WANTED: Veterinarian for wildlife sanctuary in Malawi

WANTED: Veterinarian to work at an African wildlife sanctuary

The Lilongwe Wildlife Centre is Malawi’s only internationally accredited wildlife sanctuary counting the likes of the Tusk Trust, Born Free Foundation and Stichting AAP amongst our supporters.  As a ‘People and Wildlife’ project we also have a number of environmental education and outreach programmes working together with the local community and have won awards for our work. 

We currently house around 200 wild residents including baboons, monkeys, antelopes, reptiles, birds, a lion and a leopard, and there are new intakes every week.  We work to the highest animal care and welfare standards and have an active release programme, returning any rescued animals back to the wild wherever possible.  With such a busy animal care department we’re looking for a qualified veterinarian to join the LWC team for 6-9 months. 

Key duties and responsibilities are as follows:

• Monitor the health status of our animals and give treatment in case of injuries and illness
• Perform regular health checks on all our animals
• Manage our animal care clinic:
  • perform stock check, and order medication whenever required
  • Keep the clinic clean and organized and maintain all veterinary equipment
  • Keep all the veterinary records up to date and organized
• Report to the Animal Care Manager to up-date and improve our veterinary, general and orphan care Standard Operation Procedures
• Develop, up-date and improve the pre- and post re-release health monitoring program for the release animals
• Assist the Animal Care Manager with the rehabilitation process of all the animals
• Give training to the animal care team to recognize health problems
• Give veterinary assistance during animal rescues

There will also be the opportunity to work at our sister project, Kuti, which is a 2000 hectare wildlife reserve with a wide range of large mammals such as zebra, giraffe and sable.  Since we work in partnership with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife the successful candidate might also be required to travel to other national parks to help with other wildlife emergencies.

The position will suit someone who is a confident, hard working and outgoing team player and can handle pressure and the unpredictable nature of working in a developing country such as Malawi.  You will relish the challenge of working and living at an African wildlife sanctuary alongside our dedicated and motivated local staff as well as international volunteers.  You should also have some wildlife experience, and the more the better.

Terms of position:

This is a temporary and voluntary position. However we will cover on-site accommodation and basic meals and provide a £125 stipend for basic expenditures.  On successful completion of a 6 month stay there will also be a contribution towards a flight of up to £750. 

Application Deadline:

There is no application deadline as we are looking to fill the position as soon as possible, so suitable candidates will be assessed immediately after application and until the position is fulfilled…so please apply as soon as possible!  This will also be a rolling position so if you have an expression of interest for the future you are also welcome to get in touch.

Application procedure:

Please send your CV and a cover letter by e-mail to Mr. J. Iepema, Animal Care Manager of the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre: Animalcare@llwc.org. Please mention within your letter when you will be available to fulfill this position.

For more information about our project you can read our annual report here: http://www.lilongwewildlife.org/news/LWT_annual_report_public.pdf

You can find out more about Kuti at www.kuti-malawi.org.