Students Saving Animals Abroad: A World of Opportunities
What could be more rewarding than seeing the grateful eyes of a rescued animal? Students around the world are increasingly seeking meaningful experiences, and volunteering with animals offers a unique opportunity to make a tangible difference. Whether it's caring for stray dogs and cats in a shelter or working to protect endangered wildlife, these experiences can be transformative.
The Global Need for Animal Welfare
Animals worldwide face numerous challenges. Climate change and urbanization threaten the habitats of countless species. Think of the devastating bushfires in Australia that decimated Koala populations, the wildlife exterminated in Southern Europe in 2021, or the orangutans losing their rainforest homes due to deforestation. Domestic animals also face hardship, with many countries struggling with large populations of stray animals due to abandonment and unchecked reproduction. Understaffed animal shelters are in constant need of assistance.
Diverse Volunteering Opportunities
Volunteering with animals offers a wide range of possibilities, each with its unique rewards:
- Animal Shelters: Animal shelters often need support on a daily basis. Many animal shelters need some kind of support on a daily basis. Volunteers can assist with feeding, cleaning, and providing much-needed socialization to animals awaiting adoption. Cuddling and playing with the cats and dogs is also a task that can’t be forgotten. That’s important to socialize them so they can be placed in a new, loving home.
- Wildlife Sanctuaries: While the goal of any ethical wildlife rescue center should be to release animals back into the wild, that’s not always possible. Sanctuaries provide a safe haven for animals that cannot be released back into the wild. Then, sanctuaries offer them a safe place where they can lead the best possible life. Volunteers can help with food preparation, cleaning, and general maintenance. It is important to be aware and stay away from fake sanctuaries where you can pet wild animals. Why?
- Research and Monitoring: There are amazing projects and organizations out there that conduct scientific research. How do you think we get all these stunning insights about the behavior of certain monkeys in the jungle? Or important population numbers of whales in regions where they come to breed? There are amazing projects and organizations out there that conduct scientific research. This way, they gain a deeper understanding of endangered animals. Volunteers can assist with monitoring animal behavior, collecting data, and supporting research efforts. Therefore, organizations are always happy about volunteers supporting their projects with monitoring and collecting data. Here, you’ll learn about the behavior and movements of certain species, like whales and turtles in ocean conservation projects.
- Veterinary Assistance: If you have skills or expertise in the veterinary field, you’re the perfect candidate for many projects in volunteering with animals. Veterinary volunteers can assist experienced vets in treating injured or sick animals in the wild, in sanctuaries, or in animal shelters. The tasks of veterinary volunteers can surround helping experienced vets and treating weak or injured animals in the wild, in sanctuaries, or animal shelters. Loop Abroad alum Sarah Telles shares her study abroad experience participating in the Thailand High School Veterinary Service program. The first time I ever held a scalpel was in Thailand. I was seventeen, and all I knew was that I wanted to be a veterinarian. After I’d done a lot of research into whether or not this was some sort of kidnapping ring- it wasn’t- and if it was the sort of thing I’d want to do, I made the plunge and applied. It’s a long flight to Thailand, and it was also the first time I’d been out of the country without my family, so to say I was anxious would be an understatement. It’s a two-week-long trip, a veterinary study abroad for high school and college-aged students to experience veterinary medicine in different areas of the world while getting hands-on experience that can be used to either bolster a vet school application or to determine if the veterinary field is what you really want. The first week was spent at an elephant sanctuary near Chiang Mai. For me, at least, this was a life-changing experience. Elephants have always been my favorite animal, but the closest I’d ever gotten to one was from hundreds of feet away, craning my neck to look into an exhibit. Now, I was living among them, staying in a room that was only feet away from the field they roamed. I was learning how they did medical treatments on them, and getting to take part in swabbing an injured foot and cleaning it out. Most of these elephants were in the logging industry, and they were injured by stepping on landmines or after years of carrying heavy logs. But, while this was an absolutely amazing experience, I wouldn’t call it the most influential part of this trip. No, the most life-changing part of this entire veterinary study abroad took place at an animal rescue clinic for the stray dogs that run rampant through Thailand. This was where we spent the second week of the trip, and