A Man for All Species: The Remarkable Adventures of an Animal Lover and Expert Pet Keeper »

MARC MORRONE is the co-owner of the Parrots of the World, Ltd., pet store in Rockville Centre, New York, and is also Martha Stewart’s pet expert, appearing regularly on The Martha Stewart Show on NBC. Additionally, he hosts The Pet Shop with Marc Morrone on Mag Rack and is the host of the radio show Ask Marc, the Pet Keeper on the Martha Stewart Channel.
 
www.parrotsoftheworld.com
 
NANCY ELLIS-BELL is the author of The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog, which was named one of the Top 5 Nonfiction Books of the Year by the Richmond Times-Dispatch as well as one of the Top 10 Sci-Tech Books of 2008 by Booklist. She is a literary agent and lives in California with her husband, Kerry, and their menagerie of cats, dogs, and birds.
 
www.thebarkingparrot.com

From the Hardcover edition.

Before Martha Stewart named him her “pet keeper,” and before millions of people turned to him for advice, Marc Morrone had a simple dream: to learn everything he possibly could about every kind of animal and share that knowledge with others. In this lively, colorful memoir, Morrone offers a heartfelt and candid look inside a life well-lived with creatures great and small, from the domestic to the exotic, from frisky ferrets to renegade reptiles to rare parrots. Morrone is an enthusiastic champion of all animals—furred, feathered, or scaled, domestic or wild—and his lifelong adventures take us from his internationally renowned pet store, Parrots of the World, to his home and personal menagerie, covering his media roles on both television and radio. Inspiring, informative, and frequently amazing, Morrone’s story is a memorable tribute to one man’s passion for the world of animals and his enduring commitment to their care.

In A Man for All Species, animal expert Marc Morrone weaves thrilling, inspiring, strange, and often hilarious experiences with practical advice gleaned over his forty-year career, revealing a world of adventure and anguish, humor and heart, that every pet owner and animal lover will recognize.

From the Hardcover edition.

Foreword Martha Stewart xi

A Word Jim Fowler xiii

Preface xvii

Part 1 A Pet Keeper is Born

Chapter 1 Tiny Bones, Big Dreams 3

Chapter 2 Big Bones, Small Business 11

Chapter 3 A Store Is Born 18

Chapter 4 Harry and the Hyacinth Heist 23

Chapter 5 The Secret Life of "Flap-Flap" 29

Chapter 6 A Passion for Birds: From Front Porch to Penthouse 38

Chapter 7 The Power of the Stoop: Flying with Falcons 46

Part II A Pet in Every Port

Chapter 8 Passports for Pooches and Pets 61

Chapter 9 Porcupines Arriving at Gate 9 69

Chapter 10 All Ferrets Aboard! 72

Chapter 11 Splash! 79

Chapter 12 Will Park Your Pigeons … and Your Car 84

Chapter 13 He Knows Why the Caged Bird Sings 88

Chapter 14 Passover Pets 92

Part III Adventures in Pet Keeping

Chapter 15 A Typical Day in the Not-So-Typical Life of the Pet Keeper 101

Chapter 16 Betta Than a Kissing Gourami 106

Chapter 17 The "Great Mother" of All Hamsters 114

Chapter 18 A Giant Rabbit Called Harvey 121

Chapter 19 Puff, the Magic Iguana 127

Chapter 20 For Emily, Wherever I Hope to Find Her 135

Chapter 21 Dances with "Real" Wolves 143

Chapter 22 What Has Spots Like a Leopard but Isn't a Leopard? 150

Chapter 23 Domestic Partners 156

Chapter 24 Smiley, the One-Toothed Monkey 162

Chapter 25 Into My Arms, into My Heart: Georgette the Baboon 168

Chapter 26 Baby on Board: Sweet Jessie 171

Chapter 27 Pigs in Paradise, Not in Your Living Room 174

Chapter 28 Prairie Dogs and the Epidemic of Fear 179

Part IV On the Air with Martha Stewart

Chapter 29 Discovered! 189

Chapter 30 Elmo and the Great Goldfish Caper 196

Chapter 31 Taping with Martha 203

Chapter 32 When Lilacs Last Bloomed in Martha's Garden 208

Chapter 33 From Dancing with the Stars to Standing with the Losers 217

Chapter 34 The Baby Bird Heist 222

Part V Animals in the Spotlight

Chapter 35 A Dancing Raven Performs at Lincoln Center 229

Chapter 36 Behind the Scenes with Animal Trainers 232

Chapter 37 Beware the Chimpanzee with a Toothbrush in His Hand 237

Chapter 38 The Zoo Puzzle: Where Have All the Tigers Gone? 241

Chapter 39 Circus Secrets and the Saga of Siegfried and Roy 250

Chapter 40 The Pantheon of Animal "Deities" 254

Chapter 41 Vision of a Pet Keeper 261

Afterword 267

Acknowledgments 269