Wildlife Rehabilitation Avian Nursery Intern

WRC provides qualified internship applicants the opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with wildlife in our seasonal Avian Nurseries from late April through the end of September. College students, college graduates, or people just looking for a fun hands-on experience with wildlife are all welcome. Internship positions are unpaid and housing is not provided. Applicants must be 18 years or older. See https://wrcmn.org/Wildlife-Internships-at-WRC/12/ for more details.

Duties and responsibilities:

• Commitment of 20-30 hours per week and 300 hours minimum to complete the internship. Interns are not working directly with veterinarians in the treatment room, however, upon completion of >400 hours of internship time, the intern may be considered for an hour of veterinarian shadowing per week.
• Working with wildlife requires some labor-intensive tasks, so you must capable of listing 30lbs, being on feet for 4+ hours, working in a hot and humid environment, bending down/sitting on the ground, and working in varying weather conditions
• Follow all WRC policies and procedures relating to safety, personal protective equipment, biosecurity, animal care
• Be dedicated to providing the best care possible to patients and maintaining the wild nature of patients
• Work closely with volunteers by providing ongoing training and guidance
• Admit new patients: Set up caging, prepare food, organize paperwork, and follow protocols
• Prepare food for and hand-feed young patients, using a variety of techniques
• Maintain caging with appropriate furnishings for a wide variety of species
• Learn to recognize signs of illness and notify supervisor when there are concerns about a patient’s health
• Administer medications (including injections)
• Maintain paperwork
• Maintain laundry and clean cages; keep the nursery clean and orderly
• - Treat everyone including staff, volunteers, other interns with respect

Requirements:

Our requirements for internships are fairly simple. You must, however, be very willing to do a lot of manual labor. Working with wildlife means a lot of cleaning and lifting. It means being on the ground while cleaning out cages and feeding animals. You'll be moving cages and large boxes/bags of food and you'll be working outside on and off throughout the day. This is a very labor-intensive, hands-on experience.

• 20-30 hours/wk for a minimum total of 300 hours/season
• Available days, nights, weekends, holidays
• Able to follow specific instructions
• Minimum age of 18 years
• Prior management experience or hands-on animal experience is desirable but not necessary
• All interns must be up-to-date on their tetanus vaccine and have health insurance