Jenny Wren Rambles : Page 3 of 3 : Conservation and Wildlife Blog

5 Useful Skills for your Zoo Internship

If your dream is to work in a zoo or sanctuary, you may already have an idea it will entail some dirty work cleaning enclosures and prepping food. And that would be the right idea, but that’s not all it requires. Here are 5 useful skills for your zoo internship you might not have thought of but will definitely come in handy.

1. Carpentry/Tool Use

At my internship, we were required to build a donation box and an enrichment item for one of the animals.
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Being able to use a variety of tools (power tools, saws, etc.) and having some building experience can be useful in a variety of ways.

Enclosure maintenance/Repair:

Depending on the size and budget of the facility, there may or may not be maintenance staff on hand to deal with enclosure issues like a jammed door or broken platform right away. If you are working at a sanctuary, you may be needed to help repair cages or fencing for the safety of the animals. Having the ability to assist with minor building and repair work will save time and allow you to quickly resolve any issues so you can get the animal back out in the enclosure and carry on with your work.

Building Enrichment:

Enrichment is an important aspect of ensuring the mental and physical health of the animals in your care. While some enrichment items can be bought (like balls or puzzle feeders) it may be necessary for you to build something yourself. Building platforms for animals to climb or sit on, and adding complexity to their living environment, can help do this. You can also adjust it to fit individual animals’ needs, such as lower platforms for elderly animals.

Clearing Debris:

Trees rot or storms come through and all of a sudden you have a bunch of branches in the way that need to be moved. Clearing away this debris is important for the safety of the animals and guests, and that may require the use of power saws to break them down into more manageable pieces. If you can help with this, the job will go a lot faster.

What you can do:

Personally, I wanted to take the carpentry class in high school but was unable to because of scheduling issues and a focus on taking more academic classes to prepare for University. If you can take a class or join a club that lets you get the experience working with tools and building things yourself, I would say go for it. If not, see if anyone in your family would be willing to work on some small projects with you and help you get comfortable using different tools. Family not big on tools? Check your local hardware store and see if they’re running any workshops that you’d be interested in and could apply to your future work.

2. Driving

Stick shift is still my weak spot.
Photo by Alok Sharma on Unsplash

I’ve seen many internship and job listings that put a valid driver’s license as a requirement or preference but depending on the facility you work at, experience in specific vehicles might be a plus. At my internship, the ability to drive stick shift was a plus because we could assist with driving the feed truck around. Having driving experience for a variety of vehicles can help you be prepared for driving whatever is at hand right when you are needed. Tractors might be used for moving supplies or large loads and you may be sent out in company vehicles to do supply pickups so feeling comfortable and confident to drive what’s needed is a big advantage.

What you can do:

If you’re a teen learning to drive, or even an already experienced driver, ask your parents, friends, or relatives if they can help you practice with different types of cars (stick/automatic, SUV/truck). Tractors might be trickier if you don’t live in a rural area but ask around in your friend group or community to see if anyone would be willing to show you the ropes on some smaller tractors. If you don’t have experience before you start, don’t worry. See if some of your coworkers would be willing to help you learn how to drive the facility’s vehicles. Order a pizza and turn it into some quality coworker bonding time!

3. Knife handling/ Butchery

Carnivore feed truck. At my internship, we had to chop the heads and wings off chickens and then de-feather them for the large carnivores.

Animals eat a lot of different things, and one of those things is meat. To provide for carnivores you may have to butcher some meat. Regardless of personal beliefs, your job is to provide for the animals in your care and if they eat meat that means you need to provide it. Part of that may include butchering things like chickens or donated cow/deer carcasses. Knowing how to safely and efficiently prepare and cut up meat for the carnivores is important for completing your tasks on time. This can include de-feathering chickens or descaling fish. If a large carcass is donated you may need to gut it and cut it into smaller more manageable cuts of meat for storage, and you may need to skin it as well.

