ANIMAL ADVENTURE PARK & PRESERVE
SUMMER INTERN PROGRAM 2025

Animal Adventure Park & Preserve is a ZAA accredited interactive educational zoological facility that is open April – December, with peak season and standard operations being May – October.  Throughout the season, our park becomes a booming hub of action, interaction, and education - with guests visiting from all corners of the world. 

Animal Adventure prides itself on providing our guests with educational experiences through responsible welfare based animal interactions. With this approach, our guests are not merely visiting our facility, they become involved in our facility.

Animal Adventure also provides educational experiences to college level students with a deep interest in becoming zoo professionals. Our facility would like to open its doors to outstanding upcoming professionals who share our passion for animals, as well as our love for educating our guests. 

Our 2025 season will offer fifteen openings for professional internships, with rotation between both our walk-thru park and drive-thru preserve. 

Experience you can expect to gain while interning:

While shadowing keepers within our ZAA accredited facility interns will participate in:

Education/Outreach: This will encompass caring for our children’s zoo animals, as well as our ambassador animals (domestic/exotic mammals, birds, and reptiles). The interns in this area will have the opportunity to learn from our keeper team the daily husbandry, become directly involved with educating our guests during both onsite and/or offsite programs, animal encounter programs, and daily “Keeper Chat” presentations.  Interns may be stationed at various points around the park including but not limited to animal contact areas; giraffe deck, lorikeet aviary, or “Touch Tables” that provide interactive informative opportunities for guests.   

Basic Daily Husbandry: Interns will care for various species including hoofstock, birds, small mammals and carnivores. Once an intern has completed a rotation through all species, they will be evaluated by the team.  Standout interns will be given the opportunity to request more experience in specific areas of interest, or with specific keepers, to gain more in-depth experience. While providing daily husbandry, interns will gain experience cleaning exhibits, diet preparation/nutrition, animal management, behavioral observations, and record keeping. They will also research and create new animal enrichment based on an animal’s natural behaviors, and gain an understanding of positive reinforcement based on operant conditioning.

Qualifications

• Individuals must be 18 years of age or older
• Working on or completed a degree in Biology, Zoology, or another Wildlife related field
• Public speaking or performance experience preferred
• Be outgoing, approachable and have a positive attitude
• Must be able to thrive both independently and in a team setting
• Must be able to lift, pull, and drag a minimum of fifty (50) pounds
• Must be available to work 40 hours per week including weekends, and holidays
• Must be able to work while exposed to outdoor weather conditions
• Must be able to remain active and on their feet for long lengths of time

Intern Expectations

• Maintain a safe environment for themselves, our team, animals, and guests
• Interns must adhere to all safety guidelines within our facility at all times
• Maintain clean and sanitary work areas and keeper spaces. 
• Adhere to all Animal Adventure Park & Preserve rules, policies, and procedures
• Come to work with a positive attitude and function as an integral member of the team
• Assist with spreading the mission of Animal Adventure Park & Preserve by approaching our guests in a confident and friendly manner to enhance their experience 

Program Requirements

• Internships will begin June 1st, 2025 and end August 1st 2025. All candidates must commit to this schedule and be available to work a regular 40-hour work week including holidays and weekends. If a candidate would like to begin before June 1st, or stay past August 1st arrangements can be made
• Select a species in the living collection to research throughout the duration of the program
• Create a behavior based enrichment project for your selected species
• Give a minimum of two “Keeper Chats” on your selected species 
• Complete weekly topic assignments as assigned by the internship program supervisor     

Other Relevant Information

• Candidates seeking academic credit must have arrangements agreed upon between Animal Adventure and their institution before beginning the internship
• All offers are contingent on the successful completion of a criminal background screening and execution of a required hold harmless/liability release agreement, and non-disclosure & confidentiality agreement
• Interns must have personal health insurance coverage for illness or injury
• This program is unpaid and there are no stipends or reimbursements for housing and transportation

All qualified applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to the Internship Program Supervisor by April 1st, 2025.

Send to:
Internship Program Supervisor Kayla Burke at:    InternsAAP@gmail.com
Qualified candidates will be contacted to begin the interview process.

Thank you for your interest in joining our team for a fun, engaging, and educational experience!

We look forward to working with you in our 2025 season!