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Anyone here a wildlife biologist or work with wild animals?

I want to major in wildlife management and join the Peace Corps after college to do work with wild & endangered animals. Has anyone ever done similar work? And any stories, suggestions, or opinions about this?

Public Comments

1. I dont work with them. I kill a few deer and turkey every year though.....
2. If you want to work with animals you need plenty of experience and schooling. Work at zoo's, volunteer at zoo's or wildlife places. My daughter wants to work with endangered animals, mostly Marine Mammals. She has been in Schooling all her life and is now 28. She is a Vet Doctor now and is still getting experience with internships and residency's that last forever. She will not have a career until she is in her 30's. She likes working with large animals. Although she has had Biology courses she is not going into the Wildlife Biologist career. She chose a Vet career with Large Animals or Marine Mammals instead of Dogs & Cats. I would say get all the experience you can get because you will need many years of it. There is much competition in these fields. Go for it and don't give up. Animals need all the help they can get!
3. Its true that you will need as much experience as you can possibly get. I work in this sector and getting jobs/placements is a lot about who you know and which organizations will give you a good reference. Try to get experience in different areas such as advertising, charity work etc as well as the actual work with animals as most organisations depend on this. Good luck x
4. Are wildlife biologists at all concerned for their job security within the next 50 years or so since they'll all be out on the streets for lack of wildlife?
5. I work as a wildlife biologist and mostly work with endangered bird species. I have a degree in zoology and upon graduation did several years of seasonal work to gain hands-on experience. This experience helped me eventually earn a full time permanent position. I cannot stress enough the importance of hands-on work. Look into volunteer work, and internships as well. When you graduate job options will be working with a government agency, a university, non-profits and environmental consultant firms.
6. The others pretty much covered the aspects of wildlife biology: Hands-on experience, dedication, etc. I doubt you're going to be able to do much endangered species work with the Peace Corps though, unless you're somehow modifying human behavior to protect habitat, etc. The Peace Corps is much more human oriented than wildlife oriented. I got to spend 6 months in Brazil doing aquaculture and aerial spectroscopy surveys, but it was more people/poverty-oriented grunt work than conservation. I got to reduce pressure on native fisheries by creating holding ponds filled with easily-caught non-native tilapia and carp. Not the greatest ecological solution out there...
7. Peace Corps volunteers do all kinds of things, and there may be some countries which have requested people to help out with animal conservation. Why not contact the Peace Corps and see if they have any openings? Since you haven't finished college yet, you might not get an adequate answer from the Peace Corps. There are lots of possible jobs related to animal conservation, so I hope you go ahead with your ideas.