Work With Veterinarians/Animal Healthcare

Project At A Glance Location: Quito Start Point: Quito End Point: Quito International Airport Duration: 2-12 Weeks Hours: 20-30 Hours per week Food: Local meals 3 times a day Room: Host family or hostel Date: First and Third Monday of each month

Project Summary

The animal healthcare & veterinary volunteer projects in Ecuador focus on a number of positions to assist and tend wildlife of Ecuador – zoos, animal rehabilitation centers and/or animals clinics. IFRE's projects focused on veterinary medicine/animal care are located in some of the most captivating areas throughout Ecuador which are brimming with wildlife: Machaililla National Park, Baños, Guayabamba, Amazonia and even the world-famous Galapagos Islands.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

Beginner to intermediate knowledge of Spanish is preferred, but not required. If you cannot speak Spanish, we suggest you enroll in our Spanish language course to make your stay more rewarding – both for you and for the children you are helping. No specific qualifications are required of individuals interested in volunteering in IFRE's veterinary medicine/animal care projects in Ecuador. Many of the projects are quite physical, so environmental and conservation volunteers need to be in good physical shape. Volunteers are expected to be flexible and adaptive and should possess significant interest in wild animal welfare and rescue.

Volunteer Responsibilities

Veterinary medicine/animal healthcare project volunteers in Ecuador will assist pre-existing staff members of various animal care programs like veterinarians or wildlife biologists. Volunteers will focus some of their assigned time concentrating on veterinary sciences and practices – administering vaccinations, assisting in operations, performing lab-oriented tasks, post-mortem examinations (autopsies) as well as inspecting food for safety and consumption acceptability (for the animals' often sensitive diets). Volunteers should be flexible, proactive with significant interest in aiding wildlife.

Room/Food/Supervision

IFRE manages living accommodations and food in Ecuador. Our project volunteers stay with carefully selected host families. All volunteers receive three (3) meals a day. Prepared meals are typical of the Ecuadorian diet. Occasionally, if volunteers are away from their host families during lunch, they may be required to pack their own 'to go' lunches, with food the host family provides. Your host family is responsible for preparing three meals for you each day. If traditional Ecuadorian fare doesn’t appeal to you, you are welcome to buy your own food and prepare it yourself. The simple rule is to please not use the family’s food for your own use. If you have other needs for food outside of these meals, you are able to purchase snacks and meals at local restaurants and grocery stores. You will be sharing the house, kitchen and bathrooms with the family members. You will have the ability to do your laundry in the house or the host family may offer to do it for you.

Host family residences are simple and clean. Generally, our Ecuadorian host families are respected members of their communities and they live in well-off neighborhoods. Most of our host families are experienced with hosting international volunteers. Rooms may be shared with another same gender volunteer. Bathrooms are shared with the family. Toilets are ‘Western style’, yet often there is not always hot running water. Throughout the volunteer project, our local staff stays in contact with volunteers with either face-to-face visits or via email/telephone. With longer placements, we visit our volunteers every 2 weeks (when possible) and volunteers are always welcome at the local office. If project placement is local, we request that volunteers stop by the office once a week to keep us posted on how they are doing with their home stay and project. If project placement is very far, then our local staff members maintain communication by either email and/or phone.