Society for Animal Welfare Advancement membership, three days after Snyder died.
“Phil hired me to work alongside him when HSUS opened its South Central Regional Office in Knoxville. He quickly became a hero, a mentor and a friend.
“I learned so many valuable lessons from Phil and have carried them, and him, with me for the past 30+ years,” Tedford said. “His amazing wry sense of humor was like medicine on the tough days.”
Dogfighting
From Knoxville, Snyder could see––as he told WRAL News in Raleigh, North Carolina, on January 11, 2002––that, “Dogfighting is a big problem in North Carolina. Despite laws touted as having a lot of teeth, they are not tough enough to keep people in jail and dogs out of fighting rings.”
“North Carolina, which is not something to be proud of, is one of the leading states as far as animal fighting activity,” Snyder said.
WRAL re-aired that interview in 2006, about eight months before the arrest of football player Michael Vick on dogfighting charges in Surrey, Virginia brought dogfighting to national awareness.
Vick had obtained most of his fighting dogs from known dogfighters in North Carolina.
“Death at the pound”
Snyder came into conflict with animal advocates again in May 2004, after the Charlotte Observer in August 2003 published a series of articles entitled “Death at the pound.”
That brought the August 2003 appointment of a 28-member special committee to draft anti-pet overpopulation legislation for the North Carolina House of Representatives.
“Hearings held throughout the fall and winter became a running battle for influence among animal advocates, animal control agencies, breeders, and pack hunters,” wrote Observer editorial page editor Tim White.
The committee, White recounted, eventually recommended a statewide spay/neuter program funded by “a small tax on animal food,” which would have added “10¢ to the price of a 20-pound bag of dry food, and 2¢ to the price of every can,” or about a dollar a month, on average, to the pet-keeping expenses of the average pet-keeping household.
The proposal was killed by Snyder, representing the Humane Society of the United States, in alliance with the North Carolina Coon Hunters Association, the North Carolina Sporting Dog Association, and the Pet Food Institute, “which have historically opposed all efforts to tax pet food,” White noted.
Memphis
Snyder, already two years past the then-Humane Society of the U.S. mandatory retirement age, left HSUS on September 21, 2004 to become Animal Services administrator for the City of Memphis, taking a position open since May 2003.
“I know my position has been called the manager of the animal shelter,” Snyder told Janel Davis of the Memphis Flyer. “I requested that we change it to manager of Memphis Animal Services. The shelter is very important, but animal services and care mean so much more. It’s very important that the animals are treated properly, because they’re a part of our families.”
Snyder at Memphis Animal Services introduced a “Pet Partners Placement & Critter Coach,” to do the mobile adoption.
Under Snyder, Memphis Animal Services and other agencies in Logan County together killed 15.3 dogs and cats per 1,000 human residents in 2005, the lowest toll on agency record, but the toll rebounded to 17.1 in 2006.
Columnist
After Snyder resigned from Memphis Animal Services in April 2007, after only two and a half years, the Memphis rate of shelter killing increased to 20.1 dogs and cats per 1,000 human residents by 2008.
Also during his Memphis tenure, Snyder, Humane Society of the U.S. animal fighting campaign manager J.P. Goodwin, and ANIMALS 24-7 contributed regular columns to the Memphis Animal News, a now defunct local tabloid.
Snyder as a Humane Society of the U.S. employee had obeyed an edict imposed in 1988 by then-HSUS president John Hoyt and Hoyt’s successor Paul Irwin against speaking to ANIMALS 24-7. As a suddenly friendly Memphis Animal News colleague, however, Snyder admitted to having been a reader all along, and volunteered admiration for Steve Hindi, as well, despite their many conflicts.
Suncoast Humane Society
Only days after leaving Memphis, Snyder became executive director of the Suncoast Humane Society, in Englewood, Florida, where his longtime friend Warren Cox––whose tenure in humane work spanned 60 years, 1952-2012––had been interim director in 2005-2006.
That became Snyder’s second-longest stint anywhere, lasting a dozen years.
Most controversially, Snyder effective on September 1, 2008 relinquished a contract requiring the Suncoast Humane Society to shelter animal control pickups from the southern part of Sarasota County, including Venice, North Port, and the northern Englewood.
Explained Snyder, “Operating an ‘open admission’ shelter, the Suncoast Humane Society will continue to accept all animals brought in and released by the public.
“The decision to end the animal control contract will will provide space at the shelter for animals in need of longer term care,” Snyder said. “It also will allow us to create more aggressive spay/neuter and pet adoption programs, which brings us more in line with our mission of reducing the number of homeless animals and improving the quality of human and animal life. The society also expects this change to help lower euthanasia rates at the shelter.”
