Animal Care & Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteer With Animals at Bear River Ranch
If you are looking for meaningful hands-on experience working with animals, Bear River Ranch offers recurring animal care volunteer opportunities during the fall, winter, and spring.
Our volunteers work alongside the animal care team and help support a diverse collection of more than 100 species. Depending on your experience, consistency, and the needs of the animals, recurring volunteers may assist with feeding, diet preparation, cleaning habitats, enrichment, socialization, and other day-to-day animal care responsibilities.
Recurring Animal Care Volunteers • One-Time Volunteers • Group Service Projects • Rolla, Missouri
Recurring Animal Care Volunteers
Direct animal care requires consistency. Animals need to become familiar with the people working around them, and volunteers need time to learn routines, safety procedures, individual animal needs, and proper husbandry practices.
For that reason, volunteers who want to work directly with animals must commit to a recurring schedule.
Recurring animal care volunteers may assist with:
- Preparing diets and feeding animals
- Cleaning and maintaining habitats
- Creating and providing animal enrichment
- Socializing appropriate animals
- Observing animal behavior
- Assisting with routine animal care
- Helping maintain animal areas and equipment
- Learning how care and husbandry needs vary among species
This can be a valuable opportunity for college students, pre-veterinary students, animal science or biology majors, future zookeepers, and others who want practical experience working with a wide variety of animals.
Animal Care Volunteer Requirements
Previous professional animal-care experience is not required. However, volunteers must be dependable, willing to learn, and able to follow animal-care and safety procedures carefully.
Animal care volunteers should be able to:
- Commit to a consistent volunteer schedule
- Work cooperatively with animal care staff and other volunteers
- Follow instructions and accept constructive feedback
- Perform physical work that may include bending, lifting, carrying, cleaning, and extended periods on your feet
- Pay close attention to animal behavior, habitat conditions, and safety procedures
- Be comfortable working around a wide variety of animals
Because direct animal care requires training and consistency, one-time volunteers do not work directly with animals.
One-Time & Group Volunteer Opportunities
You do not have to make a long-term commitment to help at Bear River Ranch.
We also welcome individuals, families, school groups, service organizations, clubs, and other groups who would like to volunteer for a day or assist with a specific project.
One-time and group volunteer projects may include:
- Clearing and maintaining trails
- Raking leaves and pastures
- Removing branches and storm debris
- Grounds cleanup
- Cleaning and organizing work areas
- Seasonal property projects
- Painting or maintenance projects
- Other projects around Bear River Ranch
These projects are an important part of keeping the property safe, attractive, and ready for our animals, campers, staff, and visitors.
Looking for More Intensive Animal Experience?
If you are a college student or recent graduate looking for a more extensive animal-care experience, you may also be interested in our Animal Care & Animal Husbandry Internship Program.
Our paid fall and spring internships provide housing and offer the opportunity to spend approximately 4½ months working with our animal care team and developing practical husbandry skills with a diverse animal collection.
LEARN MORE ABOUT ANIMAL CARE INTERNSHIPS
Apply to Volunteer
Whether you are interested in becoming a recurring animal care volunteer or helping with a one-time service project, we would love to learn more about you.
Complete our volunteer application and let us know what type of volunteer experience interests you, your availability, and any relevant experience or skills you would like to contribute.
