Customer Reviews

Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched: Life and Lessons at the World's Premier School for Exotic Animal Trainers

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've often puzzled over those prodigy animals who pirouette on cue, or leap out of the water with a human on their nose. How'd they learn that?

This book was a guided tour through the fascinating world of animal training, at the school you attend if you want to train animals to perform in movies, at Sea World, and so on. The school has a "staff" of exotic creatures who do their best to keep the students on their toes. The risk of learning the hard way -- by tooth and claw -- is real and severe. But as the school year progresses, the students gain mastery of a reward-based method that's as applicable to the family dog as it is to the school's resident baboon, cougar, and camel.

The training approach might be summed up by the phrase, "Put that on a cue." When an animal naturally performs a motion -- especially if that motion is part of a larger trick you want to teach -- you reward that motion and give it a command name. So when my dog looks up, I could give him a cue -- "up" -- and a reward; before long, when I say "up," he'll point his nose skyward. Step by step, trainers build complex behaviors, like dolphins leaping in synchrony or a sea lion holding her mouth open for a dental exam.

It's harder than it sounds. The author reports that a number of students can't stomach the rigors of early rising for poop-scooping, book-learning, and pigeon-killing (to feed the carnivores), and wash out of the program. Others lack the patience necessary to teach a rat to perform in the mandatory rat-tricks class. But some human prodigies do rise to the occasion, and absorb the subtle language of wild animals. These are the lucky souls who will spend their lives in that privileged realm that separates most of us from the wild creatures we love.

I have been an animal lover since I was a child, and have read numerous books about animals. I can say with certainty that this is one of the best books I've ever read, even when the animals reported on were human beings. Amy Sutherland is a gifted observer and an entertaining writer. She wisely stays focused on life (and death) at the school rather than going off on tangents with additional information about the many animals she writes about. She captured the intensity, dedication and courage needed to complete this remarkable school. And the book has some very interesting surprises, such as the animal who proved to be the most dangerous one.
It was just fascinating to read about how certain animal behaviors in films and on TV that we may take for granted require countless hours of patient positive reinforcement training.
I also admired how the author freely described the fear she experienced in the few animal interactions she was privileged to take part in.
I just regret that Sutherland didn't include an index. She wrote about such a wide variety of animals and people it was sometimes hard to keep track.
Some photos would also have been helpful. But using Google was an easy enough solution for that.
Overall, this book was a joy to read!

I thouroughly enjoyed reading this book. As a 1997 graduate of the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program the book brought back a lot of memories both good and bad. The author did a very good job at impartially portraying daily life at the school and the types of people that attend the program.

The daily grind of waking up early to clean the zoo, long days of very challenging course work and dealing with your 2nd years lording it over you while having to endure all the of the petty squables in your own class. She also did a good job at showing how the school affects all aspects of your life, in essence you have to give yourself over completely for 2 years and everything else (family, spouses, income,...etc) are all subordinate to EATM.
But on the other hand she captured the wonder and joy of working with the animals and being able to have close personal contact with them. Being able to walk Rosie the baboon or sitting next to her cage and grooming with her made all the other cares and worries go away.
If you are thinking about going into the animal field or just interested in it I highly recommend this book. If you are thinking about applying to EATM then this book is a must read, nothing else will allow you to make an informed decision about attending the program like this book.
Overall for me this book brought back the roller coster of emotions that I felt while attending EATM and a lot of good memories, thanks for the book.

What a wonderful, captivating book! Amy Sutherland is a top notch writer. Her journalistic view of EATM, the teaching zoo at Moorpark College in California is fun, funny, poignant and sometimes heartbreaking. The pages turned and turned and turned long after I planned to be in bed fast asleep!

I want to point out that there is a minor error in the later part of the text. As the book indicates, Karen Pryor is, indeed, a revolutionary teacher. She has been awarded by the International Association of Behavior Analysis for her dissemination of behavior analysis to the public. I credit her book, Don't Shoot The Dog, and thank her as the author for my decision to become a behavior analyst.

However, the book implies that Karen Pryor's TagTeach system (referred to but not directly named in the book) is the entree of operant conditioning into the teaching of yet another species-humans.

In fact, behavior analysts and psychologists have been using operant conditioning with humans for many decades. This is one case in which work with humans has actually informed work with animals, as well as the other way around. There are published articles on this work as early as the 1950s. Marian Breland Bailey used a clicker (then called a cricket) in training children with mental retardation in the 1950s. The autism treatment field today is dominated by behavior analysts who rely on the knowledge of operant conditioning to develop teaching and treatment programs for beneficial behavior change.

What Karen Pryor and the TagTeach instructors have done is popularize this technology, making the public more aware of it, and that's valuable and honorable. They have also developed it into useful tool and introduced it to new human populations such as young gymnasts and dancers. I'm excited that it's happening. Karen Pryor has spoken at many behavior analysis conferences over the years, a strong asset to our field. Her research and development work and her effectiveness in getting the word out is extremely valuable.

But I would also like those who read the book to know that there is an established field of behavior analysis which has long used operant conditioning in work with corporations, school children, troubled youth, parents, people with disabilities of all kinds, and much more. The field has been using operant conditioning with humans for a long time.

