Animal Care & Animal Husbandry Internships
Get Hands-On Experience With 350+ Animals and 100+ Species
If you're studying animal science, zoology, biology, pre-veterinary medicine, wildlife, animal behavior, or a related field, Cub Creek Science Camp at Bear River Ranch offers an opportunity to gain extensive hands-on experience working with a remarkably diverse animal collection.
Our Animal Care Internships are designed for college students and recent graduates who want more than observation. Interns become part of the daily animal care team, developing practical skills in animal husbandry, nutrition, enrichment, behavior, recordkeeping, habitat maintenance, and basic veterinary care.
Paid Internship • Housing Provided • Fall & Spring Semesters • Rolla, Missouri • Ages 18+
This Is a Hands-On Animal Internship
You won't spend your semester watching animal care from the sidelines. You'll participate in the daily work required to care for more than 350 animals representing over 100 species.
Depending on your experience and the needs of our animals, your internship may include:
- Preparing diets and feeding animals
- Cleaning and maintaining habitats
- Creating and implementing animal enrichment
- Observing and documenting animal behavior
- Maintaining animal care records
- Learning safe animal handling techniques
- Monitoring animal health and wellbeing
- Assisting with routine animal care and basic veterinary procedures
- Learning how husbandry needs vary among species
Work With an Extraordinary Variety of Animals
Bear River Ranch is home to mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, livestock, domestic animals, and exotic species. Because our animals are part of Cub Creek's educational programs, many are accustomed to working closely with animal-care staff and interacting with people.
That creates an internship experience very different from simply observing animals from outside an enclosure. You'll learn how individual animals behave, how their needs differ, and how thoughtful husbandry, enrichment, training, and habitat management contribute to their physical and behavioral wellbeing.
Build Experience for a Career With Animals
Whether your goal is to work in a zoo, wildlife facility, veterinary setting, animal sanctuary, educational animal program, or another animal-care profession, this internship is designed to help you build practical experience you can take into your next position.
No previous professional animal-care experience is required. We're looking for interns who are dependable, willing to learn, comfortable working hard, and genuinely interested in developing their animal-care skills.
```htmlAnimal Care Intern Qualifications
You don't need previous animal-care experience to apply. However, caring for a large and diverse animal collection requires commitment, physical work, independence, and attention to detail. All Animal Care Interns must be able to meet the following requirements:
- Be 18 years of age or older. Preference is given to college students and recent graduates, but a high school diploma or equivalent is required.
- Be legally able to work in the United States. Applicants must be able to provide the documentation required to work in the U.S. Although Cub Creek welcomes international staff during our summer camp season, we are currently unable to sponsor international Animal Care Interns for our fall and spring programs.
- Be physically able to perform animal-care work. A typical day involves being on your feet for much of the day as well as repetitive bending, lifting, carrying, cleaning, and other physical tasks. Interns must be able to lift and carry bags of feed weighing up to 50 pounds and must not have animal allergies that would prevent them from safely working with our diverse animal collection.
- Be able to work independently. Animal care doesn't stop with a completed checklist. Interns are expected to become increasingly self-motivated and observant as they learn their assigned animals. That means recognizing when an enclosure needs additional cleaning or maintenance, noticing changes in an animal's behavior or condition, and communicating concerns to supervisors rather than waiting to be told what needs attention.
- Be willing to relocate and live on-site. Animal Care Interns are required to live at Bear River Ranch for the duration of their internship. Housing is provided. Because interns live and work around our animal facilities, most personal pets cannot be accommodated. If this applies to you, contact us before assuming you are ineligible.
- Be able to commit to the full internship. Each internship semester is approximately 4½ months, with some flexibility in exact starting and ending dates. Interns are expected to remain for the entire agreed-upon term. The internship may include working some holidays because, of course, our animals still expect breakfast every day.
What We Expect — and What You Can Expect From Us
Our goal is for every intern to leave Bear River Ranch with substantially more knowledge, confidence, and hands-on experience than they had when they arrived.
To make that happen, interns need to work well with their team and supervisors, be receptive to instruction and constructive feedback, ask questions, and develop the ability to work efficiently without sacrificing attention to detail. Animal husbandry requires both speed and precision: tasks need to be completed on schedule, but the wellbeing of the animals always comes first.
In return, we want you to leave with practical animal-care skills, experience working with a diverse collection of species, stronger observational and problem-solving abilities, and a better understanding of what a career working with animals is really like.
APPLY FOR AN ANIMAL CARE INTERNSHIP
Summer Internships
Cub Creek offers a great opportunity for students to qualify for internship credit while gaining valuable job experience. All camp counselors are instructors for our camp activities! Internship credit can be earned for:
- Education
- Engineering
- Animal Science
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Parks & Recreation
- Data Entry
- Communications
- Business/Retail
- Data Entry
- Culinary Arts
- Human Health Services
- And much more!!
Our camp activities are intended to engage campers' curiosity and allow them to explore things of their interest. Instructors are encouraged to be creative educators and grow their curiosity in our structured camp activities. Beyond teaching activities, counselors are given opportunities to lead some of our "early bird" and "night owl" activities. These are open for creativity and allow our counselors the opportunity to implement their own knowledge and interests to lead a unique activity for our campers!
We also believe that there is merit in the "counselor" experience for those looking to go into any field. Working with children on the level that we do here at camp is helpful for learning patience, empathy, and problem-solving skills.
While we are happy to help make camp an option for those interested, our priority is the happiness, well-being, and experience of all our campers. Your most important duties as a camp counselor include your campers and your job. We have seen many past employees make a summer internship with us work while being fantastic counselors! The key to making this work is to tailor your summer camp experience to meet your internship qualifications. To get internship credit this summer:
- Get a copy of the internship requirements from your school adviser. It's important for you and camp to know what exactly you will need to be able to fulfill your internship requirements.
- Complete our online Summer Staff Application. After filling out the application, send an email to our office at recruitment@cubcreeksciencecamp.com letting us know that you are interested in trying to make an internship work during your summer. During your interview, please be sure to bring up your goals for an internship so we can discuss it with you!
We are eager to discuss ways to tailor your camp experience to meet your internship requirements. We know that many schools require internships to graduate and we think working at summer camp is an experience everyone should have. So we want to make it work! Head to our Summer Positions Page to learn more about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and apply!
Interested in Volunteering With Our Animals?
Not looking for a formal internship? Bear River Ranch also offers recurring animal care volunteer opportunities during the fall, winter, and spring. Consistent volunteers can work alongside our animal care team and gain hands-on experience with feeding, cleaning habitats, preparing diets, enrichment, socialization, and other aspects of caring for our diverse animal collection.
We also welcome one-time individuals and volunteer groups for projects around the property, including trail work, pasture cleanup, grounds maintenance, and other seasonal projects. Direct animal care opportunities are reserved for recurring volunteers who can commit to a consistent schedule.