Keeper Internship

Wild Discovery

Wild Discovery is a growing zoo situated at Ribby Hall Village near Preston. We hold over 60 different species and support conservation projects from around the globe from the UK to the Philippines.

We offer vacancies for full time, voluntary keeper internships for a period of 6-12 months with a start date throughout 2021. These positions provide successful candidates with the opportunity to gain valuable experience in a developing zoo environment, working with all taxa.

Candidates will be trained in a variety of skills including husbandry, record keeping, enclosure maintenance and design, nutrition, training and public education. There are also opportunities to complete a research project per any course requirement or general interest. We run monthly workshops and encourage all to get involved to learn further skills such as rope splicing, CV and interviews, understanding UV to name a few.

Main objectives of the internship:

· To gain knowledge and understanding of the inner workings of a zoo.

· To gain experience and knowledge of zoo animal husbandry and care. This includes preparing diets, maintaining enclosures, daily record keeping, creating environmental enrichment and animal health checks.

· To gain confidence when delivering educational talks and packages.

· Gain skills which will support their future career within the zoo industry.

Essential requirements:

· Aged 18 and over.

· Currently working towards or hold an animal related qualification.

· Previous experience working with animals.

· Previous experience within a zoo setting or with exotic animals would be desirable.

· Candidates should be motivated, passionate, hard-working, good time-management and keen to learn new skills.

· Keeper tasks can be physically demanding; thus, candidate must be physically fit and prepared to work in all outdoor conditions.

All positions are voluntary. Unfortunately, Wild Discovery cannot provide any financial support to applying candidates however a full uniform is provided. Interns will recieve regular reviews.

Interns operate on a rota basis, working 4 or 5 days out of 7. Candidates must be prepared to work weekends and bank holidays.

If you wish to apply please email Alexandra Davies at education@wilddiscovery.co.uk to receive an application form and person specification.

For any questions about the internship please email education@wilddiscovery.co.uk

FYI

This vacancy has been posted out to the many thousands who read the popular Zoo Jobs Blog Page and then on to the 129,400 plus followers of the ZooNews Digest Facebook Page. It is then immediately forwarded on to Twitter and then to Pinterest and Linkedin (8,000+ connections). Many vacancies are shared to individuals and groups. In short your vacancy will have the potential of reaching something in the region of some 80,000 plus people within 24 hours. Most of these people are working in a zoo environment, Keepers, Curators, Vets, Zoo Directors, Trainers, Aquarists and more.

ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 1200 Zoos in 150+ countries. Zoo professionals are International.

The number of people who will actually read the posted vacancy will actually be considerably less. Usually this will be between two hundred and three thousand. This will depend on the type of post, the time of the year and where it is located…of course not all will apply. I wish you the very best of luck in finding the right candidate for your post.

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