Not sure which route?
Two ways to spend time with us
Insight Visit or Volunteer? Both of these routes exist because people care about wildlife, and because that caring, pointed in the right direction, is the most useful thing we have.
One route is for understanding the work. The other is for doing it. This page will help you find yours.
But first, a myth worth clearing
Many people who write to us hope that visiting or volunteering at a wildlife rehabilitation centre will mean handling wild animals, or watching them from close by. It is an entirely natural thing to want, and we would be poor conservationists if we pretended not to understand it.
The animals here are patients. They are recovering, and they are going home. An animal that grows comfortable around people loses the wariness that keeps it alive in the wild, and it stops being releasable. So we keep our distance, all of us, every day, including the people who have worked here for years.
Neither route offers contact with animals. Once you know that, everything else about choosing becomes simple.
Compare the two
| Insight Visit | Volunteering | |
|---|---|---|
| What you do | Walk, listen, ask lots of questions | Physical work: food preparation, cleaning, enclosure preparation, enrichment building, record keeping, and a great deal more. |
| Contact with animals | None | Veterinary interns assist under direct supervision. Everyone else works near animals, never with them: you may clean or prepare an enclosure while its occupant is safely elsewhere, or work alongside trained staff during a shift. |
| Who it is for | Anyone who wants to understand ongoing conservation work | People who want to contribute their time and energy to it |
| Duration | Two hours | Interns: 7, 14, 21 or 28 days or based on Institutional Requirements. General volunteers: any number of days within a three-month window, with a minimum of 50 hours. |
| Selection | Based on availability, waiver and ID proof submission. | Application, review, and an interview. Not everyone receives placement. |
| Cost | None | None, unless you require accommodation, food and utilities. |
| You receive | Memories, learnings, photographs of your visit, and a better argument to make at dinner. | Incredible experiences, learnings, a certificate if you have earned one, and work that mattered. |
| Photography | Our team photographs your visit and shares the images with you. Personal photography of animals is not permitted. | The same. |
| Age | 10 and over | 13 and over, with conditions. International interns must be 18 or over. |
Which one suits you?
An Insight Visit suits you if you are curious. If you have read about a leopard in a well and wondered what happened next. If you have two hours and would like to spend them learning something about conservation that you cannot learn from a documentary, because documentaries do not show you the paperwork, the phone calls, or the work that happens behind the scenes.
Volunteering suits you if you would like to be useful. The work is physical and much of it is repetitive. You will chop food, clean enclosures, build enrichment, and record observations, and on the days when a rescue comes in you will keep working while it happens around you. It is not glamorous. It is the reason animals here survive, and the people who enjoy it most are the ones who came expecting exactly that.
What we cannot offer
We cannot offer you contact with a wild animal. Not holding, not walking one, and not photographing one for yourself. This is true for every visitor, every volunteer, every intern.
We say this plainly, and early, because we would far rather you knew it now than felt it as a disappointment later. If close contact with animals is what you are looking for, we understand completely, and this is not the place to find it.
What we can offer
You will see how a wildlife emergency is answered. You will meet the people who answer it. You will learn why a bird that flies is not necessarily a bird that can be released, and why the hardest species we work with is our own.
Most people leave here having seen fewer animals than they expected, and having understood more than they came for. We think that is the better trade, and we hope you will agree.
Still have questions? Read our Frequently Asked Questions →.