Jami LoVullo

Founder

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.