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Wildlife rehabilitation is a difficult but rewarding career. The requirements for wildlife rehabilitators vary from state to state. In most cases the work involves migratory birds but in some cases you might work rescuing mammals.

When I lived in Humboldt County I was part of a local animal rescues and rehabilitation efforts where I also served as President. Although our teams worked extensively with birds of prey, waterfowl and other migratory birds, we also had teams for mammals and even rescued sea life–teaming up with a premiere marine mammal center not too far away.

In most cases it is advantageous to work in conjunction with a care center or as an adjunct to another related agency. State permits come from each state game department and that is usually where you can get answers to questions about the regulations for wildlife rehabilitators in your area.

Rules and regulations can get tricky and sometimes you might also need local permits. There is also a special federal permit for “Special Purpose Rehabilitation.” Partnering with an established rehabilitator or becoming active with the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association would be of benefit and help you wade through the requirements and details.

If you are not involved with an established agency, the cost of helping sick and injured wildlife can be very costly and time consuming. In most cases you will fund the housing and nutritional requirements.

Although a college degree is not required to become a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, it would be advantageous to obtain a college degree in biology or ecology. The curriculum should include ornithology, mammalogy, animal behavior, ecology, and related wildlife and environmental subjects. If you can get some training in wildlife medicine that is also a perk.

Wildlife rehabilitators work closely with veterinarians, veterinary technicians, biologists, educators, and people from other diverse backgrounds. Here is what the national organization for wildlife rehabilitators says:

Before receiving their permits, they must meet various requirements such as specialized training, participation in mentorship programs, facility inspections, and written or oral exams. Rehabilitators who wish to care for birds must also get permits from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Once they receive their permits, conscientious rehabilitators continue their education by attending conferences, seminars, and workshops, by keeping up with published literature, and by networking with others in the field.

The “must reads” of the field include NWRA Principles of Wildlife Rehabilitation, Minimum Standards for Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Quick Reference: National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association.

The International Wildlife Rehabilitators Council has a few works they recommend such as Basic Wildlife Rehabilitiation 1AB.

If you are interested in helping wildlife (and keeping them wild instead of habituating them to humans) this may be a career area for you. Check out the organizations and start reading.

Ultimately, I’d suggest you get your hands dirty in this career area and ask how the successful rehabilitators are making ends meet. It might not be the perfect career but something you could do outside of your normal workday.

It occurred to me that many of you don’t know my background and I’ve been procrastinating about sharing it–who cares?

Guess I was wrong. People do care and lately people who have only known me a few years have been floored at my credentials and my experiences.

So, I’ll be writing my history slowly and you’ll be able to find it filed under the About page.

Believe it or not, my professional career with animals really began early in my teens.

However, animals always gravitated to me from the time I was a young child and I too them. Bubbles the pilot whale in the picture to your left was the star in one of my favorite shows at Marineland of the Pacific–not far from where I grew up.

The varieties of my animal pals were not limited to the domestic critters that lived throughout the neighborhood since they also include the wild creatures that roamed the fields, cliffs, and ocean realm of my home town of San Pedro, California.

As a child, I suffered from allergies (and still do with some species) and so we didn’t have many long-term pets. This was agony for me and my parents kept trying new types of critters to see what might work–there were purebred animals to those with mixed heritage but none got to stay too long.

It wasn’t a small problem because I landed in the hospital on more than one occasion.

However animals found me anyway, and I also managed to forge relationships with all the critters in the area—wild and tame.

I bring up the allergies to point out that you can have an animal career despite challenges.

Originally I thought I would go into marine biology and a niche career of marine mammal work—but although my path started there—it has meandered through many different agencies, countries, and so I’ve worked in many roles with all creatures not just the marine types.

Professionally I claim a career launch with graduation from high school—however it began several years earlier as my love for the ocean grew.

My passion manifested as a love with surfing and educating intercity kids about grunion, the tide pool life, whales and other marine animals.

We lived on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean and although I traveled up and down the coast to surf, I spent many hours (and years) around the cliffs, on the beaches, and in the sea surround my home town.

Luckily I lived in an area with some unique animal facilities and somehow began volunteering for an agency that educated people about the ocean and life within and around it.

I found myself on the beach and on the ocean on a daily basis and was narrating whale watch tours during a time when the United States was still hunting whales–and when people thought whales were fish. Marine aquariums and oceanariums were new ventures.