What you can do:

If you have farmers or hunters in the family you may already have some experience with these skills but not everyone is going to be able to practice butchering whole chickens or field dressing a deer. An easy place to get started is with fish, whether it’s whole fish from the supermarket or self-caught. Fish require some careful handling (slippery!) but are manageable to practice at home. Remember to take it slow and wear some gloves with a good grip if needed. And don’t forget, you’re still going to need to chop fruits and vegetables for the herbivores and omnivores, so make yourself a fruit smoothie and a salad and tell everyone you’re practicing food prep for animals 😉

4. Weight Training

Definitely going to need some upper body strength. . .
Photo by John Arano on Unsplash

Working with animals can be a physically demanding job. You’ll need to be able to carry feed buckets and supplies around and will often need to work through heat, cold, rain, and snow. At my internship, we had to be able to lift at least 50 pounds so that we could carry the bear feed buckets and shift large trays of meat for the carnivores. Other tasks you may need to help with are helping move animals in large rolling cages to other habitats or, as I mentioned above, helping clear and remove debris.

What you can do:

The good news is this is probably one of the easiest skills to work on from this list. A lot of the people I worked with had participated in sports in school (soccer, track and field, baseball) so if you’re part of a sports club you’re already on the right track! If you’re really serious about working out you can join a gym or fitness classes, but if that’s not your vibe no worries! There are plenty of bodyweight exercises you can do at home and free apps and videos to learn from. My advice though is definitely work on your arms and upper body strength so you can lift those bear buckets like a pro!

5. Communication Skills

As an intern, I often had to give educational tours around the zoo. Good thing I like to talk about animals!
Photo by Ravi N Jha on Unsplash

As an animal lover, you might prefer the company of animals to humans, but unfortunately, you can’t escape having to deal with that most irksome of beasts, “the public”. During an internship you will likely need to pull some shifts answering phones, working the register for tickets or the gift shop, or leading educational tours. For these reasons, communication and public interaction skills are a must. If you’ve ever had a part-time job you may already have some experience in this area, so don’t worry if your only jobs so far have been retail and not animal-related. They still apply!

What you can do:

For educational tours, you will probably get some instruction on this at your internship but for additional preparation consider visiting a local museum or zoo and joining in on a tour. Take note of how they relay the information (word choice, speed, volume) and answer questions. If they have time after the tour, see if they’d be willing to share some tips or answer additional questions about how to give tours or handle guests. In the meantime, you can work on your public speaking skills through school presentations, soliloquies to your cat, or pretend tours to friends held captive. Whatever you do, practice your speaking and get comfortable with it because even if you aren’t giving a tour, there’s always a chance a visitor will stop you to ask questions.

Did anything from the list surprise you? Or anything you thought was missing? Going into my first internship a few of these I expected but had no experience in (butchering) and there were others I hadn’t thought of (driving). Truthfully, all five of these were things I was bad or inexperienced at, and I wished I could have had more practice in them before my zoo internship. If you’re looking for ways to prepare for an animal career though, I hope this list is helpful and gives you some easy ideas for how to develop these skills before you get that dream internship!

Applying to my Master’s Program

After deciding to go back to school and choosing a program, it was time to actually apply to my master’s program. There were a few things I needed to do before getting started though.

Before Applying:

Check program requirements
Check necessary documents for application
Check the due date

1. Check Program Requirements

First, I needed to check the requirements for the program itself. Since I would be studying abroad, I had the additional step of dealing with a different grading scale in the U.K. so I had to check the equivalent qualifications on the University website to see if my grades matched up to the academic requirements.

Submitting an application means more time on the computer researching and writing.
Photo by Jacqueline Kelly on Unsplash

2. Check necessary documents for application

Academics

I needed copies of transcripts and my degree which meant having to pay for new official copies from my University. Luckily, my University offered pdf transcripts that I could upload so I didn’t have to wait to receive them in the mail. Unluckily, I still had to pay for a hard copy, which would ship to my parents’ house, to access the pdf copy.
Makes perfect sense, how else would they squeeze more money out of me?

