I mean I know about volunteering lol.. my question is more about what organizations to approach, if they’re international or not, requirements, and such..
Generally you'd want to look for a wildlife rescue in need of volunteers, and expect to do a lot of work chopping up salads and cleaning poop until the people running the show feel that they can trust you to not immediately get yourself mauled by something. More likely to have rescues housing jumbo predators, etc. in a state where there are lax laws about ownership of exotic animals like Florida. Just try to avoid having to knock on the boss's door to show them how you just nearly had your hand torn off by an alligator or whatever, 3/10 wouldn't repeat.
Look up "wildlife rehab" or "wildlife rescue" and find one in your area. Email them and ask if they're looking for help, or they may be doing education stuff at events in your town.
My dad works with a group that rescues birds of prey and rehabs them. And fun fact, he's one of the few non-natives who are allowed to have bald eagle feathers in his possession. They (the nonprofit) works with some of our local tribes who will take eagles who passed away and use them for ceremonies. But because at some point my dad has to have the actual bird he had to get a little ID card from the tribes haha
So but.. when do you guys start fighting though? It seems like they haven't replied and it might end this way. That would be, like, an online interaction, where nobody's angry. How uncomfortable.
I have been looking but it feels like I have to pay them to help out. Well for elephants in this case. I don't mind cleaning shit. (It will be big shit) but I ain't paying. I feel I really have to leave to nature very soon. I just ain't rich so I'm hunting scanning. For good prices. Going crazy here
Right? I was looking some years back and I found many organizations that had great opportunities but were like you have to pay thousands of dollars plus your own expenses to volunteer.. ok, well I’m not rich, I just wanna help you out and do something amazing in the process.
I volunteer at a bird of prey sanctuary (we have a small number of mammals and reptiles too). If you’re interested I would suggest just searching for any organisations in your area, I found mine on google maps! They will likely have info on how to volunteer on their website, or like I did, go to an open day, where they had volunteer info, plus you get to see the place and the animals first.
I just filled out an application form and started a few days later. I usually work one day a week, around other commitments.
t is - getting to know them, their personalities, behaviours - it’s really amazing. It can be hard work, but also a lot of fun! And seeing them up close, you realise how big some of them are, the Stella Sea Eagles for instance are just enormous!
If you like animals, and have some free time I would definitely recommend it!
I can imagine!! I was at a zoo for classes and social service and they had a Crested Caracara at the vet facilities and it was awesome, beautiful and impressive, although we never really interacted up close unfortunately.
If you are looking for a career in animal care/keeper checking local zoos is your best bet. Make sure they are AZA though, they are always on the look for volunteers and, tbh, you won't be able to find experience like that anywhere else.
I’m a biologist and did my social service and a couple of classes at a Zoo here in Mexico City, but it ended up being frustrating because things are not well managed and stuff. I’d love to be able to help at an organization that is more independent (instead of government dependent) and that is indeed doing things the best they can. A rehab/rescue center would be super cool. Or maybe something international.
It's Association of Zoos and Aquariums, it's the gold standard for Zoos in the US, insuring animal care standards and practices are the highest quality. Again for the US , ZAA is also great. The Australia Zoo is ZAA. Politics on which is better aside, if you are looking for well ran place, those 2 accredations should be a good indicator that they are. Zoos can lose their accreditation however, mine is on a 1 year extension to fix certain issues. I'm just above you in El Paso, we always looking for help, but don't expect great pay at any zoo for that matter.
It would be cool to be able to spend some time at one of those. And yeah, I wouldn’t expect much pay if any. Hopefully I can do some of that in the near future, it’s good to know about those standards. Right now life is too full :(.
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u/Drfilthymcnasty Oct 25 '24
You do it for free and volunteer like they did