Vet specialising in zoos/wildlife

It’s perfectly fine to have aspirations and a lot of people I know going through vet school want to eventually work in zoos. Personally I’m very interested in exotic animal medicine and this is definitely my favourite area of vet med. You do have to bear in mind however that at vet school you will have to learn about the main domestic species ie dogs and cats, farm animals and equine and realistically speaking you won’t do a massive amount of work to do with zoo animals (though exotic pets are covered, just in a bit less detail).

I don’t know a massive amount about residencies so I’ll leave that to someone else to answer, but they are definitely not easy to get onto. There are significantly fewer opportunities to work as a vet in a zoo in comparison to first opinion practice, but it’s still possible.

Overall I’d say if you’re certain that you only want to work in a zoo and have no interest in working with or learning any other species group then you should probably reconsider if vet med is definitely what you want to do, but if you’d be happy to also work in practices and with your main domestic species then I’d say go for it.

Hello! I was wondering if anyone could help me. I’ve been thinking about a career in veterinary medicine and imagine myself really enjoying working with wild animals and treating their illnesses or working as a vet in a zoo and providing care to those animals (I would also be interested in research). I was wondering if it would be sensible to enter this career with the sole aim of going into this specialty. I know there’s opportunities to undertake residencies with the ECZM for zoo health management but how often do these really come up and when they do is it very unlikely to gain a place? Sorry if I’m sounding very uninformed but I’m just trusting to gauge how many opportunities like this realistically arise.

I’d be grateful for any input. Thank you!

Thanks so much for your reply, I really appreciate it. I am really interested in other areas of vet med and I’m sure I would also thoroughly enjoy working as a SA vet. As you said you were interested in exotics, if you intercalated would it be helpful for the topic to reflect this? I know the RVC only has limited options to intercalated whereas Liverpool is much broader. Would it be really beneficial to, for example, intercalated in zoology if interested in that area or would it not matter too much? Should this ever be a deciding factor on what uni I pick? Thank you

I wouldn't have thought it would matter what you chose as a subject for intercalation if that is a goal. In case you are interested, Cambridge has a really wide choice of subjects and everyone intercalates on their course.

The only way you can become an exotic animal vet is to become a vet in the first place so go for it!
It’s definitely possible to get a wildlife/conservation/zoo based job but employers are probably looking for you to have had at least a few years experience of general practice plus a postgraduate exotics certificate or MSc beforehand. The undergrad vet course would be predominantly domestic animal based (farm, equine, pets) so you would need to really enjoy working with them as well as it will be 5 years long! You’re able to choose electives in your final year, as well as tailor your EMS to get more zoo/wildlife experience which is quite good. Liverpool also do an intercalculated degree in Conservation medicine which could be something to look at. 😄

Cambridge does look good but I’m slightly wary as my GCSEs aren’t perfect (999999886 with the 6 in maths :/ ) and I do Bio, Chem and English Lit A-levels (predicted A*A*A*) so I only offer two sciences and I think Cambridge have a preference for those with three sciences (please correct me if I’m wrong!)

I know this message isn’t directed to me but I just want to add here that my GCSEs were 999997777AA and I got into Cambridge so yours are definitely good enough to get in! Cambridge say that applicants are more likely to get in with 3 science a levels (both a reflection on the number of applicants and their offer rate) but there are a fair number of people on my course with just two so it’s still possible!

There are intercalations you can do - such as Liverpools Veterinary Conservation Medicine year - which will give you further insight into the wildlife/exotics field, you could choose wildlife or exotics as your elective rotations also. All these things + any research projects you can get onto will strengthen your chances at applying for residencies/jobs afterwards. You have certainly not set yourself an easy goal but then if you did life would be boring wouldn't it.

I would maybe not blow up in your interviews how much you want to do wildlife/zoo work as whilst there is nothing bad about this the course is predominantly focussing on pets, equine and farm - so those deciding on applications are likely to favour those applicants - but mentioning an interest will do no harm I just wouldn't make out it is all you care about.

I will just warn you a lot of wildlife type medicine (especially in the UK) is considered at a population level, similar ish to farm. I.e. will you spend thousands to treat one deers leg vs the low cost and high welfare decision for euthanasia.

This was a pretty good online course I found when doing some extra interview prep recently:
https://wildwelfare.org/resources-elearn-programme/?fbclid=IwAR1Tpy6C5ra4JMCBewXiHpU1V-QYeTIkG7tMp0cI9QksSscnp3qeNY3tnGU

This is really useful thank you! And yes I agree with the whole interview thing, I definitely don't want to come across as someone who goes into something like medicine and from day one has decided they will be a neurosurgeon! I just wanted to ask a little more about wildlife medicine being considered at a population level - would you mind elaborating a little more on this? Really appreciate your insight

So it will vary depending where you work, who for and the species you are dealing with. But take say a grey squirrel thats fallen out of a tree for example. If it is brought to you. That animal as an individual likely could be treated - you could go through the process of casting/fixating its limb, the rehabilitation etc (assuming costs are no issue) but you can never release it. It is illegal to release grey squirrels due to the detrimental harm they cause to the red squirrel population (both through out-competing and carrying squirrel pox). So from a population health point of view - to try and increase/restore red squirrel numbers - your only real treatment as a responsible veterinary surgeon is euthanasia. You could pass it off to some kind of 'sanctuary' but it should be noted that it is also illegal to allow a grey squirrel to escape captivity and that due to the abundance of grey squirrels brought in they would rapidly run out of space.

Similarly take a conservation reserve in Africa, they are trying to increase the lion population through breeding in closed reserves before releasing some into the wild. You have an old male lion who's been a part of the breeding programme for several years but is now beyond breeding use and has recently become lethargic and losing body condition score. You could undergo a full diagnostic workup, may need to do some imaging if suspecting neoplasia etc. But this lions purpose in the breeding programme is through - anymore would lead to too narrowed genomic lines. If you do manage to treat him what will you do next? Putting him back in a pride after time away would even risk having him killed by younger males. So if he cannot survive in a group and is of limited benefit to the species/programme is he housed? ,taking finances that could be used for research, education, treatment and breeding healthier animals for release or is the best option to euthanise him?

To clarify I have no formal education in veterinary conservation and it isn't the future career for me - but it is an interesting topic and sparks a lot of debate as to treatment of individuals to benefit a population.

Wow! Thank you so much that's really interesting and something I was completely unaware of. Definitely something to consider as it impacts clinical practice quite significantly it seems. Really appreciate you taking the time to write that for me

Definitely don't take my post as saying a career in conservation/wildlife is purely negative and putting animals down - I imagine you'll get to work with species so diverse half of us have never even heard of them - and the challenge of applying your comparative anatomy as to what drugs are most likely to work based on their physiology (there are not many drugs licensed for treatment of wildlife... look how many are licensed for goats - a domesticated species but I can only think of 7 drugs off the top of my head and two of those are bags of fluids). Which will definitely be a fun challenge - and I imagine one that could take you all over the world - I was just providing an insight I have read about which many may not initially consider.