CV

I was not very familiar with CVs as we usually use resumes in America, so first I had to figure out what the differences between these were. Basically, this came down to CVs being longer and more detailed, in that they showed all your skills. But I was also advised for my application to try and keep it short. So, still like a resume, I guess? At least in terms of length. I reached out to program alumni for some clarification/advice on how to organize my CV and what they gave priority in theirs. Based on their advice, I tried to tailor my CV to the program and put the more relevant animal experience first with my other experience in a separate section.

Personal Statement

What are they looking for in applicants’ personal statements?
( Motivation and Experience)
What do I want/need to tell them that they can’t get from my CV/transcripts?
(Uhhh, how passionate I am and what a great student I’d be?)
How do I distinguish myself from other applicants in my storytelling?
(Make a Lion King reference? (I did really do this by the way))
Writing my personal statement was rough, but I gave myself plenty of time to work on it and had my family read over it to give me some feedback.

Reference Letters

I needed 2 references, preferably academic but one professional would also work if relevant. Luckily I had a few professors and supervisors friended on Facebook so they were easy to contact. I had also had multiple classes or worked for an extended period with them so they were familiar with my work. I gave them copies of my CV and personal statement and had no problems getting my letters.

3. Check the deadline!

I was planning on applying early and deferring for a year, but I still wanted to get my application in well before the cutoff. Or at least, plan it that way so that if I ran into any trouble I would be on time instead of late. The only problem was, there was no date listed for international applicants. After contacting the department to clarify, I was basically told that they would keep applications open for international students for a balanced cohort but submitting earlier was best.

First, I made a list of everything I needed and worked my way down it, checking things off as I went. I tried to get the easy things taken care of first, like starting the online application form and submitting a transcript request. The CV also wasn’t too hard as my previous resume was already animal-focused since I had used it for my internship. I just needed to update it and rearrange it a little. The personal statement was the hardest, and after many outlines and drafts, I was finally able to complete it after about a month and 10 or so drafts. Then I could forward it to my reference writers. Once I had all my materials finished and uploaded (including my reference letters) I did one last check over everything and hit submit.

Once everything was submitted I could relax a little before waiting and hoping to hear back that I was accepted. About a month later I got an email that a decision had been made on my application. I had been accepted to the program. I was super stoked to hear I had gotten in and after giving myself a couple of weeks to relax I had to turn my attention to the next major hurdle: searching for funding.

How I Chose My Master’s Degree Program

After a lot of thought, weighing the pros and cons, and coming to the decision to go back to school, the next step of my postgraduate journey was choosing a master’s degree program. Easy, right? Just sift through hundreds of programs at different universities around the world. To make things easier, I made a list of different things to consider when researching programs. This is how I chose my master’s degree program.

1: Research vs. Taught

There are 2 main types of Master’s degree programs to choose from: research and taught.

A research degree offers more independence in your study because there aren’t regularly scheduled classes or exams to attend. Instead, you get to plan and conduct research on a topic of interest with help from supervisors. This is great if you have the self-discipline to do it. (I do not.)

Taught degrees, on the other hand, are more structured. They have scheduled classes and exams, similar to an undergraduate degree. They also sometimes have a research component to them so you can still get academic research experience. If you know what kind of career you want(I do), a taught masters can be a great way to get the experience and instruction in the specific topics you would need for that career.

I didn’t mention it in the last post, but another reason I hadn’t considered doing a postgraduate degree was that I thought that all postgraduate degrees were research degrees. I didn’t have much confidence in my ability to carry out a large research project, and couldn’t think of one thing I wanted to research. I was also worried that spending all that time on research would leave me unprepared for the more practical side of an animal care career. On top of that, I feel I do better with a more structured, predictable schedule to work with.

Taught degree it is then.

2: Degree Concentrations

Decision 1 down, now it’s time to narrow down a degree concentration. There are 3 main things I considered when looking at degree concentrations:

What are my interests?
I’ve always been interested in animals and already had a Bachelor’s degree in biology with a focus on conservation, so a program that covered topics related to conservation and animal care was what I was searching for.

