Noah Dawson Kelly – Year 9

Youth at the Zoo (YATZ) is an amazing volunteer program for young people 13-19 years old. I joined YATZ in the annual May intake at Taronga Zoo when I was 13 in Year 7, as did my brother Samuel. I am passionate about animals and had to wait several years till I was old enough to join.

There is a range of shifts available over school holidays to offer to volunteer for, shifts where you learn about wild animals and conservation, shifts where you help the public learn often through fun children activities, ‘sections’ where you help the animals at the zoo such as raking, cleaning glass or cutting up their food, assisting guests at the zoo, helping staff with school holiday programs and a large range of extra activities such as tree planting. These holidays I volunteered to do a ‘section’ and cleaned the glass of the penguins while the penguins swam back and forth following the squeegee and I also attended an education session on the conservation work that Taronga Zoo is involved in.

The full day induction and the training offered is very helpful as are all the amazing staff and volunteers. I would recommend it to anyone interested in wild animals or conservation.

Click here to find out more. If interested, you need to go on the waitlist and then apply through uploading a brief video for the May or November intake.

If you are older and are interested in studying at Taronga Zoo they offer VET and TAFE courses .  If you are too young to join YATZ, there is also RSPCA school holiday programs, Taronga Zoo Adventures, Taronga Keeper for a day and lots of other camps. YATZ focus is wild animals and conservation.  If you prefer interacting more with animals there are lots of programs with domestic animals including Future Vet Camp, fostering through the RSPCA and volunteering with Sydney Dogs and Cats home or Monika’s Doggie Rescue.