Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital

Wildlife Rehabilitation General Volunteer Description

Primary wildlife rehabilitation volunteer responsibilities center on the care and rehabilitation of the wildlife hospital’s patients.

Wildlife Rehabilitation at Lindsay

 First, we would like to briefly discuss some points regarding wildlife rehabilitation at Lindsay:

• We do not make friends with the wildlife patients, and don't want them to become dependent on human care. Their survival when released could depend on avoiding humans.

  • • Our Animal Encounters department does build relationships between our non-releasable animal ambassadors and their caregivers. If this is the experience you are looking for, you can also look into volunteering with Animal Encounters. Many of our volunteers work with more than one department at Lindsay. Volunteer information for Animal Encounters can be found at: Animal Encounters Volunteer Opportunities

• We support, and rehabilitate toward release, native California wildlife. We are not permitted to care for agricultural, domestic, companion, or exotic species. Also, we do not accept for treatment and rehabilitation some non-native, invasive species that directly compete with our native wildlife. These species include the European starling, English house sparrow, and rock dove (rock pigeon). When someone brings in a species that we do not accept, we give them options, including referral to another facility or rescue group.

• When you start as a new shift volunteer you will not be working directly with wildlife patients, initial tasks include laundry, enclosure cleaning, and diet preparation. Working with patients requires training. If you are reliable and able to follow instructions, you will quickly advance in your abilities and soon be directly assisting with our rehabilitation patients.

• Except for "trial runs" and some Support positions (such as laundry) volunteering with the hospital requires training to become a successful volunteer. Wildlife rehabilitation roles are usually not suitable for short-term activities such as community service or short-term high school or family projects. However, we do occasionally have short-term opportunities available, you can request information using the "Wildlife Rehabilitation Interest Form" linked below.

***For questions regarding the above points, or about anything in the orientation process, please reach out to the Wildlife Rahabilitation Hospital Volunteer Manager, Chris Beard, through: hospitalrecruiting@lindsaywildlife.org***

Qualifications

• Age 16+ (ages 16-17 by prior arrangement, contact the volunteer coordinator)

• Location: Since some of our social media campaigns reach an audience over a wide geographical area, we need to make sure you are close enough to be an effective volunteer. We are located at: 1931 First Avenue, Walnut Creek, CA 94597 (in the San Francisco Bay Area)

• No previous animal or wildlife experience is needed.

• For hospital shifts: good physical condition – activities can include bending, twisting, stooping, kneeling, carrying, ability to lift and move 20 pound objects a short distance, and extensive standing/walking.

• Must have a willingness to work with some physical risk while observing proper safety procedures.

• Patient food preparation and feeding requires the ability to handle live mealworms. Ability to handle meat products (previously frozen - not live) is recommended but not required.

• Able to follow directions and communicate clearly and effectively with staff and volunteers.

• Commitment and reliability are expected.

• Must understand and follow departmental procedures for safety, animal handling, dress code, emergency procedures, and continuing education.

• Follow all applicable rules and regulations.

Basic Duties

• Provide care for injured and orphaned wildlife. For a shift volunteer, these duties include housekeeping (laundry, dishes, and general cleaning), hand feeding baby wild animals, animal food preparation, setting up enclosures, cleaning enclosures, and admitting patients into the hospital.

• With experience, duties can also include caring for adult wild animals, preparing and dispensing medications, homecare/satellite care of rehab animals, and release of rehab animals.

Volunteer Commitment

We ask our volunteers to commit at least one year of service to Lindsay Wildlife Experience's wildlife rehabilitation hospital. This ensures that our shifts and homecare teams are adequately staffed so the patients get the best of care. This also lets new volunteers experience wildlife rehabilitation year-round...the patient types, procedures, and patient care are very different in fall/winter vs. Peak Season.

We ask for a commitment in one or more of these areas:

• Hospital Shifts: Minimum of one 5 hour shift per week, within the am or pm time slot. We ask for our shift volunteers to be present at least three out of the four weeks each month.

Daily Shift Time Slots:

• am: 8:30 am - 1:30 pm

• pm: 1:30 pm - 6:30 pm

Seasonal Evening/Baby Bird Shifts (only actve during the baby bird Peak Season, April 1 – September 15):

• • • • • • evening: 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm 

• Homecare (satellite care): Participation in patient homecare as part of a species team. Homecare activity is usually seasonal, with the most activity during the Peak Season (April 1 – September 15).

• Specialized Activities: Can be on a regularly-scheduled, seasonal, or as-needed basis. Includes activities such as: 

  • • • Patient intake desk: Accept new patients brought to the hospital, enter rescuer and patient information into the patient database. Answer questions from rescuers regarding their patient or wildlife in general.

      • Hotline: Answer calls from the public regarding wildlife interactions and found injured/orphaned animals. Help educate the public regarding living in harmony with our urban wildlife.

      • Baby Bird Care: Baby bird feeding and specialty care during the Peak Season (April 1 – September 15).

      • Laundry-specific: Patient care generates many loads of laundry every day, laundry-specific assistance frees up other shift members to concentrate on patient care.

      • Diet preparation-specific: The hospital sees patients from about 200 different species per year, all requiring specialized diets. Diet preparation-specific volunteers work in the hospital kitchen preparing patient diets according to diet guidelines and assist with running the dish washer/sanitizer.

• There are additional extended-commitment volunteer opportunities and internships available, especially during the Peak Season (April 1 – September 15). Inquire for more information.

Training and Continuing Education

• Must successfully complete an initial training program covering health and safety, hospital and museum policies, basic housekeeping tasks, and basic animal husbandry.

• Complete at least two hours of continuing education every calendar year.

Homecare/Satellite Care and Species Teams

Species Teams provide species-specific specialty care in the wildlife rehabilitation hospital and off-site in homecare/satellite sites.

Homecare/Satellite Care

Homecare for various species (baby and adult: mammals, birds, reptiles & amphibians), as long as you have a suitable space and pass evaluation and training by a Species Team. There is training available for all teams, and some teams have additional requirements (such as rabies pre-exposure vaccination for some of the mammal teams). Some of the teams are mainly seasonal, being most active during the Peak Season (April 1 - September 15), others function year-round. There are two general categories of homecare sites:

• Caring for young patients housed in indoor enclosures

• Preparing juvenile patients for release in outdoor enclosures or aviaries

We have homecare teams to care for many of our rehabilitation patient species.

• • Mammals: Opossums, squirrels, raccoons, skunks, bats, rabbits/hares, small mammals (mice, rats, voles, gophers, moles)

  • Birds (babies (seasonal) and adults): Finches (house finches and goldfinches), humminbirds, jays, crows, ravens, doves/pigeons, songbirds, insectivores, hawks, owls

  • Reptiles and amphibians

For additional information regarding homecare, please click the link below:

• Homecare Information

Other Specialty/Species Team Opportunities

• Providing special care and feeding for specific species in the hospital

  • Baby-bird specialty care during the Peak Season

• Helping scout nest sites for nest returns

• Transporting patients to specialty rehab facilities

• Hosting a “soft release”, a raptor "hack box" (artificial nest), or releasing a patient back to the wild

Further Information

To express interest in, or request information regarding, any of the positions described above, please fill out this form:

Wildlife Rehabilitation Interest Form

Or contact us at: hospitalrecruiting@lindsaywildlife.org

We are now orienting and training new volunteers and interns.