Author explores magic of Moorpark training zoo

LOVING LIONESS-Gary Wilson, a professor at the Moorpark teaching zoo, gets a roar of a reaction from Kiara, a lioness who knows him well. As soon as he came near the enclosure, Kiara started to show her appreciation. Students who attend Moor-park College's Exotic Animal Training and Management program will inevitably end up with a few bruises but the overall experience is going to be enlightening, according to journalist Amy Sutherland, author of "Kicked, Bitten and Scratched," a book that uncovers the behindthe-scene action of the training zoo.

The book reads like a novel, but the story is real and Sutherland sheds light on the unassuming zoo nestled above Moorpark College.

The author spent about a year visiting the Moorpark Teaching Zoo and chronicled the personalities and adventures of students and the animals they work with. The faculty are also included.

The book is not going to teach people how to train wildlife. It's meant to immerse people into this unlikely magical world where humans and animals can communicate, Sutherland said in a phone interview from Boston, Mass., where she lives.

"This program is the best in the country for exotic animal trainers," she said.

Moorpark College is one of only two academic teaching zoos in the nation that offer an academic degree in animal training and care. The program students are well trained and are infiltrating the animal industry from top to bottom, Sutherland said.

According to Netta Banks, a program graduate who works for the American Humane Association, 97 percent of young trainers are from the Moorpark program.

The school has taken a formerly secretive skill and made it an academic curriculum at a public college open to all, Sutherland said, adding there wasn't any direct career path into the field until the zoo opened its doors.

But this training program isn't for people who think animals are cute, the author said, quoting zoo veterinarian Jim Peddie.

Pirouetting and hopping

The story begins with 51 firstyear students attending a weeklong orientation. They must learn to kill prey to feed some of the zoo's more picky eaters and they don't get to "talk" to the animals until much later.

Sutherland watched as second-year students taught Savuti the hyena to pirouette, Kaleb the camel to shoot hoops, and Goblin the baboon to hop into a crate and close the door behind her.

According to publicist Megan Beatie of Golberg McDuffie Communications, the experience profoundly changed Sutherland, who commuted from Boston to spend time at Moorpark.

"The book is about animals, but in the end it's primarily about being human," Sutherland said.

Through the behavior of animals, Sutherland said she learned much about people. "They always read our body language and pick up everything we do. They notice everything and it shows you how unaware we are," she said.

The program was established by Bill Brisby in 1974 with one animal, Kiska the wolf.

Exotic animals that have called the local training zoo home range from marmosets to an Asian elephant and leopard to alligators. The zoo currently has a Bengal tiger, an African lioness and a variety of primates and birds.

The demanding program requires a continuous two-year commitment from participants. In addition to days spent working with and caring for the animals and attending class, students are required to work at the zoo most days and weekends. The zoo has almost 200 different animals and it's maintained and run entirely by the students.

"Responsibility is a key commitment to this program," according to the college website, but the reward is worth the effort. Graduates are working all over the world, training dolphins and other marine mammals, doing conservation work, training animals for television and films and working at zoos and theme parks.

Most of the students are female, probably because it is essentially a care-taking profession, albeit a dangerous one, Sutherland said. The job involves a lot of cleaning, which she said doesn't scare women off the way it does men.

Animal trainers and caretakers also don't get paid much and women are generally more willing to accept low pay if it means they follow their dreams, the author said.

No cheap tricks

Although the dean and director like the book, the zoo is somewhat ill at ease with the publicity because of concerns the program will become the target of animal rights organizations.

"Everyone who works with captive animals worries about that these days," Sutherland said.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) complained last year that "Moorpark has no business acting as a shill for an industry that exploits, deprives and beats baby animals for a few cheap tricks," the group stated, asking college President Eva Conrad to close down the institution.

But Sutherland said that while the training zoo's philosophy is not exactly revolutionary because it comes from the world of marine mammal trainers, "it is an enlightened way to work," she said. The zoo primarily uses positive reinforcement, and studies how creatures think, what kind of rewards they like and what they can and can't do physically, Sutherland said.

Captive animals should be trained, the exercises are stimulating and help the animals to cooperate with vets so they don't have to be sedated for routine procedures, she said.

"You can train them to do practical things, like go into a crate or to let you go in their cage, which means you can take better care of them," Sutherland said.

Generally, training is a means of communicating with an animal. The more an animal understands what is going on, the less stressed it will be under.

"We are pleased with author Amy Sutherland's passion for our animal program and her ability to dramatically describe the students' learning experience through their perspective," said Holly Tumas, zoo operations assistant.

The staff is proud of their mission to thoroughly prepare graduates to become entry level industry professionals in the animal welfare industry, she said.

On a personal note

The visit in Moorpark has taught this author a few things about herself and her husband too. "We aren't all that different. We are driven by instinctive behaviors just the way animals are. We respond to rewards, just like they do," she said.

Sutherland said she doesn't see people as being "good" or "bad" so much anymore. People, like animals, behave in ways that obtain a desired result.

"Now, when I walk off a plane and someone stops right in front of everyone and gets in the way, I don't think 'what a jerk,' I think 'there's some alpha behavior,'" Sutherland said.

And as for husbands, "let's just say that positive reinforcement works on elephants, baboons, dolphins and husbands," she said.

"Kicked, Bitten and Scratched" is published by Penguin Press.

Sutherland's other book, "Cookoff," takes readers into the world of America's competitive cooking circuit.

Sutherland's articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor and Disney Magazine.

The Moorpark College Teaching Zoo is open to the public every weekend from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Animal shows are at noon, 1, 2 and 3 p.m. There is a carnivore feeding demonstration at 4 p.m.

Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for children and seniors.