Hamilton County Humane Educational Society
Snyder, by then 82, retired from the Suncoast Humane Society in 2019, but in September 2019 stepped in as executive director of the Hamilton County Humane Educational Society, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
There Snyder presided over the groundbreaking for a $13 million new shelter.
He retired again on June 5, 2020, citing what he called “difficulties with some board members and volunteers.”
Posted his wife of 34 years, Nancy Snyder, to her Facebook page, “Phil spent more than fifty years working to promote animal rights. He lobbied for animal welfare, educated and supported thousands of humane societies across the country, and helped save animals during disasters like hurricanes and floods.
“He was always ready to do the hard work”
“He was always ready to do the hard work. He testified before Congress for animal rights, and investigated some of the hardest cases of cruelty like dogfighting, cockfighting, and animal hoarding, often putting his own safety at risk.”
After Hurricane Katrina,” Nancy Snyder testified, “when people were refusing rescue because they couldn’t bring their pets with them, Phil lobbied lawmakers to require the Federal Emergency Management Administration to evacuate all occupants, including pets.
“But what I’ll remember most,” Nancy Snyder said, “is that Phil was a considerate, loving, caring husband.
“One of the things I’ll miss the most is him bringing me a cup of coffee in my favorite mug every morning, made with his own special secret recipe.
“It was such a simple thing, but it said everything about the way he loved.”
(Facebook photo)
Helped in son’s restaurant business
A widow is of course expected to say nice things about her husband.
But what about a son?
Posted son Cam Snyder, a self-described food entrepreneur in Elkhart, Indiana, “The humane treatment of animals was his mission, his calling, his lifelong purpose, but he said recently that the humane treatment of animals starts in the home with the people.
“After retiring at 82, he still wanted to serve others and contribute to society, so he took on a role that meant the world to me.
“He joined our restaurant group, and became the warm voice on the phone that many of our guests heard during their follow-up calls, whether from a ToGo carryout meal, a catering event, or a reservation from the day before from one of my restaurants.
(Daniel Leventhal photo)
“He had a way of connecting with people, and I was so proud that he was a big part of what we were building together.
“He passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love with his wife Nancy, Newfy JoJo, and family right by his side.”
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While it is true that Mr. Snyder and I clashed about rodeos and other issues, it’s very likely that the real problem was the institutional inaction of HSUS, which prizes political connections over actually improving the lives of animals.
I feel quite certain of this because now, decades later, it is happening again, this time on the issue of steer tailing. In 2025 it is happening on the watch of a man named Marc Ayers, who runs the HSUS office once managed by Mr. Snyder. I had a few conversations with Mr. Ayers, and I am certain he would like to see positive change, but he’s being hamstrung by the do-nothings at headquarters.
How about it, Kitty Block, or any other of the HSUS “leaders” whom I never have, and never will see in the field, where it matters most. Please explain why HSUS, or whatever the hell you call yourselves now, are doing little if anything about cruelty that wouldn’t pass muster in most third world countries.
Just admit that you just don’t want to piss off JB Pritzker, who will likely make a run for president. Shame on you for doing nothing in the face of such abuse.
To the uninformed, please go to http://www.SteerTailing.com for more information on this outrageously cruel, brutal and deadly activity occurring in Illinois and many other states around the country.
Thank YOU, Mr. Hindi, for fighting hard and never giving up on these animals – Pritzker absolutely lost my support if he runs for president, over the steer-tailing disgrace. And Gavin Newsom lost my support over his signing for a Mute Swan open season in California to start in January. Newsom lost my interest during the California wildlfires, watching him standing around aimlessly without a lacquered hair out of place. And now he’s shilling for his book. Both of these men should be ASHAMED of themselves.
We need better people in government to mandate more evolved policies for ALL animals, which would also set a higher example of decency for human behavior. However, since most politicians cater to the very people who think animals are just here for their abysmal exploitation, I am convinced that politics will never help these creatures; only a compassionate public not financially beholden to anyone can and will effect change.
As for HSUS, now called Humane World for Animals, is just a re-branding of the same old non-productive behavior. I will never forget, I was working with one of their top people trying to get help to stop the cruel round up and gassing of Canada geese, and the person said she might be able to do more if I could bring more donors to her! What does THAT tell you??
I strongly urge everyone to follow up with Mr. Hindi’s link about steertailing and speak out against this brutality. It is a sheer disgrace.