Wildlife Center
Volunteers at our Wildlife Rehabilitation Center support our mission to help and release injured, sick, and orphaned wild animals. From animal husbandry to daily operations, you could play a vital role in our organization’s dedication to local wildlife. Our clinic admits over 4,000 animals every year and has treated over 40,000 animals since opening our doors.
General requirements for all roles:
- Application
- Act 34 clearance (free to volunteers)
- Proof of tetanus vaccination (from within the past 10 years)
- Age restriction: volunteers 18 and older may volunteer independently. 16 and 17, must have an adult on site with them. Younger than 16 are not permitted to volunteer, but HARP offers plenty of other opportunities for you that you can find here. Please refer to the specific position descriptions for age requirements.
- Time requirement: 2-4 hours per week, depending on the position, for at least 6 months.
- Cannot accommodate short-term/drop-in volunteers
- Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh reserves the right to decline any volunteer application for any reason.
Wildlife Center Volunteer Opportunities
Animal Care
Animal Care volunteers serve 4 hour shifts, once a week and duties consist of basic animal husbandry, such as cleaning enclosures and making diets. Animal Care volunteers are expected to serve their shifts, rain or shine, whether they are assigned to an indoor or outdoor space; please note that there is a lot of bending, walking on uneven and wet surfaces, and lifting involved. Animal Care volunteers are expected to help with Quality Care tasks (see description below) if they have extra time in their shift. Shifts to pick from are 8am-12pm, 9am-1pm, or 12pm-4pm, 7 days a week; must be 18+ years old and able to commit to a minimum of 6 months.
Quality Care
Quality Care is a non-animal handling role. You would be helping us to do a lot of cleaning and organizing of the facility, such as: washing dishes, laundry, sorting and stocking donations, sweeping, taking out trash, etc. This position is once a week and shifts are flexible at 2-4 hours in length. Shifts are offered 7 days a week between 8am-4pm; must be 18+ years old and able to commit to a minimum of 6 months.
Nursery Attendant (Seasonal)
This position starts in April and runs through to October, however, the number of months you serve is flexible, if you can’t do all that time and recruitment for this position is from January – June. Nursery Attendants help us to care for and feed our baby mammal (squirrels, opossums, and rabbits) and/or bird patients. Nursery Attendants help with Quality Care tasks (see description above) in between feedings. Shifts are once a week, at 2 hours a shift. We accept Nursery Attendants 7 days a week between the hours of 7am to 8pm; must be 16+ years old (16 and 17 year olds must be accompanied every shift by a parent or guardian, who must also go through the full onboarding process)