What are my career goals?
Going along with interests, what kind of career was I aiming for? What type of concentration would help me get that job? Looking up job listings in the field and seeing the qualifications and requirements of the job gave me an idea of what topics would be helpful to study, but I also wanted to keep my options open and learn skills that could apply to a variety of jobs. In my case, not just animal handling and care in a captive setting, but techniques useful for field study as well.

What is my previous experience?
When applying for a postgraduate program, they’re going to want to know how your academics and experience make you a worthwhile addition to the program and capable of completing the course material. While I only had 2 internship experiences, these were in 2 different aspects of wild animal care and conservation: wildlife rehabilitation and zoo work. Looking back at these experiences, I enjoyed both so programs requiring similar work would be a good fit and also meant I would be well prepared for the coursework.

3: Course Content

The next thing to look at is the actual content of the course.

What core classes do I have to take?
Are there additional classes I can choose from?
Is there a research component?
Is there a practical component?

This is where I had to do some combing through the course catalog and program page. I read through all the class descriptions to see what would fall in line with my interests and match the needs of my future career. I also wanted practical experience so I was looking at what programs offered that as well as how much. A few other things I looked at were:
What additional opportunities are available, such as fieldwork or the use of special facilities?
What is the research component and how is research conducted in the program? For example, does the school provide connections with other schools or facilities for completing research?

After I narrowed it down to 2 programs at 2 different schools. I tried looking up student reviews of the programs, attended an online info session (which ended up not having anyone for that specific course available to chat with), and joined the postgraduate student Facebook group for the other school. I was able to get in contact with 2 graduates from the course and get some additional information about what the course was like and what they liked about it. This helped me decide that this was the degree program I wanted to go for.

4: School

So I found a program I like, time to take a closer look at the school.
Now, I may have this a bit reversed compared to other people.
They might choose to look up which schools have a good reputation for their degrees first and go from there. I prioritize the program content over name recognition of the school. While name recognition may make your degree stand out on applications, if the program isn’t something you’re passionate about it seems like a lot of effort and cost just to put a famous name down on your degree.

(By which I mean, I didn’t think to look up what schools have a good reputation for that type of program, but I also don’t care about name recognition so…)

Here is a list of some of the things I looked at when prowling the university website;

I. Is the school/faculty reputable?

I know I said reputation wasn’t my top priority, but it’s still something I’m going to look at. Partly to know that the school is good, but also to have a realistic expectation of how difficult it may be to get in.

II. What kind of research are they doing?

I also want to see what kind of research they are doing. I thought that this might help me get an idea of what research I could do as well as see what impacts the school was having.

III. How employable are graduates?

I put a lot of thought into choosing a program that will assist in my career goals, so something to look into is what kinds of jobs are program graduates getting and are students from the University overall able to get employment post-graduation.

IV. What are the school’s priorities? What is its atmosphere?

This is a bit vague, but basically, I was trying to get a feel for whether the atmosphere of the school resonates with my interests and needs. How are the grounds and study areas? Does the school support the things I care about, like environmentally friendly initiatives?

V. What amenities/services are offered to students?

I was going to be living away from home (again) and spending a lot of time on or around campus, so I wanted to know what services are available for students. Assistance with finding accommodation and funding was high on my list, but other things I looked at were the campus gym or study areas, student groups and clubs, accessibility, etc. In terms of accommodation, what is available? What are the costs?

#5: Location

In addition to scoping out the university’s services and amenities, I also wanted to get a feel for the city it was located in. How easy would it be to get around? What kind of entertainment/recreation is available for when I have free time? What is the atmosphere of the city?

This was to give me a better idea of what studying the program at the university will be like. I wanted to be excited to study there and feel like I would be comfortable living and studying there. The less stressed I am the better I can perform in courses and maybe even have a social life!

One final note to think about was if I was going to study abroad for my degree. This adds additional considerations such as language barriers, extra costs, and paperwork. However, the positives could outweigh the negatives. In my case, the U.K. was attractive because of the shorter program length which would help minimize costs.

