Click here for Vol­un­teer Application.

Zoo Crew Volunteer

Make a difference…Volunteer!

Vol­un­teers enrich the zoo with their enthu­si­asm, knowl­edge and ded­i­ca­tion. They pro­vide vis­i­tors with mean­ing­ful and engag­ing infor­ma­tion about the Zoo’s liv­ing col­lec­tions in a way that con­veys envi­ron­men­tal mes­sages rel­e­vant to peo­ples lives.

ZooScap­ers

As a ZooScaper vol­un­teer, you will assist with projects for the Hor­ti­cul­tural Depart­ment. Projects range from light phys­i­cal duty such as plant­ing, weed­ing, mulching, and water­ing, to more phys­i­cally chal­leng­ing projects such as mov­ing dead­fall and clear­ing brush. The ZooScap­ers pro­gram requires 20 hours of vol­un­teer work each year in order to par­tic­i­pate in the next year’s pro­gram. Var­i­ous time com­mit­ments are avail­able. Oppor­tu­ni­ties are avail­able March-​October and Youth vol­un­teers 14 years and older may par­tic­i­pate but must be accom­pa­nied by a par­ent vol­un­teer at all times.

Spe­cial Events

Maybe you do not want to do the dirty work. Some Zoo vol­un­teers only help with the spe­cial events: Rep­tile Day, Boo at the Zoo, Parade floats or Zooltide cel­e­bra­tions. You can be an impor­tant part of the fun!

Spe­cial Skilled Volunteers

Do you have a spe­cial skill or tal­ent that could help the zoo, such as an artist, car­pen­ter, welder, fundraiser? We can use you to.

Com­mu­nity Volunteers

The Wash­ing­ton Park Zoo also has vol­un­teer oppor­tu­ni­ties for local schools, scouts and other orga­ni­za­tions that wish to do one day or week­end group projects.

Zoo Aide Volunteers

We are always accept­ing new vol­un­teers into the Zoo Aide pro­gram. This pro­gram has been designed to give vol­un­teers the oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence a deeper involve­ment with the Zoo. They have the priv­i­lege to vol­un­teer along­side Zoo staff through­out the Zoo and assist them with daily oper­a­tion task, such as clean­ing the pet­ting barn area, diet prepa­ra­tion, grounds work and with spe­cial events. Zoo Aides have lim­ited con­tact with the ani­mals until they have com­pleted 50 hours of vol­un­teer time, then they are wel­comed to apply for the Keep­ers Aide program.

Time Require­ment: Vol­un­teers are per­mit­ted to make up their own time sched­ules — between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily but we have a min­i­mum of 2 hours per shift.

Must work at least 20 hours a year to remain in “active” status.

Age Require­ment: 16 years or older

Keeper Aide Volunteer

To qual­ify for this pro­gram you must either be a Zoo Aide who has com­pleted 50 hours of expe­ri­ence time or have suc­cess­fully com­pleted the Keeper Intern­ship Program.

This pro­gram allows qual­i­fied vol­un­teers to have a more hands on expe­ri­ence assist­ing keep­ers with the clean­ing, feed­ing, enrich­ment, main­te­nance of ani­mal exhibits, zoo grounds and Edu­ca­tional inter­ac­tions with Zoo guest. Keeper Aides work under the direct super­vi­sion of zookeep­ers and at times in close prox­im­ity to ani­mals, so a cur­rent neg­a­tive T.B read­ing is required.

Time Require­ment: Keeper Aides are per­mit­ted to make up their own time sched­ules — between 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, with a min­i­mum of 2 hours per shift.

Must work at least 3o hours per year to remain in “active” status.

Age Require­ment: 18 years or older

Keeper Intern­ship

Keeper Intern­ship can­di­dates must plan to attend or cur­rently be in col­lege and work­ing towards a degree in biol­ogy, zool­ogy, ani­mal behav­ior, or another related field. Interns work under the direct super­vi­sion of the zoo staff and a research paper is required to suc­cess­fully com­plete the pro­gram. Interns are involved in var­i­ous aspects of ani­mal care, includ­ing daily hus­bandry, diet prepa­ra­tion and deliv­ery, exhibit main­te­nance, behav­ioral enrich­ment prepa­ra­tion, ani­mal obser­va­tions, oper­ant con­di­tion­ing, and edu­ca­tional inter­ac­tions with Zoo guests. There are three ses­sions through­out the year and pro­gram is lim­ited to three to four stu­dents per ses­sion. Stu­dents are cho­sen based on the best appli­ca­tions. Since Intern’s work along­side keep­ers and have con­tact with the ani­mals, they must pro­vide the Zoo with a neg­a­tive T.B. test read­ing before they can start the pro­gram. This is an expe­ri­enced based posi­tion and is not paid.

Time Require­ment: The intern­ship term is 12 weeks with a min­i­mum of 16 hours per week or 4 weeks with a min­i­mum of 40 hours per week (sched­ules may be flex­i­ble based on the candidate’s availability)

Age Require­ment: 18 years or older

Please con­tact the zoo with any ques­tions at (219) 873‑1510.