Wildlife Biology Internship in Costa Rica
sandra bakkers
Wild Sun Rescue Center offers 12-week internships to students and individuals looking for relevant experience. We are located in Cabuya, Costa Rica and it is our mission to rescue, rehabilitate, and release local wildlife and reintroduce locally extinct species. We care for a wide variety of animals including mostly howler monkeys but also capuchins, anteaters, opossums, squirrels, various birds and more - essentially anything that comes through the door!
Interns work ~40 hours/week, 6 days/week (morning or afternoon). Half of this time is spent working alongside our volunteers in animal care, either at the center or at the release site, completing animal husbandry tasks such as diet preparation, enclosure cleaning, welfare checks and providing enrichment. Animal welfare always comes first, so a lot of time is indeed spent in cleaning/remodeling the enclosures and preparing food.
The other 3 days of your time are dedicated to the internship. As for the type of projects to be conducted, there are different options such as post-release monitoring (howler monkeys, scarlet macaws, white-faced capuchins) although this is a bit of an unpredictable timeline. There are also on-site projects, which may or may not require field work. These can range from behavioral observations, analysis of previously collected data and/or literature reviews focusing on life history topics, diet/nutrition, welfare, etc, always with the aim to improve protocols and practices.
It can get muddy, sweaty, and there's bugs. Due to the physical nature of this internship, it is important for you to be in good physical shape to participate. Please also note that our policy is to work hands-off as much as possible.
The cost of a 12-week internship is $1,200 + 13% tax. We ask for an additional $400 deposit to reserve your space in this position which will be returned at the end of a successful 12 week internship. You may live off-site or in our dormitory (only $40/wk + 13% tax) with kitchen access. An optional professional meal plan ($115/wk + 13% tax) is available if you prefer not to cook.
The details are also on our website: Conservation Internships in Costa Rica | Wild Sun Rescue
Please don't hesitate to contact inter...@wildsunrescue.org with any further questions.