Cynthia Smoot

About

A 40+ year veteran of broadcast journalism, Cynthia Smoot is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and passionate animal advocate. During her 25-year career at top-rated FOX 13, WTVT-TV in Tampa, Florida, she became known for her stories on animals and animal issues. Some of those stories include the famous “Winter the Dolphin” at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Cynthia followed Winter from the time she arrived as an injured baby, through the development of her amazing prosthetic tale, the people she touched along the way, movie stardom, and finally, her untimely death and enduring legacy.She also followed some of the area's most notorious animal cruelty cases, including "Casper," a boxer that was nearly starved to death, but beat the odds to survive. She received a coveted Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Green Eyeshade award for her hard-hitting report on "Throwaway Pets," at a local county shelter.Several of her stories included threats to Florida’s native wildlife. She traveled to the Everglades to report on the growing threat of Burmese pythons, and to Boca Grande, where invasive spiny-tailed iguanas are pushing out threatened gopher tortoises and eating native birds.Cynthia received a prestigious Emmy award in 1998 for "A Real Life Horse Whisperer," the story of Monty Roberts, who helped revolutionize horse training with his non-violent methods. She recently reconnected with Monty on Horsemanship Radio in a podcast hosted by his daughter, Debbie Loucks. Before coming to Florida, Cynthia was a main anchor at FOX 8, WGHP-TV in the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem area of North Carolina where her focus was children. She produced and reported “Wednesday’s Child,” a feature dedicated to finding families for children in foster care. She received numerous community awards for her reporting on issues relating to foster care, adoption, infant mortality, and teenage pregnancy. She also traveled to Panama and Ecuador with the North Carolina chapter of “Operation Smile,” to report on life-changing surgeries on children with facial and limb deformities. Cynthia is a passionate advocate for animals and serves on the Advisory Board of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. She's also a "Cheetah "Ambassador" for the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund and member of the Board of Directors for The Cloud Foundation, a wild horse advocacy group based in Colorado Springs, CO. Her adopted mustang, @Dreamthemustang, is her partner in wild horse advocacy. Cynthia is still sharing stories @CynthiaSmootNews on Facebook and Instagram..