What about Volunteer with animals during your gap year?
Volunteering with animals during a year out will be a great experience if you are an animal lover, or thinking about working with animals once you graduate from university. It will also help you gain a unique perspective on the country you are working in that would you not see otherwise.
They are hundreds of different ways you can volunteer with animals all over the world. Why not work with tigers in Thailand, Lions in South Africa, help orangutans in Borneo, or work with many of the different dog charities around the world.
Whichever experience you choose it will no doubt be an unforgettable experience. We will now take a look at some of the most popular animal volunteer work.
Working with Lions
Lions are a great fit for those who have a real passion and desire to conserve lions in their natural habitat. A gap year working with lions will help these animals that are at risk from poachers and extinction. You will be able to observe them in their natural habitat and help educate the local community on how they can live peacefully with Lions.
Tasks you can expect are data collection, feeding cubs, general maintenance, research monitoring and cleaning out the enclosures. The hours would be long and you would be expected to work Monday to Fridays.
Working with dog charities
There are dog charities in most countries in Asia and if you are a dog lover like me, then this could be the perfect volunteering job for you.
While you can’t change the world in the months that you are there, you will really feel that your effort will have a positive impact on the dogs while you are there. Taking a dog for a walk or spending some time with them will help improve their confidence and have an immediate effect on their lives.
You will also get plenty of close contact with the animals that you might not get with some of the other volunteer work. All day you will have plenty of dogs around you that will be after your attention and you there will be plenty of opportunities to play, stroke and cuddle the dogs.
There will be many different breeds of dogs, small and large, such as German Shepherds, Cockapoos, Spaniels, Cross Breeds, Bull Dogs, Labradors and plenty of puppies.
Summary
Overall we would definitely recommend doing some animal volunteer work, even if it’s only for a few weeks. You will get to meet other volunteers of different ages and cultures and make new friends who all have a common goal to improve the life of animals.
As well as this you will gain that vital experience for your CV that others just won’t have. It will help you grow as a person and give you some great life skills.
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