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

by Amy Sutherland

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189	4	144,524	(3.62)	7
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.… (more)

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This is my favorite type of nonfiction - getting a good look inside the inner workings of a tiny subculture - in this case, a college program for animal trainers at a California teaching zoo. Unfortunately, I didn't like this particular book very much.

The primary characters (human and animal) all kind of blurred together and it felt like little more than a blow by blow account of daily chores. When dramatic things happen during the course of the school year, it was hard to care because I had no real investment in who it was happening to.

Eventually, it just felt like homework to read this and I finished just to cross it off the list. (

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hmonkeyreads | Jan 25, 2024 |

interesting narrative of a year in an animal training school guided by Any Sutherland. I enjoyed reading about the adventures . However, I still struggle with the whole concept of zoos and places such as Sea World etc. (

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Smits | Mar 16, 2019 |

Talk about entering a wild new world -- I was enchanted by this book. I had no idea how animal trainers were themselves trained, and I was amazed at the levels of concentration and hard work the students maintained during the two-year program. While the lives of the students are intense, it is the animals that steal the show. The antics of the serval, cavy, mandrill, and vicious kinkajou will stay with me for a long time. And great read for animal lovers or those interested in how zoos run. I was struck by how much the training is done not to perform for an audience but to improve the health and safety of the animals. (

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verbafacio | Apr 4, 2007 |

An interesting subject, but she tried to follow so many characters, that most of them ended up coming off as flat and two-dimensional. The book clearly wanted the reader to be 'rooting for' the students as they survive that first year, but for me, it didn't succeed in making me care about any of them. (

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suedonym | Oct 9, 2006 |

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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.

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