When wanting and planning to volunteer with animals abroad, there are a few things you might want to pay attention to before booking your volunteering with a certain organization or project.
- More common in SA (South Africa) but not exclusively- some “reserves” or “rehabilitation centers” mostly and usually breed lions and then sell them for canned hunting* activities. If you’re offered petting lion cubs for surrogacy, walking lions in the bush for their exercise or other activities that include hands-on handling/interaction with animals that are supposed to be reintroduced to their natural habitat – take a closer look at the place and project. Make sure the company you’re in contact with has done its own checkups on the center.
- Watch out for projects and companies that offer elephant rides, Cheetah photoshoots and things of that sort. Same reasoning as in sign number 1 – those wild animals obviously could not return to nature after acquiring certain domesticated properties (like letting humans lay on them for example). Representatives and staff might explain that those activities help fund the running of the facility and are necessary, but you might never know if those animals were kidnapped by nature for the sole purpose of tourism profit. That being said, in some cases, those animals might not be able to be reintroduced to the wild, which makes it more legit and within the moral code for wildlife conservation. If you see the project that interests you offers or suggest such activities, make sure to deepen your research before booking and ask for clarifications.
- The price. When choosing a project you should always look at what you’re paying for. Unless (and in that case, go for it) you find with spending significant amounts that won’t be directly donated to where you want them to be – look carefully. FAQ in every volunteering website should have a “Where does my money go” (or something of that sort) answer. To make things easier to understand, here is a quote from a random volunteering site regarding the fees.
Although it’s difficult to give you an exact figure, somewhere between 30% and 100% of your contribution will be applied directly to supporting your overseas project through financial support.
To conclude, do your research and ask questions. Ask for clarifications and try to figure out how much of the money you’re spending will actually make it to the animals you want to help. Most of all, make sure you go to a place that treats the animals in the decency they deserve and that would let you have a proper, great experience.
Good Luck!!
SDconservation 
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