looking to work with apes - advice needed not a high school work question

E

emmajuk

Member
Hi Guys

I am now age 27 nearly 28 and always had a huge passion for animals and was bought up on a council estate but my parents always treated me to the zoo for my birthday and got me as a main present a subscription to an animal magazine which was highlight of my childhood i think!!
I always wanetd to be a zoo keeper or work with animals but then the usual happened and i discovered boys, make up and being a teen and my dream fell aside.

I ended up going to uni and studied theology and left with a 2:1 in that. Now I desperatley regret not studying animal behaviuor or zoology and can not afford to do a 2nd degree.

How else can you work with animals in the wild or in captivity??
do programmes run where you can help look after and study behaviour in the wild? I am keen to work with apes.

Thanks
 
emmajuk said:
Hi Guys

I am now age 27 nearly 28 and always had a huge passion for animals and was bought up on a council estate but my parents always treated me to the zoo for my birthday and got me as a main present a subscription to an animal magazine which was highlight of my childhood i think!!
I always wanetd to be a zoo keeper or work with animals but then the usual happened and i discovered boys, make up and being a teen and my dream fell aside.

I ended up going to uni and studied theology and left with a 2:1 in that. Now I desperatley regret not studying animal behaviuor or zoology and can not afford to do a 2nd degree.

How else can you work with animals in the wild or in captivity??
do programmes run where you can help look after and study behaviour in the wild? I am keen to work with apes.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Id whole heartedly recommend getting work experience in a nearby zoo. Being based in Liverpool puts you in commutable distances from Knowsley safari park, Chester Zoo and Blackpool Zoo. All of these have work experience programmes which are worth investigating. Ill drop you a PM with further details.
 
Hi, I'm looking to do a second degree. One thing you might not realise is that you can actually get a second loan. Sure, you are still expected to pay it off, but only when you can afford to... You might want to reconsider: if you are close to Chester they do some good animal behavior/management degrees. They do them in conjunction with Reaseheath college in Nantwich, which also does a good range of lower level courses which might be of interest.

Don't know if this is the case for you, but for me the main issue is accomodation. I have a secure council tenancy, 5 cats, a houseful of stuff and no intention of going back into insecure student accomodation! I'm hoping to get a council exchange... there are sites for people looking for swaps if that applies to you.

The impression I get is that any experience you can get is added 'points', that includes education, volunteering, other jobs in a zoo, or other animal experience (eg farm, rescue).

Good luck!
 
Thank you everyone :)

Chester no longer do placements for 2011

Blackpool sent me an pplication form which i filled in and sent off yesterday as I am hoping to do either a Saturday or Sunday there for 12 weeks. However the did stress to me that they tend to offer these placements to students and they only have like one place so im not hopeful but fingers crossed!!!

I looked into a loan for 2nd degree but they only pay your first year and not your tuition fees and with Mr Cameron now upping the fees its impossible to pay that.

I have a husband on ok money but what has come with that is a mortgage and a car and a loan to be paid off so this yr and next yr anyway is out of the question however in 3 years i may be able to do the degree so hoping over 3 years to get loads of experience.
 
Volunterring is key. It show's personal drive. Try to read any sceitnfitc material you can get hold of. Some of it will be heavy, most definatley but if you want to work in the field then this is neccesary. As is stats, unfortunatley. I am speaking from experience, as am a 3rd year zoology student. Volunteering is key try to mix it up with a few places! Read, read and read is also another bit of advice. Here are some decent books I could recomend:

The analysis of Biological data by Whitlock and Shulter.
Ecology by Began, Townsend and Harper.
An introduction to behavioural ecology by Krebs and davies.

The stats book is a good walk through and the other two gives two great overviews of complicated subjects, ecology and behaviour.

If you can read these or portions, volunteer and try to get hold of some scientific literature that would look great on your application!. Although papers are difficult to get hold of for free, but try google.com/scholar.

http://rci.rutgers.edu/~palombit/Palombit_1994b.pdf - This is a link to an ape paper, to give you an idea of how scienceitific literature is presented!

I'm not trying to scare you, just encourage you.

Any other links to jounrals, book recomnedations or general questions, just ask :) ?

And finally.... Good luck!
 
thanks so so much Lee :)

I am not too scared by hevay literature....i did study theology which is pretty heavy lol

Everyone has been so helpful.

I asked about volunteering at the local animal sanctuary too today just to get as much hands on animal experience as poss to show drive.

Thanks again and if I have any questions I know where to come ;)
 
No worries and yeah sorry forgot that you had already one degree. Good old cameron hey :S. Good luck!
 
Do the rise's come in to play this year or next? I Thought there was one more year so 11/12 admissions were at a ceratin price, then 12/13 was when the rise would come in to action?
 
yup but it goes up and it would kill more being on a course and paying one fee for one year then having to leave.
Will look into the loans this afternoon
 
As I've no doubt mentioned on the forum before, one of the vocational 1-year courses in animal care (NVQ 1 initially) is a great way of getting a foot in the door if you can't do a full degree.

Especially as you've already got a good first degree, zoos should be falling over themselves to have you (in a properly ordered world) if you can add an animal / zoological qualification and some experience :-)
 
Thanks Puss!

I have emailed various shelters and zoos (blackpool doesnt look great and chester dont take any) but not much luck yet from their responses!!
 
EEK! I'm going to have to check that on loans: I was under the impression you can get one for a full second degree...
 
I'm not sure about the UK, but internships are a great way to get started. Intern at a zoo, or abroad at many sanctuaries. Here in the states there are several havens for apes that offer internship, as well as several elephant sanctuaries. And being young, free to travel, and devoted can allow opportunities with special programs like T.I.G.E.R.S and others. It's not always easy breaking into that industry, but if you want it bad enough it will happen.
 
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