Volunteer positions

What You Could Help With:

• Animal care and wellbeing – supporting the daily care of animals by monitoring behaviour, maintaining clean and comfortable spaces, and providing enrichment.
• Clinical and hospital support – assisting the clinical team with daily hospital routines under supervision, where appropriate to your level of training.
• Patient care – supporting the care of animals recovering from surgery, illness, or injury, including monitoring, cleaning, and providing comfort care.
• Daily care and hospital duties – preparing food, cleaning and sanitising animal and clinical areas, laundering bedding, restocking supplies, and following hygiene, biosecurity, and infection control protocols.
• Learning and exposure – gaining insight into the day to day operations of an animal welfare centre, including animal care and hospital care, depending on your course requirements and placement availability.

You may focus primarily on animal care or clinical areas, or gain exposure across multiple aspects of care, depending on your studies and placement availability.

Please note that placement commitments are assessed on a case by case basis. Students may be required to commit to more than their minimum required placement hours, as onboarding, training, and supervision involve a significant time and resource investment,

What We Are Looking For:

• Reliable, self-motivated, and hands-on students.
• Able to follow instructions and work independently or as part of a team.
• Physically able to handle cleaning, lifting, or animal handling.
• Confidence around your chosen species. You’ll need to remain calm, patient, and comfortable working closely with animals of different sizes, behaviours, and temperaments.
• Previous animal care experience is a plus, though training and support is provided.
• Good English comprehension.
• Must be at least 16 years old, or at least 18 years old to work with canines.

How to Apply

Click APPLY NOW to register your interest. Submitting an application allows us to assess your suitability and current availability, but does not guarantee a placement.

Please select Animal Care Volunteer as your area of interest. Then, choose the appropriate Animal Care Volunteer role to indicate which area you are required to complete your placement in. In the relevant question, confirm that you are a current student and include your course details and required placement hours.

If you have any questions, please contact the centre on 04 389 8044 or wellington.volunteer@spca.nz, or email volunteer@spca.nz.

We look forward to hearing from you!