it’s where all of us students fell in love with the animals of Thailand. As a seventeen-year-old, I worked with a fifteen-year-old, an eighteen-year-old, and two sixteen-year-olds to assist in neutering a dog. We worked as a group, everyone taking turns to practice our clinical skills or check the dog’s vitals. In the hour-long procedure, I learned more about veterinary medicine than I had ever learned before. Even though I walked away from this veterinary study abroad unsure if I wanted to be a veterinarian anymore, it did clear up one thing for me. Whether or not I decided to go through the years of education required to become a veterinarian, I knew that I wanted to work with animals. Keep reading! Thiel College student Camille Radford ’18, of Baltimore, recently spent two weeks in Thailand caring for elephants and other animals. Radford-a biology and English major at Thiel-is a 2013 graduate of Baltimore City College High School. She traveled to Thailand with the Boston-based group Loop Abroad. Their veterinary service program takes college students overseas to learn alongside local veterinarians from two different shelters in Thailand. In the first week, students volunteered at the Animal Rescue Kingdom dog shelter in Chiang Mai, Thailand-a facility that houses more than 100 rescued dogs. The group then spent the second week at the Elephant Nature Park in northern Thailand to work with pachyderms and learn about animal rescue and conservation. The Elephant Nature Park is home to more than 40 elephants that have been rescued from trekking, logging or forced breeding programs. Students feed, bathe and care for the animals, as well as learn to diagnose them alongside an elephant vet.
- Sea Turtle Conservation: If you love the beach, volunteering in sea turtle conservation might be the perfect fit. No matter which role you choose, it has an important impact on animal welfare.
Personal Experiences: ARA in Portugal and ARCAS in Guatemala
Volunteering abroad can be an enriching experience. Here are two examples of organizations making a difference:
Animal Rescue Algarve (ARA), Portugal
ARA (Animal Rescue Algarve) in Portugal is a wonderful opportunity to help animals in need. Located in the hills of Cabanita near Loulé, ARA cares for abandoned, injured, and sick dogs and cats. In their animal shelter in the beautiful hilly area of Cabanita near Loulé, they take care of abandoned, injured, and sick dogs and cats. They provide them with a temporary home, feed and nurture them, and take care of their medical treatments. With around 100 dogs and 20-30 cats, they’re always in need of helping hands. Volunteers assist with providing a temporary home, feeding, nurturing, and providing medical care. You’ll find a true family vibe there, with staff and other volunteers that treat the animals with so much care and love. As the animals at ARA are looking for a new home, they need to be socialized. Bear in mind that cleaning is a big part of the tasks. In your free time, you can also walk, cuddle and play with the dogs and cats as much as you want. They’re extremely thankful for the time you spend with them! You can stay either in a shared room in the volunteer house or a trailer where you have a bit more privacy. By spending time with the other volunteers I’ve met inspiring like-minded people from all over Europe. The minimum stay is two weeks which, I can assure you, will pass by extremely fast. Also, it takes some time for them to know and trust you. ARA has a clear focus on animal rescue, animal care and educating locals about animal welfare. With just a few days volunteering it’s hard to make a sustainable impact. That’s why the minimum stay at ARA is 2 weeks. It’s important to always have experts on site that can properly advise the volunteers. I’ve experienced ARA as a very organized animal shelter. Only staff members conduct certain tasks (such as giving medicine). ARA is not only an animal shelter that takes in strays but also castrates all animals in order to get more control of the population numbers of stray animals. That’s vital in order to have a long-term impact. And their main goal is to find a new home for their furry friends. Almost all staff members at ARA are Portuguese and there are several local volunteers that come by on a regular basis. So, there’s a good relationship with locals while ARA also offers job opportunities for local animal lovers. Many dogs and cats in animal shelters have a very sad history and have experienced cruelty. You’ll never truly know what happened to them, but many get to the shelter really scared of humans so you can assume that someone has hurt them. Thus, ARA socializes them so they can regain trust in humans. It’s taken care that all dogs and cats get well fed at ARA’s animal shelter. Also, there’s a maximum of two dogs in each kennel, and several free-range parks so they all have enough space to run around. In animal shelters, direct contact with the dogs and cats is important in order to socialize them before they find a new home. Around a quarter of the volunteers actually end up adopting an animal. Volunteers often find a strong sense of community, connecting with like-minded individuals from around the world.
