Wildlife Rehabilitation Internship - Available Year-Round

General Program Description
● CROW is a nonprofit wildlife hospital and rehabilitation center providing care for native and migratory wildlife on the Gulf Coast of Southwest Florida.
● CROW’s fully equipped wildlife hospital admits over 6,000 patients per year including more than 200 different species of birds, mammals and reptiles.
● The goal of wildlife rehabilitation is to return sick, injured or orphaned wild animals back to the wild. The Student Program is designed to augment the
educational pursuits of natural science, veterinary, and veterinary technician students.
● Students are supervised and assisted by a full-time veterinarian, veterinary interns, Certified Veterinary Technicians, wildlife rehabilitators, and other
staff and volunteers.
● Emphasis is placed on the student gaining an understanding of the entire rehabilitation process from admittance to release, evidence-based wildlife and
conservation medicine, as well as the One World, One Health concept.
General Program Overview
● Wildlife Rehabilitation Internship student’s daily activities include providing medical treatments to patients, caring for neonatal wildlife (including assisted alimentation), monitoring anesthesia, venipuncture, administering medications, administering fluids, triage, husbandry, grazing tortoises, diet preparation, daily hospital cleaning, daily outdoor enclosure cleaning, educational programs, public presentations, assisting in animal ambassador program, patient enrichment, daily outdoor grounds upkeep, attending hospital rounds and teaching rounds, rescuing (as needed), releasing wildlife (as needed), and being a leader for other students.
● Interns will receive a bi-weekly stipend of $300 and 3 PTO days for the duration of the 26-week program. No additional on-site housing fee is required for interns requesting to stay in on-site student housing.

Program Work Schedule
● Following an initial training period, interns will work a 5-day work week schedule that would rotate to 1 day working with rehabilitation staff, 1 day working with animal ambassadors, public education programs, and general neonatal/ICU help, 1 day working strictly in ICU, and 2 days rotating through the various baby rooms. Please understand this schedule may vary depending on patient load and number of students on-site at a given time, to ensure coverage in all areas of the hospital.
● Early morning or late evening infant care/feeding will be required on a regular basis. Interns will be rotating with other students for these designated care/feeding shifts.
● Early morning or late evening ‘rehab staff only’ patient care/feeding will be required on a regular basis. Interns may be rotating with other students for these designated care/feeding shifts, but will often be chosen for these shifts over other students due to being trained on these patients specifically.
● Work days start at 7:00 AM and end when all patients are cared for and the clinic is cleaned. This may vary between 45-65+ hours weekly.
● The required number of hours worked daily will vary depending on patient volume and number of students working during accepted program dates. Interns will have 2 days off weekly, either two consecutive days or two days throughout the week, which be determined based on my own individual preference.
● Interns will present a weekly public presentation at the Visitor Education Center on various topics pertaining to wildlife species, wildlife medicine, and wildlife rehabilitation. Hospital staff and other students may also be present for your public presentations.
● Attendance to hospital case rounds and student teaching rounds held periodically during the week, may be encouraged or required depending on the rounds discussion.

Program Location
● CROW operates on a 12.5-acre campus on Sanibel Island, Florida. CROW is located adjacent to J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
● Beaches and local restaurants are a short distance from campus.
● The mainland of Fort Myers, past the Sanibel Causeway, is 15 minutes away from CROW.

Program Requirements
● Applicants must be over 18 years of age.
● A minimum of 1-2 years of animal care experience is required. Preference will be given to applicants with previous wildlife rehabilitation background.
● All accepted applicants must agree to and sign rules and regulations and liability waivers upon acceptance.
● A large percentage of the work at a rehabilitation facility involves cleaning and feeding patients and is labor intensive. Applicants are to be able-bodied individuals with the ability to lift up to 50 pounds, bend, kneel, and sit / stand for prolonged periods of time.

Program Fees and Vaccination Requirements (once accepted)
● $125.00 non-refundable CROW student program fee
● Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination
● Proof of current Tetanus Vaccination
● Proof of Rabies Pre-Exposure Series OR recent Rabies Titer (+/- Rabies Booster)

How to Apply
● Visit our Student Programs and Internships page on our website at http://www.crowclinic.org to download and return a completed application
● All application materials can be emailed to students@crowclinic.org or mailed to PO Box 150, Sanibel, FL 33957.
● For questions not answered on the website or in the application packet, please email students@crowclinic.org
● THERE IS NO DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS. Applications are accepted year-round and are processed as they are received.