Visit tropical Thailand to learn about and work with zoo animals on this special 2-week Zoo Medicine course!

Spend two weeks exploring tropical Thailand learning about zoo animals and the wildlife that call this country home! This program includes two weeks of focused instruction and hands-on labs all about wild animals under human care.

This program puts you alongside a veterinarian whose job is to teach you while spending two weeks going behind-the-scenes to learn zoo medicine and management. Your veterinarian will teach you about a variety of topics in zoo medicine, from taxonomy to enrichment and welfare. At the Chiang Mai Night Safari, you will learn how zoo vets care for their animals, including restraint and handling demos of birds, reptiles, and other animals. Your experience will culminate in designing and implementing your own enrichment project.


Who It’s For

This program is designed for university-aged students who are interested in becoming veterinarians or working professionally with animals, particularly with a focus on zoo animals and wildlife. Participants must be at least 18 years old. Most are 18 to 25, but we also accept full-time undergraduates over 25.

There are no prerequisites for this program. You do not need to be in school currently to apply. Individuals of any nationality may apply.
Applicants should be comfortable working with animals and getting their hands, and everything else, dirty.

You’ll also spend a whole day at Elephant Nature Park learning about rescued elephants!
Evenings and weekends are filled with fun activities such as zip-lining and exploring street markets.

Highlights

• Visit beautiful temples and participate in cultural activities in and out of the city
• Get to know your veterinarian instructor and pick their brain about the vet school experience and life as a vet
• Get a behind-the-scenes tour of a real working zoo hospital
• Learn about restraint, physical examination, and treatment of zoo animals, possibly including parrots (such as macaws), raptors (such as hawks and owls), small mammals (such as meerkats), large mammals (such as horses and donkeys), and reptiles (such as iguanas, bearded dragons, Argentine tegus, sulcata tortoises, king snakes, and pythons)
• Spend a day at an elephant sanctuary in the Thai jungle
• Practice evaluating enclosures according to current scientific standards
• Practice evaluating blood smears from mammals, birds, and reptiles
• Design and implement your own enrichment project and learn how to support captive animal welfare
• Learn how to make (and shoot!) blow darts and understand how they are used in wildlife medicine
• Visit the public side of Chiang Mai Zoo

Some of the topics explored during this program are:

• Mammal taxonomy including carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores
• Avian anatomy, physiology, and taxonomy
• Reptile anatomy, physiology, and taxonomy
• Wildlife in Thailand
• Safe handling and restraint of a variety of species from various taxonomic groups
• How to perform a nose-to-tail exam on multiple species of zoo animals
• Zoo animal husbandry and medicine
• Wild animal behavior and enrichment in human care
• Conservation and wildlife trafficking