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ARCAS, Guatemala
Located directly on a beautiful black volcanic beach near Monterrico on Guatemala’s Pacific coast, they focus on the conservation of sea turtles, the ocean, and the nearby mangrove forests. ARCAS covers two projects in Guatemala. One focuses on conservation and sea turtles in Parque Hawaii and a Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Petén. Even though it’s possible to volunteer with ARCAS for two weeks, of course they prefer when you stay longer. Curious? In Guatemala, many sea turtle nests are plundered by poachers and their eggs are sold as a delicacy. Also, ARCAS regularly organizes eco-tours for local tourists and beach clean-ups in which you can help. In case you’re interested in volunteering in a larger animal rescue center, ARCAS operates one in Petén, in northern Guatemala.
Volunteers can participate in nightly beach patrols to find nesting sea turtles, collect and bury eggs in the hatchery, collect research data in the mangrove forests or the sea, help prepare educational material, and join educational activities and beach clean-ups. In August, female adult sea turtles start coming to the beach of El Hawaii in order to lay eggs. If you’re there between August and December your main tasks will be to conduct nightly beach patrols in search of nesting sea turtles, to collect and bury eggs in the hatchery. Outside of turtle season, volunteers can still support many biological projects by collecting research data in the mangrove forests or the sea. Also, you can help prepare educational material, and join educational activities and beach clean-ups. You sleep in a very basic beach hut that you share with other volunteers, in case there are more around. Don’t expect any luxury, it’s a nature-oriented experience but believe me, waking up to the sound of the ocean is simply amazing. Biologists lead the project in El Hawaii and there’s a vet on site. Also, the local forest keepers have a long experience of working in conservation. So all the staff have great knowledge and can advise volunteers. In good organizations, tasks between staff and volunteers are clearly split. At ARCAS you can lend a hand in many areas and accompany the experts. Especially on field trips, however, the trained biologists are clearly in a leading role. The long-term goal of ARCAS clearly is to ensure a better future for the Guatemalan environment and wildlife. They protect the turtle eggs and play an important role to fight poaching. They also visit schools to educate children about the importance of conservation and how to keep the environment healthy. Only when a project involves and trains locals, it can sustainably create value. At ARCAS, all workers are locals from the area and they source the products they use from local vendors. At ARCAS’ rescue center, they release injured animals into the wild once they’re better. The turtle hatchlings are released into the ocean soon after hatching. Many of the animals in the rescue center have been rescued from bad living conditions in captivity. In their rescue center, there are large cages for the birds. Also, ARCAS is currently waiting for the approval of a fund in order to improve the process of releasing them back into the wild. As scientists lead the project, there are always biologists and a vet on-site who all speak great English. Also, the local forest keepers have a background in conservation work for years. There is one major rule at ARCAS: It’s not allowed to speak to any of the wild animals, neither with the sea turtles nor the animals in the rescue center.
