By supporting the Presentations team, you'll be helping us care for our ambassador animals who are an integral to the outreach and education work we do with our visitors on-site. This is a varied role, you may be cleaning out an otter holt and scrubbing ponds one day, and then helping to care for tadpoles the next, doing a spot of weeding along a path before supporting one of our bird displays! You'll also have opportunities to engage directly with our visitors and be a part of the story which helps inspire them to love wetlands and the incredible powers they have!
You will be helping with the daily husbandry of our demonstration birds, mammals and ectotherms. You may also be assisting with pond, enclosure and section maintenance, assisting with the upkeep of hygiene and biosecurity across the department, or creating enrichment to mentally stimulate our animals. Tasks may include:
- Scrubbing/netting or full cleans of ponds
- Assisting with the food-prep and feeding of some animals
- Cleaning enclosures
- Collecting foliage/ browse for the birds and mammals
- Washing up feed bowls and other dirty tools
- Collecting wood for new perches
- Weeding, to help maintain on-show and back of house areas
- Collecting daily temperatures for the amphibian habitats at Toad Hall
- Conducting deep cleans of section spaces; jobs the team on the ground might not always have the time to do thoroughly
- Signposting visitors to seats/exits during busy talks
- Designing or providing enrichment to some of our animals
- Observe animal training sessions
- Collecting or dropping of resources to other areas of the site
In this opportunity, you'll get to work closely with a fantastic and welcoming team and a fabulous bunch of critters; there are a lot of fun personalities to get to know. You'll get to work in the grounds of a stunning wetlands, and you're likely to see plenty of native wildlife as you go about your day too! You'll learn loads of new skills and gain experience working with and around a variety of taxonomic groups, each with their own particular wants and needs. If you think you'd enjoy the satisfaction of a freshly power-hosed pond, a newly re-furbished harvest mouse exhibit or a frogs swampy and engaging micro-ecosystem, then this is the role for you!
Volunteers are an essential part of the WWT team. You'll get a warm welcome, including information on training, equipment and anything else you need.
If you are interested in volunteering for WWT but don't wish to apply online, please email [email protected] or leave a message at 01453 891 231 with your name and number.