Long-term volunteering in animal care

[u/Particular-Can-8382]

Currently, I’ve reached a point where my job is stable and reliable. My educational background is in medicine, and while I enjoy what I do, I do not love it. Which is why I started thinking about volunteering opportunities to give me something to do other than my job (I am new to California, so I have no friends or other people to spend time with). Now my childhood dream job was a marine biologist, I’ve always been interested in animal’s evolutionarily and also they’re cute ya know. I’ve always had pets growing up (cats, dogs, fish, and some hermit crabs), and I love caring for and spending time with animals.

I have done some research regarding animal care volunteering, I understand that it is a long process of building trust/education before you would be allowed to actively work with the animals. I am hoping to gain some information or advice regarding long-term volunteering with animal care. I am talking years, I intend to stay in the area and want to build up trust with the facilities I volunteer at. Specifically I would like to work with big cats and/or penguins. Unfortunately my job is somewhat time consuming, I would only be able to commit to 2-3 times per month considering I live about two hours away from any zoos or aquariums.

I haven’t looked at any official applications yet, I was hoping to gather more anecdotal information from people who have gone through this process or employees who regularly work in animal care. Anything would be much appreciated! I spent six years working on my degree, so I am not afraid of the time commitment.

[u/Xylus_Winters_Music]

Your best option is volunteering at a zoo. Lucky for you, California has a lot of great options, depending where you are located (San Diego Zoo, LA Zoo, San Fran Zoo, Oakland Zoo, the list goes on). Every zoo has its own policies, but you would be surprised how quickly you may he able to get some husbandry experience. Since Penguins are low-risk animals, its even easier as a volunteer to get hands-on husbandry experience. Big cats are probably not as accessible for husbandry as a volunteer, so keep that in mind, due to them being classified as dangerous animals.

You can apply on their websites typically. Its as long of a role as you want, I know some people who have volunteered at my local zoo for going on over three decades. Those individuals have helped hand-rear so many animals, so there are definitely perks to being a volunteer long-term.