Help us share our conservation message with the next generation while providing routine animal care for our most important ambassadors! Five Rivers MetroParks Wildlife Ambassadors assist our education team in sharing our conservation message with community members of all ages at a variety of programs, events, and outreach opportunities year-round. Wildlife Ambassador Animal Care Volunteers provide daily care for these important animal ambassadors year-round at the Twin Valley Welcome Center so that they can continue sharing our message.
Impact
Volunteers like YOU provide hands-on daily care including monitoring, feeding, and cleaning to promote the health and well-being of our Wildlife Ambassadors so that they can share our conservation mission and the importance of healthy habitat for animals like them and people like us to a variety of audiences throughout our community.
Tasks
- Cleaning & sanitizing - Provide regular cleaning for all Wildlife Animal Ambassador areas.
- Feeding - Feed the Wildlife Animal Ambassadors as directed by the specific wildlife ambassador’s schedule.
- Monitoring - Volunteers need to be detailed and observant during each shift taking notes on each wildlife animal ambassador as follows:
- Note the date of the action (cleaning, feeding, weighing, vet, any other info).
- Note what food was offered for consumption and what was eaten.
- Note any other procedure regarding the care of an animal (i.e. warm baths, medications, vitamins).
- Note any abnormalities noticed in animals (eating habits, physical conditions, etc.).
- Note defecations and shedding when observed.
- Sunday shifts alternate food prep and animal weights.
- Additional tasks as needed:
- Keeping bird feeders clean and full for the Window on Wildlife display.
- Supporting annual deep cleaning efforts for Wildlife Animal Ambassador care areas.
- Alert staff lead when issues arise right away,
Eligibility: This is an opportunity for individual Long-Term volunteers who are 18 and older and is also open to family-friendly volunteers with adult volunteers (18 and up) with children ages 9 and up who would like to volunteer regularly together. Learn more about our types of service here.
- Note: Youth volunteers ages 14-17 are not required to complete a background check. If you are a new youth volunteer contact volunteer.services@metroparks.org to have your background check waived.
Additional Notes
- Commitment: Due to the training time invested in this opportunity, we are asking volunteers to commit to signing up for two Wildlife Ambassador Animal Care volunteer shifts per month. This will allow volunteers to become familiar with the animals and stay updated on our processes. Volunteers who complete the Wildlife Ambassador Animal Care training can continue on to train for Wildlife Ambassador program and outreach opportunities!
- Environment & Physical Demands: This program takes place indoors and outdoors. Volunteers can expect bending, kneeling, reaching, and lifting objects 10 lbs. or more. Feeding is preferred for morning hours but once trained and checked off with the wildlife ambassadors, you have some flexibility. If the time selected is not the time you will be doing animal care, please let the staff lead know in advance.
- Parking & Meeting Instructions: Please park in the lot and remember to check in to your volunteer shift before you get to the welcome center. Click here for a map of Germantown MetroPark.
- Dress: Volunteers should dress for the weather and wear their MetroParks name badge and apparel.
Look for additional details about this opportunity at the bottom of this listing! See the Animal Care Volunteer Position Description for more information.
Get Started! Visit the Wildlife Ambassador Training Page in our Training Library to see what training is required to become part of the Wildlife Ambassador Volunteers.
