VOLUNTEER AND INTERN FAQs

To join WPAS, interns must be at least 16 years of age, or, with extensive experience, 14. Students in HS, college and post-graduate studies are considered Interns. Adult volunteers must be 18 years or older if out of school.

All volunteers and interns are required to fill out an application and sign a volunteer pledge form, liability waiver, and media release.

All volunteers must be able to work independently and without supervision.

All animal care or other hands-on volunteers and interns must be able to bend and lift 25 lbs.

All of WPAS’s policies pertaining to volunteers and interns are explained in detail. All volunteers and interns will be given access to these policies and proceedures upon approval and will be expected to read and be familiar with these policies.

All weekly volunteers and interns will also be required to watch several training videos including human and animal safety. Animal care must watch all required videos.

Animal care shifts are once a week, every week. The AM shift is 9 am - 1 pm, and the PM shift is 1:30 pm - 5:30 pm or 1 pm - 5 pm, depending on time of year. Volunteer shifts that are not animal care may be flexible, but it is preferred that you are available during regular animal care shifts.

A minimum one-year commitment is required for consideration (with the exception of our intern program).

Absolutely! The decision to volunteer anywhere is optional, but once you make that commitment, it is exactly that - a commitment. It is no different than a job, other than you do not get paid. Volunteers and interns are expected to be here each week and numerous last-minute call-outs will lead to termination. The animals and other volunteers on your shift will count on you. If you have a planned absence, you must find coverage for your shift.

For consistency and ensuring we have enough coverage for each shift, we require animal care volunteers and interns to commit to the same shift on the same day each week. Non-animal care may be flexible but it is preferred that other volunteers are able to commit to the same day each week.

All volunteers wishing to work in animal care are preferred to have some farm animal experience - or at a minimum domestic animal experience - but it is not necessary. If you are flexible, willing to learn, and have an open mind we are happy to train you.

We typically do not recommend volunteering with friends or family members. It has been our experience that if one person does not come, the other person does not come either, and we are short two people for that shift, and the animals and other tasks are not attended to properly.

It is important that our volunteers are here for the right reasons. We exist to save animals, not to save humans. What we do takes skill, dedication, awareness and focus. It is not just about brushing horses and holding bunnies in order to make humans happy. There is a great deal of hard, tiring and dirty work. We have many amazing volunteers who have joined us and it has made their lives better, and that makes us happy - but please understand that our job does not include healing humans, or providing human therapy. We need our volunteers to be physically, mentally and emotionally present in order to help our rescues. Our animals are not here to rescue humans. Humans have already put them through enough. Thank you.