Other volunteering experiencies
I am finally here in the greenest place in the world, Costa Rica! I’m a week into my volunteer program at the Animal Rescue Center and I have already gained many things. I have gained knowledge of the animals I have worked with and their stories of why they are at the Animal Rescue project. I have also gained weight, because there is no way you can say no to the delicious Costa Rican food. But you need to remember if you don’t like the food, or you think eating rice and bread is too much, you have to tell your host family. Trust me when I say that it will be easier for you and your host mom when you are honest from the start on the foods you eat and don’t eat, also on the amount you eat. Portions are very different in Costa Rica, and if you eat more or less than the amount they give you, make sure to let them know how much you eat. My host mom is Vita and my host dad is Walter, both work in Proyecto Asis. I wait until the van to pick me up from Vita’s house. The first few days I napped because working in Proyecto Asis is a bit tiring, but when you’re tired and want to nap just let your host mom know “me voy a dormir un rato” (I’m going to sleep for a bit). Don’t stay in your room all day on your phone, ask your host family if they could take you on a walk, see the trees and animals all around you. Now, if you leave to hang out with your friends always let your host mom know where you’re going and what time you’ll be coming back. Just in case of any emergency, exchange numbers to make it easier to contact each other. Remember to smile too! Give small compliments about their house or their food, really engage yourself with their family. For my first weekend I wanted to do some shopping and went to La Fortuna with a friend (always have someone with you) and bought some stuff for my family and friends. I saw an entirely different culture and it was amazing. To see Costa Rica’s city life was amazing and overwhelming. Be prepared to see a beautiful corner of the world! Citlalli Gonzalez, is 16-years old and our 2017 Greenheart Travel Global Explorer scholarship winner from Chicago, Illinois. Citlalli is traveling abroad as a volunteer in Costa Rica and is most excited about being able to stand in one of the greenest place on earth, being able to get out of her comfort zone, and experience a new culture. When it came to planning a year abroad, I decided that neither working or studying were the right options for me. I can’t believe how few students realise that there is a third option - gap year. That left me with Latin America, which provides a wide choice of locations and activities. I found an agency at a ‘year abroad fair’ in Potterrow and they told me about volunteering with animals in Latin America. In Costa Rica, I lived in a hut with the other volunteers which was about 20 metres from the beach. The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is in critical danger of extinction, and this beach sees thousands come every year to lay their eggs. Only one in every 1,000 eggs, however, reaches adulthood. It was our job to collect the eggs and rebury them in a locked area so that people and raccoons couldn’t get to them. In the mornings, we would release any baby turtles which had been born in the night. With sanctuaries like these, 1 in every 100 eggs reach adulthood, and I collected over 1,100 eggs, which on average is 11 adult turtles. The work in the animal rescue centre consisted mainly of feeding and cleaning up after the animals, but that meant a lot of contact time with them, including Fernanda the capuchin monkey who groomed my hand every day. Other experiences I had with animals include holding a sloth like a baby (its legs wrapped round my waist and its arms round my shoulders), scratching an ocelot’s head like a house cat, and having a caiman crocodile try to bite my foot. I also made a cheeky $25 dollars as a tour guide over a couple of days. I helped the vet castrate a tayra and watched him perform an autopsy on a sloth (a different sloth). In the centre we have a small building known as the quarantine in which new and sick animals live so they don’t pass on any illnesses to the other animals. One weekend, the resident vet had to take a trip to Colombia and saw fit to leave me in charge of the quarantine. This would have been fine except for the fact that on this particular weekend the centre was receiving a very rare macaw (only around 200 left in the world and the only one in Ecuador) to use in a breeding programme to repopulate the species. Despite the weight of this ecological responsibility hanging over my shoulders, I managed to keep the bird alive and prevent it from escaping, thus potentially saving the future of the species. On two occasions we took walks deep into the jungle to an ecological reserve for caiman crocodiles and tapirs owned by the family who own the centre. The second time was to release a sloth that the police had brought in injured back into the wild, but we also went for a walk, guided by a genuine tribal shaman. His parents were from the Kichwa and Waorani tribes and to become a shaman you have to undergo a series of tests including surviving in the jungle for two months alone, starting naked and without tools. Anyone currently planning a year abroad should seriously consider doing something similar. The work was a lot more fun and rewarding than it would have been in a more mainstream placement and I now speak Spanish fluently. Those four months were the best of my life.
