Help Rescued Animals in the Amazon Rainforest - only GBP100 per week

  Ecuador

• Quito: 
Quito

Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months, 7-12 months, 1-2 years and over 2 years
Typical Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Dates: All year

Description: Our rescue center is a sanctuary for wild animals rescued from traffickers and unhealthy situations. It is important to point out that the Rescue Center is not a zoo. We are here to help rescue and recuperate wild animals. Animals that cannot be liberated are cared for in environments as close to their natural habitat as possible.

We also try to educate the public about issues related to wildlife welfare and the environment, and hence we have some visitors at the Centre. Volunteers with a good command of the Spanish language can help with the visiting school children if they wish. The center is situated in the Avenue of Volcanoes just 1 hour south of Quito in a 65 hectare dairy farm. We are one of the largest rescue centres in Ecuador, at any time having around 100 animals, and so we need help all year round.

This is a unique opportunity to work very closely with a large variety of exotic wildlife and to really make a difference to these animals. We are likely to have animals such as pumas, Andean bears, ocelots, monkeys, parrots, Galapagos tortoises, eagles, snakes, and more.

Cost: The cost is $120 per person per week to stay at the center. Food is not included and the volunteers contribute $15-20 each a week to shop at the local market and cook together as a flat. Living this way as a house, cooking together and helping each other creates a more homely atmosphere and adds to a communal living experience. It also allows a more flexible way of living, and hence vegetarians can be easily catered for.

Role of Volunteer: Our most important role is the feeding and cleaning. Twice a day we work very closely with the animals ensuring they are all provided for. We are also constantly looking for ways to improve existing facilities, hence providing a more natural environment for the animals in which their instincts can be reinforced and nurtured. Therefore, we spend a lot of time doing construction and renovaion work in order to improve their living conditions. These projects are always different and usually involve more labour intensive work, such as building cages and improving the landscape in which our animals live. This is where we get to really see what kind of a difference we can make improving facilities for all of our animals.

For volunteers, this is a unique opportunity to work extremely closely with, and to directly influence, a large variety of wild animals that really need help.

Our hours: Between Monday and Friday in the morning we work between 8 am and 1 pm. During this time we feed the animals and also we work on any number of projects within the center, mainly involving construction or maintenance work. Then the volunteers have free time until 4pm when work commences again. In this afternoon break volunteers can retreat to the volunteer houses to relax, a siesta in the sun, read, play football, watch DVDs, learn Spanish or just wander around the center and observe the animals at their own leisure. Alternatively, the local town is only a short 30 minute walk or $3 taxi ride away. Volunteers can browse the local stores, use the Internet or make phone calls home. At 4pm the enclosures are cleaned and at around 6pm volunteers stop working for the day and are free to socialize together.

On Saturdays we only feed the animals, and finish work at about 10 am, after which volunteers are free for the rest of the weekend.

This is a great opportunity to explore and see a bit of Ecuador while you are here. Volunteers usually join up together to make plans for the weekend with some of the popular destinations being: Quito (1 hour away), Banos (3 hrs), Cotapaxi (2 hrs), Otavalo (2 hrs). With buses for these and all destinations passing by the town of Tambillo every few minutes, travel anywhere is very easy.

The volunteers live in comfortable houses with all desired facilities: comfy beds, hot water, TV, DVD, washing machine and a fully equipped kitchen.

This project is part of Ecoteer - the solution to travel and volunteering on a shoestring.

Ecoteer is a unique volunteer opportunities agency - offering a directory of cheap volunteer work opportunities, volunteer jobs abroad and working holidays. Our volunteer opportunities are cheap because we have eliminated the middleman slashing the price to volunteer abroad for gapyears, careerbreaks and working holidays. Ecoteer is leading the way in a new type of volunteer work opportunities abroad and is changing the volunteer and working holiday industry back to what it used to be benefiting both the volunteer and the volunteer project.

We have other opportunities in ecotourism, conservation, humanitarian aid and teaching in other 50 countries.

Highlights: Working with endangered animals and helping them back to health so they can be released back to the wild.

Qualifications: None just the will to work for the good of the animals.

Cost in US$: US120 per week

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: Wants to work hard for the good of the animals.

Age Range: 18-50

This Program is open to American, Asian, Australian, Canadian, European, Kiwi, South African and Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Ecuador Independently

Typically Participants Work in Groups of 10

Application Process Involves:

• Online Application plus Application Assessment

Post-Program Services Include:

• Job and Internship Network

Ecoteer's Mission Statement: To help locally run grass root organisations to achieve their aims via attracting paying volunteers and tourists. Plus we personally help develop and improve the projects we work with to help them to achieve their objectives.

Year Founded: 2005