Tigers, a Serval, and a Tortoise: Moorpark College's Zoo Prepares Students for Animal Careers

The serval, a spotted cat named Naomi, was not eager to enter her crate. She had just been weighed and was now expected to follow instructions. Thomas Barber, a student at Moorpark College, encouraged her, saying, "C'mon — in your crate." Naomi, who was on a leash held by student Trinity Astilla, moved gracefully around a dusty enclosure, briefly jumping onto her crate but not entering it.

"Rethink about building behavior momentum," advised animal training instructor Amanda Stansbury to Barber. After approximately 10 minutes and a repositioning of the crate, Naomi finally entered. "Good job — a good demonstration of working through it," Stansbury said.

This is the reality of a typical class in Moorpark College's Animal Care and Training Program, where students gain hands-on experience at the campus' Teaching Zoo. The zoo is home to 120 animals representing 110 species and is one of only two such collegiate facilities in the country, the other being the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo in Gainesville, Fla. It attracts students from California and beyond who are pursuing careers working with animals.

The program originated in 1971 when the community college introduced a class in exotic animal studies, expanding to a full major three years later. Students learn through practical experience, preparing food for the animals, feeding them, weighing them, and even conducting demonstrations for children visiting on school field trips.

"We do a lot of hands-on training, and to me, it's always magic," said Gary Mui, who graduated from the program in 1995 and now oversees it. The program admits 60 students annually, with about 45 graduating each year. "That attrition is a marker for how difficult and time-consuming the program is," said Mara Rodriguez, the zoo's development coordinator.

Despite its challenges, the program remains popular, with around 150 Moorpark College students applying each year through a lottery system. The two-year program prepares graduates for careers in various fields, including zookeeping, Hollywood animal training, wildlife conservation, and even pest abatement.

Wait, pest abatement? "At all the landfills now, they use natural ways to deter pests like seagulls and rats ... so they fly hawks," said Rodriguez, who graduated from the program in 1992 and started working at the zoo that year.

The zoo is open to the public on weekends, with admission priced at $12 for adults and $10 for children. Despite spanning just five acres, it features notable animals like a 102-year-old Galapagos tortoise and two Bengal tigers housed in a $3.5-million enclosure. Many weekend staff members are students in the program, who also put on animal shows at the zoo's outdoor theater.

"I'm on stage with my target stick, my equipment, and having a porcupine do circles, follow me, roll a ball," said Jadyn Carnicella, 20, a Simi Valley resident. "It's one of my favorite parts, because it's showing off how incredible our animals are. It really is a way to promote conservation."

Moorpark College is located in the Simi Hills, about 45 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Walking among the zoo's exotic animals, it feels as if the campus is far removed from the city. During a recent visit, Carnicella and another student, Trinity Sato, fed the two big cats, who had approached the fence after catching a whiff of their meal: a mixture of beef and horse meat called "Nebraska." Carnicella warned against eating it, recalling a student who had done so and suffered severe food poisoning.

She and Sato carefully smushed large clumps of the meat through the chain-link barrier, keeping their hands flat to avoid injury. "Being here is a privilege and I always want to keep my skills sharp, especially around the tigers, since they are such huge and dangerous predators," said Sato, 26, who is from Torrance. "It's an honor to be able to work with them and be entrusted with their care."

One of the big cats, Neil, is something of a celebrity. He was confiscated from a Studio City man years ago after appearing in a widely seen YouTube clip with Logan Paul, the influencer and reality TV star. Unlike institutions such as the Los Angeles Zoo, Moorpark College's facility has not faced major ethical criticism, likely due to its academic focus. It hosts many animals that were previously injured, ostracized from their social groups, or illegally kept as pets — such as Neil.

"When we're acquiring animals, it's always about the fit — not just the fit for our program but the fit for the individual animal," Mui said. "We want to make sure that they have the best life possible."

Students must complete a training stint in each of four main categories — carnivore, herbivore, bird, and primate — so they may end up working with animals they find unpleasant. For Mui, it was rats. Same for Rodriguez.

What does a typical day look like? Roll call at 6:30 a.m., followed by cleaning the animals' enclosures and carrying out other tasks. Classes begin at 9 a.m. and last until noon, then continue after lunch until 4 p.m., when students begin closing the zoo for the day. On weekends, they don't have class — but they do have to operate the zoo, along with a few professionals who "oversee and guide everything," Mui said.

What graduates do

After two years, students who entered the program having already fulfilled all of their general education prerequisites graduate with an associate's of science degree in animal care and training. Others receive a certificate of completion. And where do they go from there?

Grace Nasser, who grew up in Northridge and graduated in 2023, works at Dolphin Quest Hawaii, where customers swim with and learn about the aquatic mammals. She hadn't worked with dolphins previously but got the chance during a weeklong internship at Dolphin Quest that the college facilitated during her second year.

"It was, she said, "never something I'd ever envisioned."

Rodriguez said the program has relationships with more than 100 zoos and other facilities that it can tap for internships.

Second-year students Sato and Carnicella aren't sure what they'll do upon graduation, but both are interested in careers involving big cats.

"I really do want to work with large carnivores, tigers, lions ... you know, the things that can kill me," Carnicella said with a laugh.