1111==
1111==
1111==
1111==
1111==
Volunteer role at the project:
You are assigned to a zookeeper at the start of each working day and will assist in:
- food preparation
- animal husbandry practices including cleaning and maintenance of enclosures
- watering
- providing enrichments
- animal encounters and animal introductions when they occur
- caring for newborns or orphan animals
You'll get to know jaguars, pumas, ocelots, tapirs, harpie eagles, crocodiles, howler monkeys, gibnuts, scarlet macaws, toucans, king vultures, boa constrictors, coral snakes and many more beautiful and incredible animals of Central America.
There is also the opportunity for volunteers to experience a night tour of the centre and you may enjoy exciting encounters with a jaguar and harpy eagle as part of their placement.
How the project is making a difference:
The Caribbean Wildlife Centre houses over 150 animals in their natural habitat, keeping only native animals of Belize which have either been orphaned, born at the centre, rehabilitated, or donated to the centre from other zoological institutions.
The centre provides the optimal level of care for these animals and is set in 29 acres of Belizean tropical savannah. They have sensitively fenced and maintained the land to ensure that the animals live in an environment as close as possible to their natural habitat.
The centre believes that by bringing the people of Belize closer to the animals which are their natural heritage, they will feel proud of these special resources, and want to protect them for future generations. They educate the local communities on how this is possible and have active education programmes in local schools.
Why volunteers are needed:
Volunteers make a major contribution to the welfare of animals in Belize. Their time and efforts will help to care for the animals.
The centre receives visits from over 15,000 school students each year and there is always a need for passionate and energetic volunteers to help to educate the local community about their native wildlife and how to preserve the environment.
We are an award winning non-profit organisation arranging ethical, inspiring and supported volunteering opportunities around the world since 2001. Volunteers are needed from 2 - 12 weeks for animal, conservation, child care, education, teaching, building and community volunteering projects in Asia, Africa and Central & South America.
In this time of uncertainty during the current Coronavirus outbreak, we are monitoring the global situation closely in conjunction with the UK FCO and our local teams on the ground. The health and safety of our volunteers is our primary concern and we will only restart placements when it’s safe to do so. It’s not yet clear when this will be but we aren’t accepting new bookings for placements before 1 August 2020.
We want to reassure volunteers that you can feel confident booking an overseas volunteering placement with us and we have introduced extra flexibility to help with this.
Flexible payment terms
We are giving added flexibility on payments. Normally we ask for final payment by 8 weeks before start date, but we are reducing this to 1 month before start date for placements with start dates in 2020. This takes some pressure off volunteers and allows us to see how the situation evolves over the coming months.
Flexible date changes
If any of our volunteers want or need to reschedule (regardless of whether it is related to Coronavirus or not!), we are happy to reschedule for up to 18 months. You just need to let us know 1 month or more before your placement date and it can be open ended if you aren’t sure when you want to reschedule to. We are keeping this free of charge for maximum flexibility!
Booking flights – wait for now
We normally recommend that volunteers book flights as soon as possible after their placement is confirmed to secure the best deals, but with the current uncertainty, it’s best to wait until travel restrictions are lifted and the airlines can confirm their schedules before booking flights and making other arrangements.
We’d love to help organise your next volunteer adventure, ready for when the world has returned to some kind of normality!
En savoir plus sur nos critères de sélection pour choisir nos organisations partenaires.