Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
How does one become a rehabber?
-Drew

It is easiest to get involved with a group that is already licensed through Fish and Game. That is what I did. If you get invovled with an organization they will have classes and mentors available to help you get started. Like you said before it doesn't make much money.. but can be a great start for careers that do Take care and enjoy.

Hi,
What careers do make good money after rehabilitation?
-Drew

Sorry, your question confuses me? If you are asking if you can make good money rehabilitating wildlife, the answer is a huge gigantic NO!. In fact, one can go broke long before one sees a single penny of income, as no income is to be had.

By doing rehab, you are offering aid to an animal that would otherwise die. There is no money in this, you are donating both time AND supplies. This breaks down to both time feeding and cleaning, as well as long nites awake nursing those who need it. As for supplies, you will need to be purchasing all of your formula, weaning foods, dishes, bedding and caging.

When we return these animals to the wild, we do it as a favor to the earth and to mother nature. And neither of these send us any payment aside from the simple joy of watching these animals go back to their natural habitat.

Joker
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Don't be discouraged Drewman. Unfortunately Joker is correct about At home Rehabbing behign more of an expensive crusade than a high paying career Although there are plenty of careers that branch off from wildlife rehabilitation. Keep in mind a majority of them if money is your goal will require quite a bit of education. Not that education is a bad thing Working hard through high school ensures that when College time rolls around you won't have to repeat the same classes you failed in high school. Also when College time does arrive even if you haven't decided on a career getting your General Education courses out of the way will help when you do decide avoiding having that two years of college general ed in your way.

Fish & Game offers tons of positions whether you wish to do field study... or work in an office acquiring land or preparing it for wildlife preserve, or working with microbiology. Really the options are endless. Vets make quite a bit of money but they also work long hours. I wouldn't recommend basing what you want to do for a career solely on how much money you can make at it... but having extra money is definitely nice. And paying bills is very important. There are career counseling services usually offered by the state I would recommend you check that out. Can't hurt to figure out what you naturally would be good at. Also don't forget passion and the willingness to learn and work hard are what will get you through the grunt work to a successful career with wildlife and it sounds like you have them all. Good luck Drewman and take care

I serve as a board member and wildlife rehabber at the group below. I just recently went through and built them a new website.
Wildlife Care Association

Drew,
If you are interested in becoming a wildlife vet, Mississippi State University offers an excellent wildlife pre-vet option. They offer a program called the Early Entry Program which allows high school seniors to be pre-accepted into vet school (they are the only vet school in the country that does this.) They accept 25 people every year based on grades, volunteer work, ect. I am currently in it and it takes alot of stress off of everything...and a year off of college ( i only have to go 7 years and the normal is 8.) I will have a bachelor in wildlife biology and a DVM when I am done. It's a great opportunity so you should look into it! There website is www.cvm.msstate.edu
Click on academic affairs, then potential students, and early entry program if you want more info. You can also go to
http://www.cfr.msstate.edu/wildlife/main.htm to look at their wildlife and fisheries dept.

Danielle

I am only a freshman in highschool but what can I make my goal to becoming. I want to do something that involves wildlife vet care. Is there a job title for that?
-Drew

I just would like to get into the rehab environment as I know I would love doing it. But at the same time, I need money in order to do it. So how do you go about doing that?
-Drew

I understand the whole rehab thing. I am wondering if you can make a living out of it. Do you have to be retired to do it or what?
-Drew