Internships
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The mission of Safari West is to actively promote conservation, environmental education, and share knowledge that will help each individual make personal choices in regards to the environment and conservation efforts. Our research and internship opportunities are one of the ways we make this possible; we are able to advance interest and knowledge in wildlife and assist in creating advocates for the environment. Safari West is able to provide a competitive, convenient and educational cost effective experience that allows students and academic institutions to gain valuable skills and knowledge in a variety of fields. We are happy to be able to open our doors to qualified and passionate students trying to gain the necessary skills for a career in wildlife. To share and celebrate our advancement in the knowledge we will be holding an annual fall research and internship symposium for our devoted students to share their learnings with the staff and public.
Observational Research
Safari West is a 400-acre wildlife preserve housing over 1000 animals. Many of our animals are housed in large, mixed species exhibits allowing us to have a unique and naturalistic facility. Our staff is always looking for opportunities to better understand our residents, enrich their lives and provide progressive animal welfare. We cherish the drive and curiosity of student researchers to aid in our comprehension of these complex animals. Such research has offered insight into social patterns, health, reproductive behavior and exhibit structure. The projects that take place on our property are student driven but require the oversight and involvement of a departmental advisor. Through a collaboration with universities and our animal staff, we are able to come up with innovative research questions to explore. We also always welcome new project proposals that are applicable to the species we house in our collection. Our staff is devoted to obtaining a solid grasp of all aspects that go into caring for exotic wildlife. Any undergraduate or graduate students, professors or university departments who are interested in research opportunities are encouraged to contact Erika Defer at edefer@safariwest.com.
Internships
Safari West offers a dynamic, educational and innovative internship for students. You will have the opportunity to work in a unique environment with a wide variety of species. Students can apply for any of our varied internship opportunities. We currently offer internships in animal husbandry, animal behavior, culinary, events, and marketing. Each internship opportunity has been specifically designed to provide the most enriching educational experience possible. Students interested in these opportunities are encouraged to review the outline and requirements for each program before they inquire.
Internship Application Requirements:
Applicants must be 18 years of age. All internships are unpaid. At this time we are unable to offer housing accommodations, therefore housing and transportation are the cost and responsibility of the intern. The intern must have reliable means to get to Safari West consistently before committing.
There are two internship periods available for the Animal Husbandry and Observational Animal Behavior internships: summer and winter. Events, Marketing, and Culinary internships are only offered during the summer. Completed internships are based on the fulfillment of designated hour and month requirements. The official start and end dates are flexible and will be determined by the applicants’ schedule.
- Summer internship dates: June – September; Application deadline – April 1st
- Winter internship dates: November – February; Application deadline – September 1st
Please send a completed application, resume and short cover letter, highlighting relevant experience, to Erika Defer at edefer@safariwest.com. Not all applicants will be offered an internship position due to the high volume of qualified candidates who apply. We strongly encourage applicants who did not receive an internship position to re-apply. All applicants will be notified of our decision by email or phone.
Safari West Animal Internships
The animal husbandry internship has several strings to choose from with a variety of taxa. Interns will be given the ability to work with African hoofstock, birds, small mammals, carnivores or a mixture of these animals. This program offers the opportunity for students to acquire the knowledge and skills to care for exotic animals and provide progressive welfare in accordance with AZA regulations. Students will learn the different needs of various animals, understand the process and importance of behavioral training and appreciate the effort that goes into husbandry on a 400-acre facility. Students will develop the fundamental skills needed to look after captive exotics while challenging them to explore, develop and apply ways to enrich the animals’ lives. Academic credit may be available upon request.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Preparation, distribution, and understanding of diets based on species and individual animals
- Cleaning of enclosures, night houses, bomas (outdoor shelters), pens, barns, and general work areas (vet office, storage rooms, etc.)
- Safe movement around animals and strong attentiveness at all times
- Understanding of proper welfare and record keeping
- Construction and implementation of enrichment
- General exhibit maintenance
Internship Requirements
- Availability: Completion of 3 months with a consistent schedule of a minimum of 2 days per week (full 8 hour days)
- Fitness requirement: Intern must be able to lift/carry/maneuver a minimum of 50lbs as well as to be able to safely and efficiently navigate rough terrain
- Collaborative requirement: Intern must be able to work as part of a team, take direction well and be able to interact with employees and guests in a professional manner
- Self-motivated: Interns will be guided through the program but must be internally driven; they will be expected, after some time, to understand their daily responsibilities and be able to start their work without relying directly on orders
- Completion of Final Project
Final Project
- During the internship, students will be expected to develop a specified project that has been approved by the animal manager and internship coordinator. This project can focus on any aspect that applies to animal husbandry. Students will be expected to write a paper describing their project results.
