Product Description
A rare and absolutely enchanting look inside the Harvard of wild animal wranglers

As is obvious to anyone who has read her most e-mailed New York Times article of 2006, "What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage," Amy Sutherland knows a thing or two about animals. In Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched, she takes readers behind the gates of Moorpark Community College, where students are taught such skills as how to train a hyena to pirouette and coax a tiger to open wide for a vet exam. As she follows the faculty, student body, and four-footed teaching aides at Moorpark’s Exotic Animal Training and Management program, Sutherland produces a true walk on the wild side, filled with wonder, comedy, occasional heartache, and transcendent beauty. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

Amazing
This book was amazing.I am going to school to work with animals, and this book makes me want to rewind and get my AS at Moorpark!

Extremely informative about the EATM program
I will be attending this program this fall, and found this book extremely informative.Can't wait to go to EATM! :)

Must have for anyone going into the EATM program or wishes to.
This book was interesting from start to finish I never wanted to put it down! It showed pretty much the day to day at the unique animal training school in Moorpark, and now I feel so much better prepared for what will await me when I get there for this fall semester. I also loved reading about how it has changed from when it was first started. It gave you insights on what sort of people the teachers are. If you have been dreaming of training animals as a profession at sea world or for movies in Hollywood, this is the book for you. I am amazed that for as long as this school has been around that still not many people know about it.

Waste of money - Not as promoted
This book was simply a diary of the author's experiences in the first year of a school which teaches management of a variety of animals.There is very little else, such as how to deal with family members or co-workers using techniques used in schools which instruct in managing exotic animals.In brief, the book was not as promoted and a total waste of money.It's one of the few books I threw in the trash, a waste of paper.

Would Be Great Resource for Young People Contemplating a Career Working With Animals
I've loved animals all my life and was encouraged by my grandmother at a very early age to expect a career working with them.By the time I was about seven, she decided that maybe I should be a National Park Ranger.She loved animals too.

But not only did I never realize this early dream of working somehow with animals or at least nature including the animals in it, but I never made any progress at all.My elementary school education and high school education didn't teach me anything about working with animals or nature.It's pretty difficult to think about how to break into a career working with animals when you've got no real information and you don't know anybody that does.

Sometimes nowadays I think about how happy I would have been working with animals, just being around them at a minimum.The reason I bought this book was that I was impressed that there was a college that actually provided a hands-on education.It's too late for me now, but I couldn't help wanting to learn how it's done.Kicked, Bitten and Scratched was not only a very interesting book, but it can inform young people with no other information resources about the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at California's Moorpark College.

The author describes well the trials and tribulations of being a student at Moorpark College, but all career preparation involves hard work and difficult things that one must get used to, and this is a hands-on education.Clearly it is not easy to work with animals as a profession as so much is expected and one's knowledge base must be quite extensive.The best rewards of working with animals probably come afterwards when one is working in an appropriate job.I believe and I hope there will always be good jobs for people that work with animals.After all, the importance of animals to our lives and the planet cannot be underestimated.
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