THE ANIMAL PROTECTION AGENCY - Key Persons
Although proud to be an American, Audra was born & raised in Vancouver, Canada so it was there that her love for animals blossomed! She can't recall a time when she didn't live, eat and breath "animals"! more…
Brandy has a varied and extensive background working with animals. When she was a child, she would beg her neighbors to allow her to train their dogs. more…
… has had a lifelong love of animals starting from her early years in Australia, where she was born and learned how to ride horses, along with gaining great respect for wildlife. more…
Job Titles:
- Generation Animal Trainer
… is a third-generation animal trainer from Palmdale, California. His grandfather was Master Falconer George Toth, founder of Cougar Hill Ranch, Inc. which provided animal training services for the motion picture industry for 50 years. more…
Derek Toth is a third-generation animal trainer from Palmdale, California. His grandfather was Master Falconer George Toth, founder of Cougar Hill Ranch, Inc. which provided animal training services for the motion picture industry for 50 years. Growing up on an animal ranch, Derek became impassioned about animals, wildlife, and the conservation of the environment from a young age. At the age of eight, Derek worked for the first time on set as an actor in a commercial for the Kia Spectra automobile, which featured a family of baboons harassing a family of four as they walked through a Safari park. This was the first of many on-set experiences with animals, as Derek followed in his family's footsteps by pursuing a career as an animal trainer for the motion picture industry. Since then, he has had the pleasure of caring for and training a wide assortment of wild and domestic animals such as dogs, cats, sheep, deer, wolves, cougars, badgers, bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, baboons, tortoises, snakes, chickens, rats, mice, squirrels, butterflies and more.
After graduating high school, Derek attended College of the Canyons where he obtained an Associate in Arts degree, with an emphasis in Philosophy. During college, he worked at Warner Bros. Studios as a Technical Asset Auditor/Data Analyst for Assertive Industries, and later as a dog trainer/groomer for high-profile clients in the Los Angeles area. During this time, he also worked a part-time job as a caretaker of dogs, cats, wolves, and primates for Santa Clarita Animals. After college, Derek picked up production assistant gigs to get as much set experience as possible, before he began working full-time as a studio animal trainer and snake wrangler. Currently, he has thousands of hours of set-time under his belt.
An enthusiastic and dedicated professional with 10+ years of experience training animals for the productions of a wide range of film, video, and photography projects, Derek is no stranger to the business and possesses a wealth of knowledge in regards to training animals on movie sets. Some of his credits include commercials for Apple, Brooks Brothers, Target, Dominos, Skechers, Mercy Health, Nationwide Insurance, Georgia Electric; TV shows like American Horror Story and Legends of the Hidden Temple; Films such as Palm Springs, Birds of Prey, The Starling, Being the Ricardos, various foreign films; and video games like Killzone 3 and Cabela's Big Game Hunter. In 2018, Derek began training in the management and relocation of venomous snakes while shooting on location. In his off time, Derek enjoys backcountry hiking and performing animal educational shows as a volunteer.
… has a dynamic background combined with life-long animal experience. Ever since she was a little girl, she had a sincere interest in animal welfare and innate desire to advocate for them. Often times she found herself with strays following her home more…
Jami LoVullo has worked in virtually every facet of the animal business from zoo keeping to veterinary assistant to on-set safety rep to animal trainer. more…
Jami LoVullo has worked in virtually every facet of the animal business from zoo keeping to veterinary assistant to on-set safety rep to animal trainer. Her commitment to animals is evident by the fact that she has rarely held a job that was non-animal related during her lifetime. She comes from a unique perspective having been an animal trainer most of her life and performing in educational shows such as Wild in the City and the Bird show at the LA Zoo, to over a decade of experience training marine mammals. She has over 40 years of hands-on experience caring for captive wild and exotic species including cheetah, elephant, hoofstock, primates and birds. While at the Zoo, she participated in the local chapter of AAZK (American Association of Zookeepers) as a contributing writer for the monthly newsletter as well as countless news programs, magazine and newspaper articles and Animal Planet Productions "Total Zoo". She also participated in Zoo Mobile outreach educational programs, bringing zoo animal's off-grounds to schools, libraries and private institutions.