6: Cost

Speaking of costs, education costs money and I am but a poor student. There were a few different aspects of postgrad costs I had to think about when choosing a program. First, of course, is the cost of tuition. Depending on the length of the program and if I would be an out-of-state /international student, the tuition could be higher. Then there are the living expenses. Will I live in University housing or rent privately? How much will utilities, food, and transport cost? What other expenses might I have, like for research?
And while we’re on the subject of other expenses,

Debt

Coming from a country of exorbitant student debt, loan payments were another expense to take into consideration. Looking at the cost of international tuition in the U.K., it was close to what I would probably pay as an out of state student back home. With the shorter program length, this could be manageable. I also had a manageable amount of debt (about 1/3 the national average), so I wasn’t drowning yet.

If you don’t want to drown in debt, it’s good to have something to keep you afloat. And that’s where funding comes into play. When looking at schools and programs, I also looked at what scholarships and funding were available. This meant program and school-specific grants, grants aimed at international students, and really anything I could find online that I was eligible for. I made a list of scholarships and grants I could apply for while trying to calculate how much I could save up.

When I initially decided to get a master’s degree, I had no money. By the time I started seriously researching programs and planned on applying though, I had paid off my student debt and would be able to have some savings before starting school. By studying in the U.K. with a shorter program length, I could minimize tuition and living expenses. There were some scholarships I planned on applying to, but if necessary I could take out a loan to help cover my living expenses and not be too burdened since I was starting debt-free.

Using this list, I made a spreadsheet with the different categories so I could make quick comparisons and narrow down my choices. Deciding to go back to school can be overwhelming, but breaking it down into smaller parts, and focusing on one thing at a time, really helped me get through the decision process. And in the end, I chose the University of Bristol’s MSc Global Wildlife Health and Conservation program.

Why I Decided to Get a Master’s Degree in Conservation

To kick off this blog, I’m going to explain why I decided to get a Master’s degree.
Which in this case, starts with why I DIDN’T want to get a Master’s degree.

It’ll make sense eventually, I promise.

After high school, I spent 6 years getting 2 Bachelor’s degrees and I was tired. When I was finishing my degrees, my main goal post-graduation was getting into internships, and there were some good reasons I didn’t feel the need to get a postgraduate degree.

Why I didn’t want to get a Master’s degree

#1: Not a requirement for my career field.

In general, the basic qualifications needed to get a job as an animal keeper in the U.S. are

A Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Zoology, Animal Science or another related degree such as an Ecology or Environmental Degree
Practical experience
Sometimes you can swap the degrees for extensive experience and some places may want something more specific, such as large carnivore experience.

Let’s look at a few examples of jobs and what their requirements are.

San Diego Zoo Research Assistant

**Bachelor’s Degree and at least 2 years of experience.**

Hoofstock Keeper job, Phoenix Zoo

**Bachelor’s degree and at least 6 months experience.**

Zookeeper Peoria Zoo

**4-year degree and 1 year of experience.**

Notice a common theme?

Experience is key.

When it comes to animal care, having the practical experience to do the required job and the responsibility to carry out those tasks safely is emphasized more than an advanced degree. After getting my degree, building up that experience was more important to me than going back to school for a degree that wouldn’t necessarily increase my chance of getting a job and could put me behind on experience.

Number 2: Academic Burnout

I mentioned this before, but I was tired of school. To get into University, I tried to maintain high grades and take as many honors and advanced placement courses as I could in addition to extracurricular activities.
I spent nearly every summer during my college career doing summer classes, working part-time, or doing volunteer work/internships. Now that I was finally coming to the end of 19 years of schooling and hitting that milestone of graduating from University, I was ready for something else. I wanted to start working and gain experience in the field I had been studying for all those years.

Number 3: Cost

I was very lucky and most of my education was covered by financial aid. However, I did not come out of school debt-free.
I was unable to get a job until my 3rd or 4th year of college and the bulk of that money went first towards covering gas for my 3 hour round trip commute to University, and then second towards my rent, food, and gas once I moved closer to school. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but then something unexpected happened.