This book is definitely worth reading! I finished it in two days of captivated reading into the wee hours of the morning.

This is not the book I expected, nor was it a book that I found interesting. Notice that I came to this book with expectations and interests very different than those of the previous reviewers, thereby accounting for the difference in our ratings.

From the title's "Life and Lessons", I expected it to be in the genre of describing a "technology" (animal training) and its practitioners (in this case students) and the interaction of the two. However, this book is in the form of a chronology - the author followed a group of students through their first year. First, their activities are predominantly scut work (see other reviews). Involvement in training comes in the second year, so what is presented are their aspirations and positioning for assignments to particular species. Second, the book is a series of incidents involving the students and/or staff with the animals not involved or peripheral to the story. I found this most unsatisfying: The description of the students were brief, typically serving to do little more than provide a physical description and a scant background of how they came to the school. There is little attempt to weave these incidents together.

There is too much that is specific to this particular school (such as how to minimize the number of demerits for being late) or this type of school (politicking by students to be assigned "desirable" animals the next year).

The author mentions that critical aspects of training animals are knowing their capabilities and proclivities, and being able to "read" them (eg, to spot impending trouble). I expected a fair amount of this, and especially compare-and-contrast different species or even individuals within a species. There is a little of this (for example, between cougars and cheetahs), it comes off "flat." I also had expected the book to have observations about the interplay of different personality types (of the students) with the requirements of the animals. The author mentioned that some animals were guilty of substantial and persistent gender-based discrimination (my phrase) against handlers. However, this came as no surprise - people with experience with a moderate range of pet dogs and cats often have discovered this.

I picked up this book because of an article by the author in the New York Times "Modern Love: What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage" (June 25, 2006). That article had style, wit and a sense of wonderment that I did not find in this book.

I read the first four chapters wondering when the book was going to get underway. I then started skimming, stopping to sample passages, and resumed skimming when I discovered that nothing had changed.

I had already heard of and visited the "Teaching Zoo" before reading this book. However, getting an in-depth look at the 2 years I will be facing when I attend the school was both daunting and exciting. I feel much more prepared for the EATM program having read this book, or at least as prepared as one can be.

Ms. Sutherland's description of the training and especially of the difficulties for a first year student were incredible. She managed to get across the intensity of the program and the dedication of the students without making it sound impossible.

As other reviewers stated, it would be beneficial to take notes on the animals', students', and teachers' names. I often had to flip back in the book to find which baboon was which, and to find out if the person speaking was a student or teacher. Just a tip- take notes.

Overall, this book was all I could have hoped it to be. Informative, interesting, frank, funny, and a must have for any animal lover or prospective student. My only worry is that this book will increase the popularity of the school, and therefore make it even harder to get in. Ah well, the price of fame.

I thought that I was an "animal person" until I read this book. Learning about the lengths that these people will go to in order to work with animals (i.e. being kicked, bitten, and scratched, as well as being covered in various bodily fluids) made me realize that I am nowhere near that mark!

This is a well written book that examines a year in the life of an elite college for animal trainers in California. It follows the students, the faculty, and the animals through trials and tribulations that range from the minor inconvenience to major tragedies. I was fascinated to learn how these people use the same methodology to train a rat as they do to train a tiger.

One suggestion I would make is that, as you are reading, keep a little cheat sheet on which you can write down the names of the major animals (and maybe the major students). I found myself getting the confused (e.g. Was Rosie the baboon or the serval?). If this book is ever reprinted, a little appendix or even a "dramatis personae" at the beginning of the book would be a huge help.

I'd recommend this book for other self-proclaimed "animal people," and especially for anyone who is considering working at a zoo or with animals. It gives you a good idea of what you might be in for!

I was a graduate of this program in 1991. The book brought back so many memories. It also really gave an emotional look into what a student goes through. It also shows the different walks of life that enter into the program. I was able to really relate to the book since I knew many of the animals. I had two friends read it and even though they never met the animals felt like they had a connection. Great job!

A wake up call for all those considering a career in the world of care/training and feeding of animals. Amy Sutherland has spent a considerable amount of time researching and getting to know the staff and students of EATM at Moorpark College....truly a unique environment! She recognizes the sacrifices these animal lovers make to give zoo,park and entertainment animals a fulfilling and safe life! Wonderful to read, entertaining and sane and nice to see a little more balance after reading all the press from PETA about how "abused" animals in the entertainment industry are. The Johnson's Elephants live better than most of my friends! Very enlightening and entertaining read.

Having always been interested in working with animals, I just had to pick up this book. The author takes you through one full year at the two year animal training school. You follow several first years and second years through their trials and triumphs and even get a peek at the Have Trunk Elephant ranch in CA (when one student goes on a short internship there). I would recommend this book to any adult who is interested in a career with animals. There is plenty of crazy and interesting animal behavior described to keep you interested (the EATM zoo keeps a wide variety of wild animals) and the students were very gracious in sharing their stories with the author. My only complaint is that there are sometimes too many details on the private lives of the students (several of which don't live very conservative or moral lifestyles). Because of that I wouldn't recommend this book for children but instead for older teen or adult readers.