WILDLIFE REHAB
There are multiple roles available inside the von Arx Wildlife Hospital. Read below to see which one is right for you.
Animal Caregivers
Outside – 8 a.m.
Rake out outdoor enclosures, hose down the walls, empty and scrub out the ponds and refill them, remove food dishes and advise interns or staff of any unusual behavior you notice. There is no direct contact with the animals, although they might approach you (but not likely). This generally takes no more than three hours.
Inside morning – 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Scrub down the insides of all cages, remove soiled towels and food and water dishes and replace all with clean towels and food and water dishes; do laundry—shaking loose food and scraping animal feces from towels; load the washing machine and switch clean laundry to the dryer; fold clean laundry and distribute to various rooms; help with the feeding and care of the patients; perform mid-day cleanup.
Inside afternoon 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Prepare diets for patients—involves cutting up fruits, vegetables, fish, mice, and rats; doing laundry as above; taking gopher tortoises out to the field behind the dorms to graze; helping with the feeding and care of the patients; performing end-of day cleanup.
Inside night 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.
This shift includes all duties of the shift above excluding the grazing of gopher tortoises.
In each of the above shifts, all volunteers participate in every facet as listed. Each requires good health and a lot of stamina as volunteers are on their feet the entire four hours. We prefer that volunteers are able to assume a four-hour shift on a weekly basis. However, if you are unable to commit to a weekly four-hour shift, we always need people to fill in when other volunteers are away.
There are four different wards within the Wildlife Hospital: mammals, reptiles, birds, and the nursery. Every volunteer is rotated through each area, working in a different area each week in order to assure that all volunteers keep up-to-date on the type of care needed in each room.
Front Desk
Greet people when they bring in injured wildlife; help them fill out paperwork; help fold laundry; make occasional phone calls to Critter Couriers. This is a great way for people to help that are unable to do the physical parts of the volunteer opportunity.
Critter Courier
Critter Couriers transport injured animals to the hospital – we can never have too many of those! Critter Courier is the best fit for those that are unable to commit to a scheduled weekly shift.
