Career Break Internships

Veterinary and Animal Care

Why a veterinary or animal care placement?

Whether you’re a seasoned animal care professional, or a wannabe Dr Doolittle, a placement working with animals can be one of the most rewarding ways to spend your career break. You’ll get the chance to work in a variety of environments – animal centres, veterinary surgeries, zoos, or outdoors in national parks or on farms – helping to both conserve the environment, protect endangered species, and work towards a future of sustainable farming.

Exotic animals

On an animal care placement, you may well get the chance to see and work with animals only found in zoos in the UK, such as elephants, tigers and snakes, in their natural habitat. You might also be able to help rehabilitate injured animals back into the wild, and lend a hand on conservation projects which are working to maintain biodiversity in your chosen country.

Strays and pets

Many less economically developed countries don’t have the animal welfare organisations you can find in the UK, and stray animals can be a big problem. You might, therefore, be working with local animal health practitioners who spay and neuter strays, to help control the population in a humane way. You might also be helping out with the pets and family animals of the community, doing annual checks, treating illnesses and speaking to owners.

Different diseases

While diseases like rabies have largely been exterminated in the UK, in many countries this is just not the case. On an animal care placement, therefore, you’ll be able to gain experience with a variety of conditions it would be almost impossible to see outside of a textbook in the UK.

Working with farms, families and livestock

You’ll also get the chance to make a real and lasting difference to the local community through working with farmers and their families. While we take much of our mechanised agricultural equipment, like combine harvesters, for granted, many people in developing countries still use animals, such as buffalo, to plough fields. As such, a farmer’s livelihood, and the food for the whole community, relies on him or her having strong, healthy, happy animals. Helping out with births, vaccinations and other general livestock problems will mean you’re benefiting the whole community,