Wildlife Rehabilitation/Wildlife Care Internship Program 2026

Background

The Wildlife In Need Center (WINC) is a non-profit organization established in 1994 that rehabilitates injured, sick, and orphaned native Wisconsin wildlife with the goal of releasing them back to the wild. Located in Southeastern Wisconsin, we admit over 3000 animals (of approximately 140 species) annually. Prior to applying for this position, please visit our web site www.helpingwildlife.org to become familiar with our organization and our mission. 

Program description
The internship at Wildlife in Need Center provides hands-on training in basic wildlife rehabilitation skills. Interns in this program will work under the supervision of professional wildlife rehabilitators and trained wildlife caregivers. Skills learned will include most aspects of the rehabilitation and daily care of sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife as well as native wild species identification and safe handling techniques. Interns will work in all areas including wildlife nurseries assisting with care of wild orphans. 

WINC is one of only two organizations in North America, and the only one in the United States, with an internship accredited through the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (IWRC) Practicum Program. 

Intern responsibilities and expectations are likely to include, but are not limited to:

• Learning basic species identification and natural histories of Wisconsin native wildlife
• Wildlife Nutrition
• Preparing food and monitoring diets
• Natural history of our common species and habitat setup
• Cleaning and maintaining caging/enclosures for a wide variety of species of wild mammals, birds,
  and reptiles
• Becoming proficient with safe handling and restraint of wild animals during treatments and care
• Record keeping, maintaining accurate and thorough patient charts
• Proper disinfection with respect to wildlife health and disease transmission
• General support tasks- laundry, dishes, grounds, and basic facility maintenance
• Assisting staff with treatments
• Learning how to look for and recognize signs of illness in birds, mammals, and reptiles
• Assist with initial patient exams and medical treatments under staff supervision
• Feeding and providing full care for orphaned wild babies
  • Working in our mammal, raccoon and avian nurseries
  • Assisting with our turtle hatching program, maintaining the incubating eggs and caring for
    the hatchlings
• Learn about the care and treatment of injured and orphaned wildlife
• Learn anatomy and physiology of different species

Commitment

Participants in our full-time internship program will be scheduled 4 (10 hour) days per week for a minimum of 12 weeks. Participants in our part-time internship program will be scheduled 2-3 (10 hour) days per week for a minimum of 12 weeks.

Fall and winter interns must be available September through November working 20-30 hours/week.

Spring interns must be available mid-March through mid-June working 16-40 hours/week.

Summer interns work 20-40 hours/week and must be available for session dates:

Spring Session – March 15th – June 6th, 2026
Summer Session 1 – May 10th – Aug 1st, 2026
Summer Session 2 – May 17th – August 8th, 2026
Summer Session 3 – June 7th – August 29th, 2026
Fall Session – August 16th – November 7th, 2026