Wildlife Volunteer Australia

Become a wildlife volunteer at an amazing Wildlife Park in Australia for an unforgettable wildlife adventure in Oz!

Your Volunteer Role

This programme runs for either 4, 6 or 8 weeks and you will get involved on a daily basis with the care of the wildlife at the Park. Volunteering begins on a Tuesday, and you should arrive in Cairns on the Monday where you will spend one included night in a hostel before being transferred to Port Douglas.

On arrival at the Wildlife Park you will receive a volunteering orientation before your volunteer role begins. Volunteers will help out 5 days a week, and will work for around 7-8 hours per day, with regular hours being 7.30am-2.30pm.

Regular volunteer duties include:

• Daily preparation of food for the native wildlife at the Park
• Cleaning and maintaining the wildlife enclosures
• Collecting leaves and distributing them to the Koalas
• Upkeep of the Wildlife Park displays and visitor exhibits
• Plantation maintenance
• Feeding and cleaning at the onsite wildlife rescue centre
• General park maintenance tasks
• Greeting and engaging with day visitors 
• Joining keepers on guided tours of the park

As a volunteer, you may also get the chance to get involved in other duties around the Park, and these may include:

• Handling the animals
• Collecting and identifying native plants
• Caring for sick, injured and orphaned animals and the onsite wildlife rescue centre and helping release them back into the wild
• Assisting the wildlife keepers to keep Park records
• Off-site community, environmental and cultural days - environmental clean up days, tree planting, indigenous cultural experiences.

You will also have plenty of free time in which to explore the amazing Port Douglas area on the days you are not volunteering.

About the Wildlife Park

The Wildlife Park is situated in an area of natural beauty, along the Queensland coast in Port Douglas, around 45 minutes from Cairns. The wildlife at the Park are wonderfully cared for in captivity, but this is no ordinary zoo experience! The Park is made up of areas of natural wildlife habitat, including grassland, wetland and rainforest habitats, and for its many visitors, the park offers a unique immersive experience, with an open and interactive environment allowing volunteers and visitors to mingle with the wildlife in a natural setting. Boardwalks run through areas of amazing flora and fauna, and birds fly around freely in this lush, tropical landscape.

Wildlife at the Park

A whole range of wonderful native Australian wildlife have made their home at the Wildlife Park, such as kangaroos and wallabies, including the rare and tiny tree kangaroo known as Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo. This Wildlife Park is one of only two in the world where you can see this elusive creature! Other animals includes koalas, crocodiles, the unusual Boyd's Rainforest Dragon, the Spotted Tail Quoll, the Southern Cassowary, the Papuan Frogmouth, the Jabiru Stork, Parrots and Rainbow Lorikeets.

At the end of your programme you will have two inclusive nights at a Cairns hostel so you can relax and make the most of exploring all the exciting activities on offer in Cairns.