Rehabilitation (Animal Care) Internship

Internship Time Period:  March 31 to August 15, 2025

Mandatory Start Date: March 31, 2025

Deadline to Apply: January 3, 2025

Background
Sea Turtle, Inc. is a non-profit organization with a four-part mission of sea turtle conservation, medical care, applied research, and education located on South Padre Island, Texas. Within our facilities, we offer educational presentations and a self-guided tour so visitors can view our rehabilitating patients and learn about sea turtle biology and conservation. On average, our hospital admits approximately 70 – 100 sea turtles each year.

Sea Turtle Inc. is looking for an intern to assist the Rehabilitation & Husbandry Department in our daily operations. Interns will have the opportunity to learn sea turtle rehabilitation methods and techniques through hands-on experiences, working directly with our rehab staff. Daily responsibilities will include but are not limited to, feeding our residents and patients, food preparation, tank cleaning, and facility upkeep. Intern will also learn how to assist our rehab staff with medical treatments and surgical procedures.

Position Duties

• Feeding our resident sea turtles, rehab patients, and fish
• Monitoring animal appetite and general behavior
• Preparing food according to staff instructions
• Performing daily water quality on our resident and rehab tanks
• Assisting with new patient admittance and daily rehab procedures including stranding forms, restraint, calculating and administering medications, cold laser therapy, tube feeding, in-house blood work, applying PIT tags, and keeping medical records
• Assisting with surgery and necropsies as needed
• Responding to and transporting live and dead sea turtle strandings, including after hours response and being responsible for 24-hour stranding phone certain nights
• Tank sanitation: skimming tanks and cleaning as needed while paying close attention to quarantine protocols, cleaning will happen from both inside and outside of tank, so candidate should feel comfortable swimming
• Facility upkeep: laundry, restocking, and cleaning as needed
• Assisting with coverage of other departments as needed
• Perform other duties as assigned

Requirements

• Applicant must be college graduates in biological science, wildlife and fisheries science, zoology, environmental science, veterinary technology, or other related fields
• Must be 18 years of age or older, hold a valid U.S. driver’s license, and pass a criminal background check
• U.S. citizenship or permit to work in the U.S. is required
• Strong interest in wildlife rehabilitation and husbandry
• Excellent communication skills
• Self-motivated and possess the ability to work independently or as part of a team
• Attention to detail
• A desire to learn
• Must be comfortable working in adverse weather conditions including extreme temperatures and humidity

Physical Demands
The following physical demands must be met to successfully perform the essential duties of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions. While performing the responsibilities of the position, interns are frequently required to sit, walk, stand, stoop, bend, kneel, climb and/or crouch; using hands and fingers to handle or feel; ability to reach with hands and arms; talk and hear. The intern must frequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, and depth perception.

General Information
Shared housing is provided on-site at Sea Turtle Inc. on South Padre Island, Texas with a $35 per workday stipend. Housing is air-conditioned and equipped with basic furniture, Wi-Fi, and kitchen supplies. Please note, pets are not allowed in housing. Food and transportation are not provided. Personal vehicle is not required on the island. A 40-hour workweek is typical for this position includes long hours, working holidays and weekends, and being on-call for after-hours stranding events. Preference will be given to applicants that have previous experience with wildlife rehabilitation and/or husbandry.

Visit seaturtleinc.org/jobs to apply!

Be prepared to provide the following information: Contact Information; Cover letter/Resume in this field or adjacent field and prepare to answer the following two questions:

• What excites you most about the internship at Sea Turtle Inc
• What uniquely qualifies you for this position