Customer Reviews

Careers with Animals: Exploring Occupations Involving Dogs, Horses, Cats, Birds, Wildlife, and Exotics

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Readers who are animal lovers and who dream of working with animals often stop at the idea of being a vet: in actuality, there's so much more available, as Careers With Animals: Exploring Occupations Involving Dogs, Horses, Cats, Birds, Wildlife And Exotics demonstrates. Career options range from breeding and treating animals to being a show judge or working for a zoo or aquarium. An organization by animal type - marine, horses, birds, wild animals - makes it easy to hone in more specifically to careers with particular types of animals. Very highly recommended.

The book was a little brief, meaning that it did not really include a lot of careers. Most of them were the more obvious, highly sought after jobs. On the other hand, the information included was extremely well organized and helpful. I would recommend renting this from the library rather than buying it.

Ellen Shenk, author of Outdoor Careers, follows up with Careers With Animals, and it is every bit as accessible and readable. All the lists and specific information you will need for planning and executing your search are here--sources, possibilities, definitions, salary ranges. But aside from the practical, the author shines her best light: she makes you think about intangibles--your suitability, your personality, the realities you might encounter with your choice, and the like. As with Outdoor Careers, she includes interviews with "real people" who give their first-person accounts of their everyday vocational experiences.

I was acutely made aware of how "careers with animals" is a different concept to "careers for those who *love* animals". The section on farming (which includes veal production) describes its practices so benignly - with no acknowledgement of the horrendous cruelties these poor animals endure. I tossed the book aside in disappointment and disgust. There may well be some useful information in the other sections but the book was already tainted for me. My recommendation is that if you truly care about the welfare of animals you should look elsewhere.