She has worked both as a groomer, biology assistant in the field, camp counselor, dog trainer and as a Humane Officer for the Film & TV Unit with American Humane Association, where she was among an elite group of Certified Animal Safety Reps who were also State Humane Officers. She was also the first and only representative to ever work in China as an animal safety representative, a collaborative effort with the Chinese government. She has literally thousands of production hours and shows under her belt and is a respected professional for her willingness to work collaboratively with productions while always keeping the safety of the animals as the focus. She has an exemplary on set safety record and specializes in exotic animals and horses. Thousands of productions have used her expertise as an on-set animal safety consultant. Her latest films include "A Dog's Way Home", "The Good House", "Bios", and "A Dog's Journey".
She was trained as a first-responder and was a participant with the Red Star Emergency Team with the American Humane Association. She also was a founding member of the Equine Safety unit while there, striving to improve safety for horses on set, where accidents are still commonplace. She is also a graduate of the Humane Academy at San Diego Humane Society & SPCA as well as being certified in Humane Investigations from Marin county SPCA.
She won her first pony in a contest when she was nine years old and has had horses ever since. She was a qualified rider several times over in both Training Level and First & Second level dressage with the California Dressage Society. She has shown in both English & Western riding disciplines and continues to ride her two horses competitively and for trail riding. She also trains miniature horses both for driving and trick training. Her horses and dogs have appeared in many commercials, television shows and movies over the years. She also does appearances with them for humane education and training demonstrations, including horse agility classes.
She is currently a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CCPDT) and is a member of the APDT (Association of Professional Dog Trainers) and holds a Juris Doctor degree, specializing in Equine Law. She attends the Animal Law Conference yearly and is on the cutting edge of the intersection between animal welfare, animal rights and common sense use of animals. She is a 1983 graduate of the Exotic Animal Training & Management Program (now called America's Teaching Zoo) in Moorpark and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Animal Behavior. She worked with the renowned Operant Conditioning pioneer Bob Bailey at the IQ Zoo in Hot Springs, Arkansas and performed animal shows with dolphins and birds at Six Flags over Mid-America working for his company Animal Behavior Enterprises, shortly after graduating. She completed an internship with Ken Ramirez of the Karen Pryor Clicker Training Academy when he was stationed in Galveston, Texas at the Galveston Aquarium.
She has worked as a Behavior Technician at Pasadena Humane Society, where she assessed shelter dogs, taught dog training classes and developed new programs both for enrichment and for training. She also worked with puppies and developed and taught animal activity classes such as Tricks and Treibball, as well as working directly with members of the public in humane education and solving both common and complex dog problems while working in the Behavior Dept. She has done internships with the Department of Fish & Wildlife in Montana and with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in Grand Rapids, Minnesota studying wolves. Wildlife rehabilitation continues to be a passion of hers and she was a volunteer both with California Wildlife Center and Wildlife Care of Ventura County. She currently serves as a licensed raccoon, squirrel and opossum rehabilitator.
At Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in Mission Hills, Jami served as the Behavior & Enrichment Lead, supervising a behavior team that specializes in playgroups for pit bulls, innovative in-kennel enrichment for all the shelters dogs and putting together various programs benefiting both adopters and the shelter's current residents. She is a proud participant in bringing the City of Los Angeles ever closer to the goal of No-Kill. She worked with a diverse and sometimes difficult population of dogs and collaborated closely with the volunteer dept. to utilize its volunteers. She implemented the C.L.A.S.S. (Canine Learning and Social Skills) class, which teaches shelter dogs basic obedience and good manners, which results in more adoptions. She certified more shelter dogs under this program than any other shelter in the country.
She is an Honorary lifetime member of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers), a numerous times recipient of the Outstanding Volunteer Appreciation Award from the City of Los Angeles and the Vice President of the Camarillo White Horse Association. She was an Environmental Education/Marine Mammal Naturalist with Sound Experience in Port Townsend, Washington and a Teacher's Assistant for the Griffith Park Magnet High School Program. She currently is a certified Naturalist for the Channel Islands Naturalist Corps and absolutely loves teaching on whale watch boats.
