Volunteering at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary

Volunteer placements are available throughout the year and the type of work varies between seasons. It is in your own interest to organise your placement dates for the time of year most suited to your requirements. Placements run for a minimum of two weeks to a maximum of 8 weeks, starting on a Monday and ending on a Sunday. Please note that placements are only organised up to 10 months in advance.

To qualify for a placement you must:

Be aged 18+
Have an up to date tetanus check
Be physically fit and able
Provide the required documents requested from the ‘Right to Work’ sheet in the application form upon attendance
Be prepared to get stuck in with everything the Animal Care Team does!

All placements will include the same general daily routine with resident animal feeding, husbandry and care; however there is a different focus of activities depending on the time of year. The two different types of placement available are as follows:

Rehabilitation: mainly takes place from October to March with the rescue of grey seal pups. Aside from the daily routine, volunteers will additionally assist with the rehabilitation process including helping with pup clinical care, Hospital cleaning and maintenance, record keeping, rescues and releases.
Residents: from April to September there is more focus on activities with the resident animals. Volunteers during this period will additionally assist with providing them with a variety of behavioural enrichment activities and training sessions, take part in conservation events and also interact more with visitors.

All volunteers must apply using the application form that you can download here along with further detailed information regarding bookings, accommodation and clothing requirements. All placement dates will be agreed with the Work Placement Coordinator and following this must then be secured with a £10 deposit that is refundable on attendance. Failure to send a security deposit will result in the placement being cancelled if it is not received one month before the placement commences. Failure to attend will forfeit your deposit at the discretion of the Work Placement Coordinator and/or Senior Management.