Sarvey Wildlife Center

Weekly and Seasonal Volunteers

Requirements:

Minimum Age: 14 years with no exceptions.
Commitment: We ask that you choose one day of the week to volunteer, and the shifts are as follows, 8am-Noon, Noon-4, 4-8, and in the summertime we have an evening shift from 6pm-10pm. Because of the training required, we ask volunteers to commit to a minimum period of 6 months.

Skills: Must be able to work with all types of people and maintain a professional demeanor at all times. Must be able to follow directions, and take correction as needed.

Other: Due to state and federal regulations governing our facility, we cannot accept volunteers who have been charged with or convicted of felony offenses, including but not limited to sexual offenses.

The Work:
Like hospital nurses, wildlife volunteers are responsible for the daily care of Sarvey’s patients. This includes cleaning cages, laundry and dishes, feeding and medicating of the animals. Just like nurses, you are there for the animals, and their care is the priority.

This is a cleaning job, but you get to be with, and handle wild animals while participating in their care. And the best part is seeing them get well and be released. Yes, there are deaths, but we save a remarkable number. All of our work directly and indirectly affects the animals in our care, and every job is important.

During the summer months, Sarvey sees over 60% of its patients. These days are long and very busy, and volunteers are usually trained to do a specific job or area. Volunteer participation during these months is essential to our animals’ survival and well-being. Winter months are much slower, and volunteers will often be asked to do a variety of duties, including cleaning inside and outside, prep for the next baby season, sanitization and repair of cages and facilities. This is a good time to learn and develop your skills in animal care.

Taking care of wild creatures is not risk free. We will train you in safe handling of the animals and equipment, but you must also be able to use good judgment every moment you are at Sarvey. All of our patients are wild, not tame, and the goal is to keep them that way.

Weekly Volunteer – Sarvey Wildlife has an average of 70 volunteers who come in on a weekly basis. Volunteers may help with the daily cleaning and feeding of our residents and patients, but also help with tasks like sanitizing cages between use, painting, clearing brush and more. Volunteers with physical disabilities are welcome to help out with laundry, food prep and baby feeding(seasonal). Volunteers with special skills like carpentry are invited to work on existing repair and special projects. No matter your skill or physical level, there’s always something to be done.

Outside Volunteer: The outside area is for animals that have been inside and are now healed or grown and are preparing for release. At this important time, they are being acclimated to the outside elements and need to be observed. The youngsters need to learn things that their parents would have taught them. Caring for our educational animals is also the duty for the outside volunteers.

Outside volunteers are responsible for preparing food for the outside enclosures, and cleaning each enclosure. This may entail picking up old food, scrubbing surfaces, and setting up new enclosures. Volunteers are responsible for their own dishes, laundry and garbage.

Inside Volunteer: The inside area is for orphaned, sick or injured animals who need medical attention and time to recover before they can go into a larger outside area. Babies stay inside until they are big and strong enough to live outside.

Inside volunteers are responsible for preparing food for each cage, and cleaning selected enclosures. Volunteers are taught proper capture and restraint methods, and are often involved in daily treatments and baby feedings.

Seasonal Volunteer – For people who are only available for a few months, such as summer break, this is a good option. We ask you to commit to a weekly 6-8 hour shift, but you are welcome to come more than once a week. Seasonal volunteers help to fill the expanded need for people during our busiest baby season months, and are welcome to return yearly.

Work Party – On certain scheduled days, we invite people to come and help out with special facility projects. This includes weeding, painting, flight construction, stuffing newsletters and many other things that help keep our center in operating order. This is an option for people who are unable to make a weekly commitment but who would still like to contribute. Because of the nature and duration of the work party projects, there is no animal contact. Work party volunteers must be a minimum of 14 years old to participate.

Work parties may be organized by organizations or groups who wish to spend a day giving back to their community. To schedule a work party, or to be added to the contact list for upcoming work parties, contact volunteering@sarveywildlife.org

Special Event Volunteer – Special events may include activities like fundraisers, information booths at fairs and events, office work and more. This is an option for people who are not interested in working directly with the animals, but who would still like to contribute. Individuals with good organizational skills, good people skills and creativity are invited to participate. Events will be posted as they come up.

Intern/Extern – Sarvey accepts students from college and technical schools as unpaid interns/externs. We also accept “students of life” who wish to learn more about wildlife rehabilitation. Sarvey is willing to work with you to complete community service hours and projects. We are not accredited, and college/class credit will need to be obtained through your school. To set up an internship/externship, contact Tammie at volunteering@sarveywildlife.org