Please note, we are not currently recruiting for volunteers. We usually recruit twice a year, depending on availability within the volunteer programme.
You are welcome to contact us for more information about roles and on when we will be next recruiting: volunteers@chesterzoo.org
Chester Zoo Volunteers play an essential role in supporting the zoo to achieve our Conservation Masterplan.
We engage with up to 250 generous volunteers EVERY YEAR through various roles and programmes. They provide thousands of unpaid hours and a wealth of skills and experience to support our work.
Our volunteers are advocates for wildlife and are devoted to conservation. They engage with visitors through UNIQUE educational experiences and FANTASTIC customer service. Volunteers also help connect visitors with nature and empower them to Act for Wildlife through living more sustainably. We also have a programme of community volunteering and citizen science opportunities through our Hedgehog Watch project.
Volunteers benefit from comprehensive training and induction tailored to their roles. We want to support all our volunteers as much as possible so they feel confident and knowledgeable when engaging with our visitors and members. Our research reveals the positive self-reported impacts of volunteering in zoological collections.
Our voluntary programme offers opportunities to meet new people, work on new challenges and help others as well as enhance your wellbeing and gain skills for self-development. And most of all, have FUN!
Our volunteers are primarily involved in customer service, community and education roles. Please note, we don’t offer any animal section volunteer roles.
The only reason we’re here is because one man, George Mottershead, had a dream of ‘a zoo without bars’.
That devotion to the welfare and protection of wildlife has always been at the heart of everything we do.
For over 90 years, we’ve dedicated ourselves to protecting biodiversity and fighting to save species from extinction. These days, we sum all this up in our mission.
Our mission is Preventing Extinction