Jennifer Chatfield has spent all her life around animals. She began working with horses at a young age, showing hunters and jumpers and grooming and exercising polo ponies to help with the costs of showing. Deciding she wanted a career with horses, she started working at the racetrack, hotwalking, then grooming horses for major trainers on the Southern California tracks. Just for fun, and a change, she took an Animal Keeper Training course given at the Los Angeles Zoo. The class, and the hands on training days with keepers, changed her course and she was soon offered a part time position as an animal keeper. Within the year, she became a full time keeper, and worked in virtually every area of the zoo. During her 30 year tenure at the zoo, she specialized in primates, and was the primary gorilla keeper for 20 of those years. Her years at the zoo included not only the daily care of primates, educational talks with zoo visitors and training new and prospective keepers, but also lecturing students from primary school to college level anthropology students.
Jennifer also presented several papers at International Gorilla Workshops on management and breeding of gorillas, and became involved with conservation efforts and educating the public about the threats to primates in the wild.
Upon her retirement from the zoo, Jennifer was trained and certified as an Animal Safety Monitor with American Humane Association, and worked monitoring film productions. She has worked hundreds of hours on major films, television shows and commercials, with domestic and exotic animals.
For the last 10 years, Jennifer has also been back in the horse world, doing some work with racehorses, caring for and training her own horses, learning dressage, and grooming for shows. Recently, she's also started working with young lipizzaner horses, beginning their training on the ground and assisting with a trainer on their initial under saddle work.
Over the years, Jennifer has been committed to the welfare of animals, and has dedicated herself to learning how to better the lives of the animals in her care. She has a well rounded knowledge of animal behavior, training and welfare, and continues to broaden her experience. Over the years, her commitment to the animals has been consistent, no matter if the animal is a mouse, a horse, a tiger or a gorilla. They all deserve the best we can do for them.
…has spent all her life around animals. She began working with horses at a young age, showing hunters and jumpers and grooming and exercising polo ponies to help with the costs of showing. more…
When working with animal ambassadors in entertainment Jone Bouman brings decades of pertinent experience to the table. more…
… hales from North Carolina. Throughout her childhood she had a great aptitude with, and fondness for, animals and has had numerous beloved pets over the years. After graduating high school, she attended veterinary school to tend to sick and injured animals, more…
… graduated Colorado State University with a bachelors in equine science. Moving to California, she became a Certified Animal Safety oversight expert and monitored the safety and welfare of animals in production for a number of years. more…
Malina comes from a family of animal people. On her grandparents farm she raised chickens and their pet pig happily resided in the house with them more…
Marnie has over twenty years' experience training horses and many other animal species working on film, tv, commercials, music videos, and photo shoots. Simultaneously, she has spent the majority of her life training Andalusians, Lusitanos more…
MaryEllen K. Schoeman is a wildlife educator and the founder of the Raccoon Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for peaceful co-existence with urban wildlife. She has a graduate degree in Conservation Biology from Miami University's Advanced Inquiry Program, in partnership with San Diego Zoo Global, and is also a wildlife rehabilitator with 20+ years' experience in caring for native wildlife. She has worked with wildlife all over the world, including raising orphaned cheetahs in Africa and working in South America to return monkeys seized from the illegal pet trade back to the wild. Prior to devoting herself full-time to animals, she worked in the entertainment industry for studios including Paramount, HBO, and Spelling Television as a script analyst and Creative Executive. She lives in Angeles Crest National Forest, in California, with her husband, three cats, one dog, two tortoises, four goats, an ancient and demented peacock, and an assortment of chickens and turkeys.
… is a wildlife educator and the founder of the Raccoon Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for peaceful co-existence with urban wildlife. She has a graduate degree in Conservation Biology from Miami University's Advanced Inquiry Program more…
An animal lover since early childhood, Megan Blake was the little girl pointing at every animal in sight saying she wanted that one! Born with an undeniable connection to animals, she rode her first horse at age 5 more…
…is no stranger to our four-legged friends. From a young age he was rescuing myriad animal species. Nick is an accomplished horseman with National titles exemplifying his prowess and equine expertise. As a professional Dog Trainer/Handler, more…
… has been working with animals all of her life. She began riding horses and working at barns at age 7, and raised rabbits, sheep, and pigs in 4-H. Her first professional experience with animal healthcare was more…
Steve Smith , BVetMed (Hons.), CertZooMed, DipECZM (Avian), MRCV … is a veterinary surgeon who graduated from the Royal Veterinary College, London, UK, in 2002 more…
APA is pleased to include Suzan Davis Atkinson in our group of highly trained on-set consultants.