Despite consistently living in the same state for well over 10 years,

Despite having a paying job and paying state taxes for over a year,

My university reclassified me as an out of state student, more than TRIPLING my tuition. This risked my ability to get into the classes I needed to complete my degree and forced me to take on loans in the meantime to ensure my education would not be interrupted.

Hey look, it’s our old friend, student debt.

I’m getting a little off-topic here. Long story short, after a long, emotional fight, I won and the University had to pay me back the overcharged fees.
The point is, I now had student loans to pay back and no savings since everything had gone towards my living expenses. Coming up on graduation, not only was I looking into internships, but I also had to worry about loan payments. Considering all this, taking on even more debt to pay for an expensive postgraduate degree was not at the top of my list of things to do after graduating.

So What Changed My Mind?

A. Developments in the Amazon
During my year abroad, I came across a news article online. This article was the turning point. It was an article about China’s plans to build a railroad through the Amazon.

When I was in the 3rd grade, I had a teacher that taught us a lot about the rainforest. Everything in the classroom was rainforest themed, and even our lessons and activities related to the rainforest. One that sticks out in my mind is when we were given a paper to color in that formed one piece of an Anaconda. After we all finished coloring, during recess she hung it up on the wall circling the classroom so we could see just how big an Anaconda was. The experiences I had in this class fed my interest and curiosity in the natural world and culminated in University where I was finally able to achieve a dream of visiting the rainforest on a 2-week field course.

All this to say, the Amazon rainforest holds a special place in my heart.

Back then, the rainforest had been under threat from humans and *surprise* that hasn’t changed. The idea of China building a railroad through such a crucial habitat was horrifying. In the article, a professor from James Cook University in Australia had explained why this was a bad idea and would only open up the forest to further damage and exploitation. Glad to see someone with sense, I looked up the University and started reading through the degrees they offered. Seeing some of the concentrations and classes were in areas I was interested in, I started to weigh the idea of going back to school and how I could afford it.

B. Bracing for Competition
Another reason I thought a Master’s degree could be beneficial is to stand out a little more from the competition. Jobs for zookeepers, wildlife biologists, and animal care specialists are highly competitive. This means standing out from other applicants who may have the same education level as me but more experience would be difficult. Getting an advanced degree, I thought, might help me gain some useful skills and give me an edge over other applicants.

C. It’s all About Connections
When searching for a job, networking and building connections are crucial to getting the heads up on job openings, and having a personal connection to vouch for you can make the difference in a sea of applicants. This is true for many jobs but perhaps even more so in the close-knit animal care community. Given my limited experience (at that point I had only volunteered and interned at 1 facility), going to another university for an advanced degree could give me the chance to expand my network of connections. It could even open up field research opportunities which would let me experience a different aspect of the career.

After a lot of thought and a few detours, I made the final decision to get a Master’s degree. In the end, I found a different program at a different university but I am now on the postgraduate path. I am excited to dive into a subject I’m passionate about again and I hope you will come along for the ride.

About Me

Holding a giant legless blue caecilian, a type of amphibian, at the Wildsumaco Biological Station in Ecuador

Hey there!

My name is Jen and I am a soon to be Wildlife Conservation postgraduate student. My life goal has been to work in a zoo or sanctuary where I could help care for animals and educate people about the amazing diversity of life we share the planet with. I want to share my journey to help future conservation students and share the knowledge I’ve gained so that everyone can do their small part to help wildlife.

Currently, I have two Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology and International Studies, internship experience at a wildlife sanctuary and zoo, and have been to Ecuador for a short field study course. However, as the pressures on wildlife have mounted, I decided what I had wasn’t enough. That is why I will be studying the Global Wildlife Health and Conservation degree at Bristol University.

In this blog, I’m going to try and cover the before, during, and after of a conservation Master’s degree from my experiences searching for and applying to a program, daily life during the program, and what happens after I graduate. I will also try to write about wildlife or conservation-related topics here and there, especially if I find something I really want to ramble about 😉