Okay, okay, I am dating myself—but with age comes wisdom—remember?

My passion and enthusiasm had to be tempered as the kids often got too excited and the other volunteers had trouble keeping their charges interested since they wanted to know what my groups were doing…try as they might…they couldn’t. That same passion remains with me to this day.

Because I was so active and dedicated, the director of the program approached me (at the urging of his staff) to alert me to a position at Marineland, a marine park that used to be on the Palos Verdes Peninsula—which was an area where we also perched annually to conduct a census of the then endangered Pacific gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus).

Gray whales are mammals that filter feed from the ocean floor. They dredge the sand for amphipods (shrimp-like creatures) and other bottom-dwelling organisms eating by filtering with baleen, a fringed plate that lines the upper jaw.

The Pacific population of gray whales has the longest migration of any mammal, traveling an estimate 10,000 miles (16,000 km) round trip between summer feeding grounds of the Bering and Chuchki Seas in Alaska and the winter breeding and calving grounds in Baja California.

The trip takes about four months and the whales stay close to the coastline, swimming along or in small groups. The migration is staggered according to age and sex. Pregnant females lead, followed by other females, adult males, and then youngsters of both genders.

I jumped at the chance. When I showed up for my interview with tons of other applicants—I was the only teen in a white fashionable suit instead of jeans.

Needless to say I got the job…and that is when things began to get interesting.

In the old school, we teach through story and don’t spell it out.

There are a few lessons in this story. Did you catch them all?

If not, let me help you out. (I won’t be doing this all the time but I need you to catch the subtleties.)

Is an animal career for you?

You’ll know if:

You have a passion that carries you along.

You find a way to get involved with critters whether it pays or not.

Your actions lead you to new opportunities that you explore wholeheartedly.

So, can you answer those questions? I’d like to see some of you share your answers in the comments below.

I’ve been fortunate in not encountering a lot of animal abuse within the wild animal training industry—but it does exist. Having said that, I’ve seen more in the field of dog training!

When I left the wild animal training facility in Riverside, I found myself pulled back into that world after I discussed my concerns with a former wild animal trainer in Northern California. She knew Walter Cronkite, once a major news anchorman, and we met with him. She tried to put words in my mouth that were not true but I refused to alter my story.

It seems that the ape trainers got rough with one of the orangutans on the facility—and he died from the complications caused by the injuries. They then tried to pass off another ape as the original one. Most people were not savvy enough to recognize the differences—but these animals were my pals and in a freeze frame I showed Walter Cronkite how to differentiate between them.

The trainer I went with started what is now a multi-million dollar animal welfare organization—which I could have gone to work for. I chose not to and can only say that she has some bad stuff in her past too, some which I have personal knowledge of. My point is to use caution in what you believe and how you get swayed and to realize that you can also catalyze change for the betterment of all.

We all do the best we can with the tools we have been given. I’ve watched disturbing footage of so called “trainers” beating the heck out of their charges but most of the trainers I’ve worked with don’t engage in those techniques—and if they did, most now know better but there are still bad apples out there.

I do need to say that most trainers will do whatever it takes to save a life of a human…including putting themselves in harms way and hurting or killing an animal in the process.

Today there are agencies regulating the animal acting and performing animal industries but it wasn’t always that way. My point in sharing these stories is to say that you can’t always believe what you see and hear—you have to use discernment.

The good news is that the animal career field is constantly changing and if you have an idea for an animal career—you can pursue it or create it.

When I started my career with animals there was not a profession called “animal behaviorist” nor were there courses dedicated to environmental issues or conservation. I was in some of the earliest prototypes of those courses that are now found in universities and institutions throughout the world.

If you have a passion outside of animals, find some way to tie it into animal work and you’ll have a good match. I’ve ambled through lots of animal jobs but my strength is understanding animals—the psychology and communication pieces are natural to me and so that is what I keep coming back to.

When I fell from the top of a zoo hay barn my career path shifted to that of working as an animal writer. All my passions tied together and led me to where I am now.

So, list what you love—then what you hate. Also include a list of what you are really good at and what you aren’t. Take the lists and add them to the other list of answers to the questions you were given a few days ago…because you are going to use them to discover your perfect animal career.