Ethical Considerations for Volunteering
As more individuals seek to help animals abroad, it's crucial to choose ethical and sustainable projects. While many projects may sound alluring, such as protecting exotic animals that you normally wouldn’t see in the wild and being in close contact with them. Many black sheep came up that exploit animals as well as good-natured volunteers. That makes it extremely important to research properly and dig deep about the organization to make sure you find a trustworthy and ethical project. Here are some key considerations:
- Transparency and Organization: Look for organizations with clear goals, well-defined tasks for volunteers, and experienced staff. It’s important to always have experts on site that can properly advise the volunteers. I’ve experienced ARA as a very organized animal shelter. Only staff members conduct certain tasks (such as giving medicine). In good organizations, tasks between staff and volunteers are clearly split. At ARCAS you can lend a hand in many areas and accompany the experts. Especially on field trips, however, the trained biologists are clearly in a leading role.
- Impact and Sustainability: Ensure the organization has a long-term vision for animal welfare and conservation. ARA has a clear focus on animal rescue, animal care and educating locals about animal welfare. With just a few days volunteering it’s hard to make a sustainable impact. That’s why the minimum stay at ARA is 2 weeks. The long-term goal of ARCAS clearly is to ensure a better future for the Guatemalan environment and wildlife. They protect the turtle eggs and play an important role to fight poaching. They also visit schools to educate children about the importance of conservation and how to keep the environment healthy.
- Community Involvement: Seek out projects that involve and train local communities. Only when a project involves and trains locals, it can sustainably create value. At ARCAS, all workers are locals from the area and they source the products they use from local vendors. Almost all staff members at ARA are Portuguese and there are several local volunteers that come by on a regular basis. So, there’s a good relationship with locals while ARA also offers job opportunities for local animal lovers.
- Animal Welfare: Ensure the organization prioritizes the well-being of the animals. At ARCAS’ rescue center, they release injured animals into the wild once they’re better. The turtle hatchlings are released into the ocean soon after hatching. Many of the animals in the rescue center have been rescued from bad living conditions in captivity. In their rescue center, there are large cages for the birds. Also, ARCAS is currently waiting for the approval of a fund in order to improve the process of releasing them back into the wild. It’s taken care that all dogs and cats get well fed at ARA’s animal shelter. Also, there’s a maximum of two dogs in each kennel, and several free-range parks so they all have enough space to run around. In animal shelters, direct contact with the dogs and cats is important in order to socialize them before they find a new home. Many dogs and cats in animal shelters have a very sad history and have experienced cruelty. You’ll never truly know what happened to them, but many get to the shelter really scared of humans so you can assume that someone has hurt them. Thus, ARA socializes them so they can regain trust in humans.
- Project Costs: Be aware that, even if you find a free project, you have to consider certain other expenses that could come up when volunteering with animals abroad. ARA in Portugal is such an organization. You don’t have to pay anything to volunteer there, and you can stay in either their volunteer house or a trailer. The only thing you have to take care of yourself is food. Also, animal shelters back home are often looking for volunteers that can help on a weekly basis. And that’s completely fine! Just consider the costs that you’d pay at home for the same time as well (with rent, food etc).
Choosing the Right Project for You
Well, first and foremost you have to decide in which area you want to help. Do you want to work with domestic animals such as cats and dogs that are longing for cuddles? Moreover, take into account what are your interests. Are you fascinated by a certain environment such as the ocean or the jungle that you’d love to experience and protect? Besides your passions, you should also consider the skills and experiences you have. Have you grown up with dogs and it’s easy for you to gain their trust? Or do you have a diving license that can be of use in observing sea life? Also, it’s not always an „either-or“-decision. Do you have any allergies, that might make it impossible to work with certain animals or in specific surroundings? Are you scared of any animals? Even if you’re not directly working with them, if you’re terrified of e.g. Are you sensitive to loud noise? What about problems with certain climate conditions, such as high humidity or altitude? Consider the following:
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- Your Interests and Passions: What types of animals or environments are you most drawn to?
- Your Skills and Experience: Do you have any relevant skills, such as veterinary experience or experience working with animals?
- Your Physical Limitations: Do you have any allergies or sensitivities to certain animals or environments?
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