The programme is aimed at students undertaking a further or higher education course requiring a sandwich year in industry placement within their degree, or recent graduates who are seeking a career in the animal care/conservation sector or similar.

All placements are purely voluntary and as such it is with regret that we cannot provide any financial support or expenses to those wishing to apply for these opportunities and we cannot guarantee employment at the end of the placement. To ensure that students are provided with a valuable experience, a training agreement will be completed and reviewed regularly, and a training record will be provided upon completion of the placement.

As this position is voluntary and therefore unpaid we know that this takes a level of commitment from individuals, therefore we aim to provide each student with a structured learning programme to help them in their future careers. We are very proud that many of our previous students have gone on to work as zoo or veterinary professionals or in other animal care or conservation roles.

Objectives of the Placement

• Gain experience and understanding of the work of a zoo animal keeping department.
• Gain skills within the education and outreach department including delivering encounters and classroom educational sessions.
• Deliver educational talks and animal experiences at the zoo to visitors and groups.
• Apply own personal skills and take ownership of a series of tasks and/or a research project.
• Reflect on training and experience throughout the placement.

Anticipated Tasks/Training Provided

• Assisting with daily animal husbandry (e.g. behavioural and health observations, nutrition, cleaning, diets and food preparation, enrichment provision, enclosure modification, gardening skills, foraging for safe browse plants, etc.)
• Observations of animals and recording of relevant information.
• Training in basic research methods.
• Visitor interaction (e.g. answering visitor questions in a polite and sensitive manner).
• Assisting with the maintenance of bioactive environments.
• Training in animal-management related computer software.
• Training in all aspects of the company’s code of practice.
• Opportunity to attend external and internal CPD where applicable.

Skills Required

• Previous animal-related work experience (not essential)
• Good time management and communication skills.
• Adaptable to different working environments.
• Able to work in a team and independently.
• Physically fit for the demands of the post.

Apply For This Job

Apply for this job:

Please send in your CV and a covering letter explaining why you wish to apply for this role to lintonzoo@hotmail.co.uk. If we feel we have a position to offer you, we will return an application form by email to take you to the next stage of application. Unfortunately, we may not be able to respond to every applicant but thank you for your interest in this role.