Veterinary Scientist

Or vet for short! Did you know that Massey University is the only university in NZ where you can study veterinary sciences? You need to study sciences at high school and get good grades to get into the course. It takes five years to complete this degree.

Wildlife Technician

This is another great job to consider if you want to work with our wildlife. You can study to become a veterinary technician at Massey University. Massey is the only provider of the Bachelor of Veterinary Technology. The other option is to do a veterinary nursing degree at other institutes around NZ. This involves three years of study and gives you the skills to provide excellent patient care and veterinary assistance.

Department of Conservation Ranger

There are all sorts of ranger roles with DOC. You can study ecology and work with native plants and animals. You could do the kaitiaki whenua – ranger trainee course at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and start work with DOC in either track and hut maintenance or biodiversity. DOC also needs people to work with iwi and community and in education. They need lawyers, engineers, planners and more!

Zoo/Aviary Keeper

Lots of people would love this type of job, and there is a lot of competition. An ecology degree or focus on animal management could help towards this career, or become a volunteer and learn on the job. Next time you’re at a zoo, ask a keeper what they did to get their job.

Educator

We need people to educate our rangitahi about conservation and our taonga species. Young people are the future. You could train to become a teacher and hold conservation and environmental values as a strong theme in your teaching. Or you could consider work as an educator with councils, DOC, or independent organisations such as the Squawk Squad.

Photo-Journalist/Writer

Writing and photography are powerful tools for building conservation awareness. You could look at doing a journalism or photography course at a tertiary institute. Or you could start a blog in your spare time, especially if you love to get into the outdoors and take some great photos.

Film Maker

There are some amazing documentaries about animals and conservation – if you’re serious about producing documentaries, look into a film course at a tertiary institute.

Entrepreneur/Inventor

There is a constant search for new technologies to help save our native species, a great example is the Good Nature self-resetting traps. They are attached to a tree and the bait attracts rats, stoats or possums to the trap. They get a sharp hit to the head from the trap, which kills them instantly, and the trap resets itself to strike again!