Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage

DO

As a volunteer at Chipangali your role will be very hands-on. Depending on the animals being cared for and your areas of interest, you’ll get involved in the following activities:

Research, monitoring and practical conservation work

With permission from the National Parks and Wildlife Authority and in collaboration with Birmingham Zoo, USA, Chipangali is carrying out a detailed study of the territory and movement patterns of leopards and hyena (both brown and spotted).

• Set physical traps to dart and collar animals, enabling conservationists to track their movement
• Research animals’ territory sizes and hunting areas to reduce human-wildlife conflict
• Set up remote camera traps to monitor wildlife

Veterinary nursing

Most animals arrive at Chipangali with some level of injury or trauma. Depending on your level of experience, you’ll help treat wounds and infections, as well as providing intensive care.

• Assist with the treatment and care of injured animals
• Help dress wounds, give medical treatment and monitor sick animals
• Perform regular health checks
• Help prepare a nutritious diet
• Accompany the centre’s wildlife manager into the field to dart animals, when possible

Rehabilitation, care and husbandry

As part of a dedicated team, you’ll help get animals back to full health and where possible prepare them for release back into the wild.

• Provide long-term care for sanctuary animals (lion, leopard, baboons, vervet monkeys, antelope, jackal, serval, bushpig, birds of prey and reptiles)
• Deliver target training for predators, a method used by western zoos to calmly move animals for vaccination and enclosure cleaning
• Prepare animal feeds and provide hands-on help with feeding
• Enrich animals’ lives through fitness, play and creating a natural setting in captivity
• Assist in the release of rehabilitated animals into safe and suitable areas
• Muck-out enclosures to create clean living space for animals
• Help maintain the centre for tours given to the general public

Community outreach

Chipangali’s Epic Kids Programme will give you the chance to visit local schools help to dispel some negative myths about wild animals.

• Support staff members who speak the local language
• Handle animals to show the kids (chameleon, tortoise, hedgehogs, snakes and others)
• Carry on the project’s legacy, which has already reached more than 450,000 school kids

LEARN

As well as gaining all kinds of practical work experience (which you can read about under the ‘do’ tab), you’ll also learn about the behaviour, biology and conservation of local species.

Conservation

• Human-wildlife conflict between predators and local farmers
• Local superstitions that animals such as snakes and chameleons are evil
• Rhino poaching in the Matopos National Park – you can also take a day trip to explore this massive problem in more detail
• Poaching snares – you may see animals come into the sanctuary with snare injuries
• The economic problems facing Zimbabwe and their impact on wildlife conservation
• The role of contraceptive implants in captive predators

Ecology

• The natural habitats of animals you’re working with and their role in the ecosystem
• Methods for releasing primates in a troop to avoid disrupting their social structure

Biology

• Physiology and biology of lions, leopards, hyenas and other animals at the centre
• The diets of predators and other animals, both in the wild and at the centre
• Wildlife reproduction and taking care of young

Behaviour

• The behaviours of African animals in the wild and in captivity
• Methods of enrichment used for different species and how they benefit the animal’s welfare
• How animals communicate