By Angela Visger
Carroll College Anthrozoology Major
If “What’s that?” is an all-too-familiar response you get when you mention what you studied in college, you may be an Anthrozoology major. To be fair to people who’ve never heard of the field, “Anthrozoology” is a long and complicated word that still isn’t in most dictionaries. Even now, my computer is trying to auto-correct it to “Anthropology.” It’s a bit of a strange experience to have a major that makes a lot of people tilt their heads and ask me to repeat myself.
Even though the English vocabulary hasn’t quite caught up with this field of study yet, Anthrozoology remains at the heart of many Carroll students’ and alumni’s college experiences. Whether it’s because the field provides a unique perspective on humans and nonhuman animals, gives students a leg up in their veterinary school applications, or just allows students to spend their entire college careers surrounded by dogs and horses, Anthrozoology has been an important part of many Carroll students’ lives. So, to do justice to this developing, yet extremely relevant field, here is a break-down of what Anthrozoology is, what it’s not, and, in response to one of the most frequently asked questions about the field, what you can do with an Anthrozoology degree.
Here’s the basic run-down: Anthrozoology is the scholarly study of human-animal relationships. If this definition made the images of students training puppies or taking notes on therapy animals pop into your head, you’re not wrong. But there is also a whole lot more to Anthrozoology than this. Kaitlin Cornell, the director of the Anthrozoology Canine Center, stated, “The most common misconception about Anthrozoology is that we just train dogs or that we spend time snuggling animals. The study of Anthrozoology is so much more. Students study learning theory, behavior, welfare, business and non-profit, equine assisted services, history, animal science, research methods, animal management, conservation, and how we can better interact with animals.”
So Anthrozoology is the study of literally anything and everything having to do with humans and nonhuman animals. That means that we look at big cultural concepts like domestication and meat-eating, as well as specific topics like how Disney uses animal characters throughout their media. We can go back in history and look at how lions have taken on the symbolism of the European monarchy; we can watch How to Train Your Dragon and think about how this movie depicts the mutual bond between a human and a nonhuman animal; and we can study how pets have the potential to help children develop a sense of empathy. As long as it’s between a human and another animal, there is really no limit to what we can study.
Another common misunderstanding about Anthrozoology is that we only study the nice relationships between humans and nonhuman animals that make us feel good, like those between pets and their owners or between therapy animals and their patients. It is true that Carroll’s Anthrozoology program initially started out as this type of field, studying only the human-animal bond and the ways that nonhuman animals can benefit humans. But the program has grown to recognize that human-animal relationships are a lot more complicated than just other animals making humans feel better.
Let me give you an example of how complex the study of human-animal relationships can be. Picture, if you will, a rabbit. What’s your initial response? What attitudes are rising? Does picturing a rabbit make you think of anything specific? Depending on the individual, a person may see the rabbit as a cute pet that ought to be snuggled, while another may see her as a wild animal deserving of freedom. Still, another person may view the rabbit as a potential meal, and another may see the rabbit as a pest to shoot with a BB gun. All of the different ways people see this one rabbit are called “social constructions,” which describe how humans think of, or mentally “construct,” nonhuman animals. Our social constructions of nonhuman animals end up being much more important to us humans than the physical characteristics of the animals themselves. This makes social constructions one of the biggest influencers in how we treat other animals. Because of this, students of Anthrozoology do a lot more than study animals: we inspect human social constructions to critically analyze human relationships with other animals. In the process of doing so, Anthrozoology students also develop their own ways of looking at human-animal relationships.
Now, as for the question of what you can do with an Anthrozoology major after graduation, there is no limit to this either, given the extremely wide range of what Anthrozoology majors study. Kaitlin Cornell explained that Anthrozoology is a great field of study for people who are looking for a jumping-off point into any type of work involving humans and nonhuman animals. “Anthrozoology is a vast and growing field,” Cornell said. “If someone is interested in working with animals in some way shape or form this is a great major to get you started in the job of your dreams.” Anthrozoology alumni have gone on to work in conservation, national history museums, national parks, and the U.S. government through the USDA and wildlife agencies. Many alumni are social workers in the fields of animal-assisted interventions, including therapy and counseling; others have chosen to work for organizations such as animal shelters, sanctuaries, and zoos. Some alumni work in the criminal justice system in the areas of animal law and animal cruelty. For the many alumni inclined to study the sciences, health-related professions such as veterinary school are natural choices. Alumni also go on to study Anthrozoology at the graduate level: according to Cornell, “There are now masters and Ph.D. programs in Anthrozoology which opens your doors even more.”
Anthrozoology alumni have proven to be pioneers in the application of their degrees. According to Cornell, alumni have started businesses training dogs for the K-9 police force or for work against poaching in Africa. One alumni is researching the cognitive science of pets with the business FluentPet, and yet another is at a San Francisco customs port, working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a wildlife inspector and looking for smuggled animal artifacts. As these alumni have shown, not limiting yourself to what other graduates have done before you gives you the freedom to spread your wings and make an impact in the world.
The Anthrozoology faculty at Carroll College have been the driving force behind the success and quality of the Anthrozoology program, and they have high hopes for the growth of their program and for their alumni’s potential. Madie Brustkern, an instructor in the Anthrozoology program, expressed her excitement about where Anthrozoology is headed. “Our program continues to morph and change as the years progress, and we strive to find more areas to grow the major,” she stated. “We’ve recently started fostering cats in the program which is a huge benefit for students interested in zoology, we’ve expanded the humanities and arts portion of the program, and we continue to excel in horse and dog training.” Dr. Margo DeMello, Assistant Professor of Anthrozoology, mentioned that it is now an exciting time to be involved in the field of Anthrozoology. “This field is growing so quickly that opportunities keep developing, including new college degree programs, new graduate degrees, new journals, book series, and conferences,” Dr. DeMello stated. “So it is such an exciting time to get involved!”
The next class of Anthrozoology students seems to be just as excited about entering the field as their professors are to have them. In a survey of thirteen Anthrozoology freshmen from the 2023-2024 academic year, over half of respondents said that the primary reason they came to Carroll College was to study Anthrozoology. One of the respondents commented, “Carroll was the only school I applied to because of the Anthrozoology major!” Another respondent described their experience of taking a veterinarian-assisting class in high school, and how they learned that they didn’t enjoy the veterinary aspect of working with animals, but that they still wanted to work with both humans and nonhuman animals in their future career. “When I was looking for colleges that weren't fully focused on the medical field and vet school it was practically impossible,” the respondent stated. “Carroll is incredibly unique in its major and gives students a way to explore animal-related fields that aren't only medically based! I am blessed to have found Carroll and will continue to share with others how amazing and unique this degree is.”
Anthrozoology may still be a developing field whose name hasn’t made it into the dictionaries yet, but it is a broad, diverse, and complex major with countless potential areas for academic study. In our world of complex and ever-changing relationships between humans and other animals, Anthrozoology continues to be recognized for its relevance, and opportunities for post-graduate careers and applications abound. Hopefully, now that the word “Anthrozoology” is a bit less intimidating, you can surprise the next Anthrozoology major you run into and tell them you know all about the study of human-animal relationships. If you are an alumni of this exciting program, kudos to you and to your work in the world of Anthrozoology, and I wish you the best in your post-Carroll life.