“Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched" provides plenty of satisfying "awww!" moments with baby animals. It also chronicles difficult and upsetting experiences. Decide for yourself the ethics of exotic animal training, but this is a book written by an unabashedly passionate animal lover -- and anyone who reads it will never view animals in quite the same way again."

“If you've ever dreamed of swimming with dolphins, dancing with wolves, or walking a cheetah on a leash, then this is the book for you."

“A natural companion to Temple Grandin's 2005 best-seller Animals in Translation, Sutherland's breezy new book will appeal to fans of the furry, the scaled, and the hooved."

“This book follows a year at EATM, as students shovel dung, euthanize pigeons (fresh prey for the carnivores), and learn not only to train the animals entrusted to them but also to tolerate each other. It's a fascinating glimpse inside an exotic world, with Sutherland as a sympathetic, observant guide."

"Kicked, Bitten and Scratched" perfectly describes the kind of life one expects when working with animals! I learned zookeeping on-the-job, so I had my share of injuries...but today, a wildlife enthusiast can learn from zoo professionals, and hopefully keep the bites to a minimum. Sit back and enjoy the daily kicks, bites and scratches inflicted on loving trainers and zookeepers in training!"

“What if you had all the pet animals you ever imagined: your own sea lion, monkey, toucan, cockatoo--and maybe also the dog of your dreams? Now, thanks to author Amy Sutherland, you can spend a year following the Moorpark students for whom that's daily life. Share the hard work, the science, and the deeply affectionate care that goes into being a modern professional in the zoo world...and marvel at the science that enables them to communicate with an animal--any animal--in a whole new way.”

It is a rare pleasure to see behind the scenes of EATM, the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program of Moorpark College, California, a world nothing like the Disney version of human-animal interaction. Here the students discover that anything with a mouth can bite and that excrement does not smell like daisies. The school veterinarian lectures on pus, death, and infected scrotums. While handling the animals, students "could be chomped, mauled, or even killed by an animal. Even the smallest nick could produce a surly infection." Animals are respected for what they are, and their behavior is shaped by operant conditioning. The graduates of this unique program find work in Hollywood, zoos, and the military. Sutherland does not gloss over past mistakes as she explains in detail the demanding EATM course work and charts the program's evolution into an outstanding source for top exotic animal trainers. Readers will acquire new and enhanced respect for a little-studied profession.

“Kicked, Bitten and Scratched brings you as close as you'll ever get to kissing a sea lion, sharing a park bench with a baboon, or getting your backside chewed by a cougar. The human urge to bond with wild animals is remarkably durable, despite most animals' preference to bite us and run away. To discover just how close we can get, Sutherland introduces us to the controlled chaos of a training zoo, wherein students and beasts strive to manipulate each other. A natural-born storyteller, she soon has us gamboling with the camel and laughing with the hyena - and wincing as the winsome bushbaby locks his fangs in the flesh of yet another student. (Animals can be hard to train, Sutherland notes, but some humans are practically impossible.) Realistic and wry, Kicked Bitten and Scratched relates the euphoria, the blood-loss, and the particular strain of heartache that can only come at the hand - or paw, or jaw - of a wild animal.”