Observational Animal Behavior
The observational animal behavior internship can focus on a variety of species we house at Safari West, as approved by the animal department manager. The goal of this internship is to integrate students into the current and newly proposed research projects taking place at Safari West. Our objective is to have students understand how to independently conduct a research project through searches for relevant peer-reviewed literature, data collection, data entry, and simple data analysis. Internships can be done in collaboration with a university and we can offer academic credits as approved by an academic advisor. Students are expected to come up with a research question which allows for behavioral observations. Observations can include time budgets, preference tests, and other behavioral measures. Students may enter the internship in teams or groups if applicable to the research question.
Internship Requirements
- Availability: Completion of 100 hours including a consistent schedule of a minimum of 6 hours per week of observations (preferably 2 hours per day, 3 days per week) with the remainder spent on researching, writing, and analysis
- Fabrication requirement: Formation of research question, ethogram and data observation sheets and final paper
- Data requirement: data collection, entry and entry-level data analysis
- Must have personal computer to use with Microsoft excel and word for data analysis and writing final research paper
- Collaborative requirement: Intern must be able to work as part of a team and take direction well and be able to interact with employees and guests in a professional manner
- Self-motivated: Interns will be guided through the program but must be internally driven; they will be expected, after some time, to understand their daily responsibilities and be able to start their work without relying directly on orders
- Completion of behavioral research paper
Final Paper
- Interns will write a formal project proposal that needs to be approved by the internship coordinator
- Students will be expected to write a research paper containing an abstract, introduction, methods, results and discussion
- Animal Husbandry
The animal husbandry internship has several strings to choose from with a variety of taxa. Interns will be given the ability to work with African hoofstock, birds, small mammals, carnivores or a mixture of these animals. This program offers the opportunity for students to acquire the knowledge and skills to care for exotic animals and provide progressive welfare in accordance with AZA regulations. Students will learn the different needs of various animals, understand the process and importance of behavioral training and appreciate the effort that goes into husbandry on a 400-acre facility. Students will develop the fundamental skills needed to look after captive exotics while challenging them to explore, develop and apply ways to enrich the animals’ lives. Academic credit may be available upon request.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Preparation, distribution, and understanding of diets based on species and individual animals
- Cleaning of enclosures, night houses, bomas (outdoor shelters), pens, barns, and general work areas (vet office, storage rooms, etc.)
- Safe movement around animals and strong attentiveness at all times
- Understanding of proper welfare and record keeping
- Construction and implementation of enrichment
- General exhibit maintenance
Internship Requirements
- Availability: Completion of 3 months with a consistent schedule of a minimum of 2 days per week (full 8 hour days)
- Fitness requirement: Intern must be able to lift/carry/maneuver a minimum of 50lbs as well as to be able to safely and efficiently navigate rough terrain
- Collaborative requirement: Intern must be able to work as part of a team, take direction well and be able to interact with employees and guests in a professional manner
- Self-motivated: Interns will be guided through the program but must be internally driven; they will be expected, after some time, to understand their daily responsibilities and be able to start their work without relying directly on orders
- Completion of Final Project
Final Project
- During the internship, students will be expected to develop a specified project that has been approved by the animal manager and internship coordinator. This project can focus on any aspect that applies to animal husbandry. Students will be expected to write a paper describing their project results.
- Animal Behavior
Observational Animal Behavior
The observational animal behavior internship can focus on a variety of species we house at Safari West, as approved by the animal department manager. The goal of this internship is to integrate students into the current and newly proposed research projects taking place at Safari West. Our objective is to have students understand how to independently conduct a research project through searches for relevant peer-reviewed literature, data collection, data entry, and simple data analysis. Internships can be done in collaboration with a university and we can offer academic credits as approved by an academic advisor. Students are expected to come up with a research question which allows for behavioral observations. Observations can include time budgets, preference tests, and other behavioral measures. Students may enter the internship in teams or groups if applicable to the research question.
Internship Requirements
- Availability: Completion of 100 hours including a consistent schedule of a minimum of 6 hours per week of observations (preferably 2 hours per day, 3 days per week) with the remainder spent on researching, writing, and analysis
- Fabrication requirement: Formation of research question, ethogram and data observation sheets and final paper
- Data requirement: data collection, entry and entry-level data analysis
- Must have personal computer to use with Microsoft excel and word for data analysis and writing final research paper
- Collaborative requirement: Intern must be able to work as part of a team and take direction well and be able to interact with employees and guests in a professional manner
- Self-motivated: Interns will be guided through the program but must be internally driven; they will be expected, after some time, to understand their daily responsibilities and be able to start their work without relying directly on orders
- Completion of behavioral research paper
Final Paper
- Interns will write a formal project proposal that needs to be approved by the internship coordinator
- Students will be expected to write a research paper containing an abstract, introduction, methods, results and discussion