Zoo Jobs: Voluntary Trainee-ship, Bird Garden

Voluntary Trainee-ship, Bird Garden

Position: Voluntary Trainee-ship, Bird Garden

Department: Bird Garden

Company: Harewood House Trust

Responsible to: Bird Garden & Farm Experience Manager

Daily duties Supporting the Bird Garden team in daily animal husbandry routines and visitor engagement activities

Hours: Minimum 3 days a week, to include weekends

Travel expenses paid

ABOUT HAREWOOD

The Harewood House Trust manages and maintains Harewood House and its immediate grounds, by opening to the public as a visitor attraction and events venue which attracts many thousands of visitors a year.

The Bird Garden was established and opened in 1970 by the 7th Earl of Harewood to educate visitors about the natural world and inspire them to help conserve and protect the species within it.

Harewood Bird Garden has a reputation for being home to a wide and diverse range of rare and specialist species over the years, as well as being an important centre for conservation breeding programmes.

The Farm yard was launched in 2016 as an added attraction to the Bird Garden and is used for various public engagement activities, as well as an educational resource for many local school groups.

Today Harewood Bird Garden and Farm Experience still aims to educate and inspire its visitors through conservation breeding programmes, raising funds and awareness for various global projects, public talks and daily events, as well as offering students from local universities and colleges opportunities to carry out a wide range of behavioural and welfare related projects on the species that reside in the Bird Garden.

Further information about Harewood and its programme of events can be found on the website www.harewood.org

ABOUT THE BIRD GARDEN AND FARM EXPERIENCE TEAM

We are a small team, dedicated to implementing and maintaining the highest standards of animal welfare, working hard to ensure that all the nutritional, behavioural and specialist care requirements are met for the 40+ predominantly avian species within our care, while at the same time providing a memorable and enjoyable day out for our visitors.

Another aspect of the Bird Garden is the conservation breeding programmes in which we participate. This requires us to provide the diverse range of species within our care suitable environmental conditions to provide them with breeding opportunities.

The team are assisted in all of these tasks by several dedicated volunteers on a weekly basis.

Summary of the role

This is a unique opportunity for two dedicated and enthusiastic individuals to join our team on a four month basis for a voluntary trainee-ship. These roles would suit people that are looking for a career in zoo keeping or similar fields and would provide vital experience that zoological collections desire.

Key Tasks

Assisting the team with the daily husbandry routines, including the diet preparation and feeding/cleaning of all species

Carrying out daily public engagement activities, such as public feeds, visitor talks, assisting in hosting school group visits and leading our Keeper Experience programme

Implementation of nest-boxes and meeting specific breeding requirements of a range of species

Assist in Capture and restraint of domestic hoof stock within the farm and a variety of avian species for routine animal care or veterinary attention

Updating and record keeping both on paper and on the ZIMS database

Implementation and recording of routine treatments such as inoculations and worming

Assisting and learning about artificial incubation techniques for a range of avian species

Potentially learning and assisting in the hand rearing of a variety of avian species

Carry out basic and routine maintenance on enclosures and within the Bird Garden to ensure the safety and welfare of the animals and visitors is kept to a high standard

Gaining an insight into collection management

During this placement a specific project or task will be set for the successful individuals to complete, which will involve planning, implementation and reviewing.

Person Specification

Studying, or recently graduated from an animal related course, ideally zoo related

An approachable and engaging person
Enthusiasm and a knowledge of wildlife and conservation
Shows a flexible approach and able to move between several different projects
Confident , good with members of the public particularly children
Flexible, able to work weekends
Shows commitment and a willingness to learn new skills and gain new experiences

Qualifications

Studying for, or holding a certificate in an animal related course, specifically zoo or science based.

Instruction will be given to enable the intern to undertake the required tasks.

The post requires a commitment of 3 to 4 months between /May or June until August, 3 – 4 days a week, including weekends working 8am until 4pm. The post can be ended at any point if either party feels that it is not working successfully. The trainee-ship is a voluntary post, which Harewood House Trust will pay expenses for, and is a training opportunity for the individual as they start on their career path in zoo keeping, or similar fields.

Short-listed candidates will be invited to an interview.

To apply for the role, please send a CV and cover letter to nicholas.d@harewood.org