Dr. Scott Amsel

Dr. Amsel was born into and raised in a medical family on the East Coast of the United States. He has lived in California since 1978 and in the Los Angeles area since 1986. During his undergraduate college and early vet school years, Scott developed and nurtured his interest in exotic animals while working at the Miami Seaquarium, the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the former Marine World, Africa USA. Subsequently, while attending veterinary school at the University of California at Davis, Scott specialized in the study of zoo and wildlife medicine.

After receiving his veterinary degree in 1984, Scott studied epidemiology and preventive medicine and went on to have a wide variety of fascinating veterinary adventures. These include working on a movie in the Amazon with wild river dolphins, working to secure the release of wild dolphins trapped by fishermen in Taiwan, helped rescue and provide medical care for ex-captive orangutans in Taiwan and Indonesia, helped develop a wildlife rescue program in Thailand, and worked for two years as staff veterinarian at the Los Angeles Zoo. He has presented papers before the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians as well as publishing original work in various veterinary journals.

Dr. Amsel’s interests cover the entire spectrum of the animal kingdom. After working at Disney’s Animal Kingdom for a year in 2000 he moved back to Los Angeles to partner with another zoo vet to run a private practice caring for the many species of animals working in the entertainment industry. He starred in a national Science Diet television commercial and provided veterinary supervision for two reality television shows about dogs. More recently he has worked countless hours for low-cost spay and neuter programs, provided veterinary consulting for exotic animal sanctuaries and continued attending to more traditional pets in private practice.

When not caring for everyone elses pets, Dr. Amsel can be found exploring the countryside with his own two mischievous rescue dogs, cruising around on his electric adventure bike and pretending to be an amateur photographer.