Year Long Student Keeper Work Experience at Colchester Zoo

Closing date for application is the 04/05/2020

Placements start in August 2020 and end in July 2021

Colchester Zoo is home to 220 species of animal and is an active member of BIAZA and EAZA and is currently supporting 64 breeding programmes. Colchester Zoo is also passionate about supporting field conservation work and through our charity, Action for the Wild, has donated over £3 million since 2004 to U.K. and global conservation work.

At Colchester Zoo we understand the importance of having the opportunity to gain real world work experience as part of your preparation for working in the animal care industry. This may be to gather evidence to support your studies or to consolidate your theoretical knowledge with practical experience.

About the Student Keeper Programme

The Student Keeper Programme is a year long placement undertaken within our animal keeping sections. Alongside the hands on practical learning, there is a full formal learning programme to allow you to expand your knowledge and gain an insight into the theory of zoo animal husbandry as well as developing professional skills.

Subject areas include Nutrition, Welfare, Ethics, Enclosure Design, Business as well as many more.

Placements are based on a particular group of animals as its main focus, which applicants can express an interest in. Due to the nature of the Zoo’s layout animal sections cover multiple taxa, this means there isn’t a team that exclusively looks after big cats or hoofstock. For example the team we call Tigers have birds, reptiles, primates, inverts, as well as tigers.

Below are the placement focus animal groups:

Hoofstock, Carnivores, Birds, Elephants, Domestic Stock, Sea lions, Reptiles, Small Mammals, Primates

Expected duties include, but not limited to:

· Cleaning and maintaining animal enclosures

· Providing enrichment

· Preparing animal diets

· Participate in animal training

· Delivering public talks

Requirements

You must be 18 years old or older and you should be enrolled on, or have completed an animal/conservation based course and must have a minimum of a QCA recognised level 3 diploma.

Additional Information

All of our work based learning placements are full-time and will include 5 consecutive days on placement per week. You will also be expected to be on placement over weekends.

Please note: All of our placements are unpaid voluntary roles and no accommodation is provided.
If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

Placements are only granted following application and a successful selection assessment.

For more information and to access the application form, please follow the link here: https://www.colchester-zoo.com/careers/1-year-work-experience/