John Thomas

TAMPA - John Thomas has been with ABC Action News since 1999. In that time he has covered all the major breaking stories in the bay area including the elections of 2000, Jessica Lunsford, Terri Schiavo and our numerous storms.

John excels at going live during crisis situations like wild fires. He also has the ability to give a personal touch to sensitive stories, like the loss of a loved one. At the same time, his unique sense of humor can bring a fresh perspective to those things around the bay area that should be taken with a smile.

Prior to being with ABC Action News, John worked at:

• KSN in Wichita, Kansas as a reporter from 1997-1999
• CFPL in London, Ontario (Canada) where he was the weekend anchor from 1994-1997
• MITV in Saint John, New Brunswick (Canada) from 1992-1994 where he anchored sports, and reported both news and sports.

John was born in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) but grew up in Montreal, Quebec (Canada).

He comes from a family of 8, most of whom are still in Canada.

He has 5 animals, 2 dogs and 3 cats, all strays. To that end, John does and is willing to do anything he can for local animal charities.

Seeing that he grew up in such a stable family, parents now married 50 years, John also does what he can to help out with foster kids in the area. Trying to provide them with the opportunity to do the things many of us took for granted growing up, like a trip to the zoo or a canoe trip down the Hillsborough river.

He encourages everyone to "Take a step and make a difference... It's really not that hard".

1.What is one little-known fact about you?

My mother's family has been in North America since 1638.

2.Do you have a favorite web site?

Any trivia site.

3.What has been your favorite news story, feature segment, or interview in your time with WFTS?

Anything involving animals or the environment.

4.Anything else you’d like viewers to know?

I have a Belgian sheep dog (Governor), a lab (Abigail), and a white cat (Shadow). I became a U.S. citizen in December, 2009.

When I'm at home I have to have noise on in every room... radio, TV whatever... and sometimes I have more than one noise souce playing in the same room. I think it's from growing up in such a large family, there always has to be commotion around me.