Animal care workers look after animals in kennels, rescue centres and sanctuaries.
£14,000 - £24,000
37 to 39 a week (between 8am and 6pm)
You'll need:
You can get into this job through:
You could take a college course in animal care, for example:
You may need:
4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths for a T Level
You could apply for a place on an apprenticeship, such as:
These can take up to 1 year and 6 months to complete.
You'll usually need:
It'll help to have some experience of working with animals before you start looking for a job.
Volunteering with animal rescue, animal sanctuaries or conservation charities can sometimes lead to paid work. You may need to do jobs like fundraising or administration first, as a way to get in.
You can search for volunteering opportunities on sites like:
Some of the bigger national animal charities include:
You may be able to find smaller animal charities in your area by searching on the internet.
Looking after your own pets, dog walking or pet sitting can be good ways of learning more about small animal care.
You can find out more about careers in animal care from the:
You could work with domestic or wild animals to:
You could work at an animal welfare centre, at a wildlife park or in kennels.
Your working environment may be outdoors some of the time, physically demanding and dirty.
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Animal care workers look after animals in kennels, rescue centres and sanctuaries.
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