Animal sanctuary in Scotland.

Update 2021: WE DO NOT TAKE VOLUNTEERS ANY LONGER until further notice.

Free volunteering opportunity in the North-East of Scotland.

Food, accommodation, washing machine, and internet provided for people who are either from EU countries or on a UK Working Holiday Visa.

We cannot assist with travel money or visa arrangements.

Please read CAREFULLY all of this.

Thanks to all the people who got in touch so far – but it seems like many are not reading what I wrote at all. Please, to avoid disappointments, DO read my whole post, esp. the part right in the beginning, about visas (and who knows how it will all work after Brexit!). As sad as it is, we simply CAN’T take people who aren’t legally allowed to volunteer in the UK. It comes with large fines, and also legal problems for the volunteer. So, you either need: an EU passport, a working holiday visa for the UK, or have dual-nationality (with one half being UK-related). Others allowed to volunteer are people who are in the UK with a student visa.
A visitor visa alone is not suitable.

General description

I know it’s a long post, but I want people to know what to expect. I used to travel around as a volunteer myself and always appreciated it when I had enough information about hosts! We are a small animal charity (education and therapy with birds of prey) plus a few cats, dog kennels (big dogs only) and horses. At the moment, we are looking for volunteers either one volunteer or a couple (as we have a double bed available during those months).

Exchange and activities

You would help us around 5 hours each day, with:

• taking care of the cats,
• sometimes helping with the dogs and horses,
• painting cat houses,
• gardening,
• mucking out,
• fencing and building new bird aviaries and dog kennels.

We would especially welcome volunteers who have at least some basic wood-working, concreting and/or construction skills (e.g. swinging a hammer without breaking your fingers, using electric screwdriver, etc.).

The jobs here are varied, so it’s impossible to list them all, and we would like volunteers who’d be willing to help with everything.

Jobs can be dirty, after all, animals poop, and work in the forest can sometimes be a little muddy. So if you’re afraid of dirt, this might not be a good match.

Requirements

Volunteers should be reasonably fit, e.g. able to lift around 10-15kg (animal feed bags) and speak English well enough to understand our instructions. Your English doesn’t need to be perfect though! It’ll naturally improve during your stay here.

The charity part of our property often deals with vulnerable people, so we do not welcome volunteers who drink too much alcohol, take drugs, or have problems with aggressive behaviour. You need to be kind towards people as well as animals (and the animals always come first).

Location

We are located in a rural area of Scotland but have public transport that you could use on days off (2 days off each week, but we are flexible about when you take them).

Free Accommodation

Your accommodation would be in a private room in our static mobile (see photo), you’d also have a large yurt to hang out in (with internet access). You would share common areas with 1-2 other volunteers, so you need to be someone who is respectful and cleans up after himself/herself.

We provide all the food, but you’d do your own shopping, either alone or with other volunteers.

We do all of our jobs on our own when there are no volunteers here, so nothing we ask you to do is something we wouldn’t be willing to do ourselves! Please be aware that this is best suited for independent and mature volunteers who don’t need instant access to city life.

CONTACT DETAILS  🔍📧

Animal sanctuary in Scotland – The contact for this host has been removed until the volunteer positions reopen

This announcement was posted by Kim S. on our FB volunteer group 

See more volunteering opportunities in Scotland