Hey /an/.
I'm wondering how many of you have an animal related job, and if you actually make a living off of it?
I'm in a shitty place wondering what the hell to do with life. Because, my whole life has revolved around animals. Ever since my first memories of 3-4, I've loved helping animals and learning as much about them as possible. I breed reptiles, and rats currently. And I've helped with provincial projects reintroducing and breeding endangered species. But that was purely volunteer.
But there are no careers that haven't been raped, and are too plenty of too make a living from, or require substantial debt to crawl from after.
My ultimate goal is to help animals who are actually in need, or breeding programs. Ever since I was a kid barely out of diapers I was always in awe at rescue shows, but those are purely volunteer as well.
I've worked my many years at minimal, and I'm starting to really hate that I haven't done anything substantial with my life or career.
Get a good, professional, business job and then just volunteer on the weekends.
Doing anything in veterinary medicine or 'helping animals' is soul crushing.
>>2108108
This. Also if animals are your passion, it's not something you want to make a career out of, because you will come to hate it. It sucks all the joy out of it in the long run and is not worth it. I made my living in the horse industry for 10 years and it nearly completely destroyed my passion for these animals and desire to be anywhere near a barn. Thankfully I got out before it was too late.
>>2108124
I dunno, I'm trying to be a marine biologist since I have a passion for the ocean. I've still seen marine biologists that are still really passionate about the ocean and their fish after years in the hobby.
Animal control officers here make like $30/hr to start (minimum wage is 11.25 just to put that in perspective). Here's the minimum requirements as per a job posting they recently put up. An animal care program can be completed in one year, vet tech in 2. Not really too hard and it pays quite well.
That might be worth looking into for yourself?
Idunno if this quite counts but I've been an audio engineer and acoustician for many years. A couple years ago I moved out of the city into the sticks where there isn't much for me to do in my spare time, in terms of music production or acoustic consulting, so I've made the best of it by doing nature recordings. I started with just a simple portable handheld recorder but I've built-up a pretty high quality rig that I can use my good microphones for. Now i'm recording as much as possible to document my surroundings (various wildlife, weather, locations, etc) and I'm really focusing on this. I'm hoping that someday this can become a job or at least a side job for me - either recording for films/documentaries, or taking expeditions out and teaching/mentoring others. It annoys me that there aren't really any good outlets for recordists - even National Geographic has a whole community for photographers where they run contests and feature submitted photos and stuff but nothing for recodings. I would fucking kill to work for NatGeo or the BBC or similar traveling with the crew to record the audio.
I think I might wait until I get a really special or rare recoding and maybe share it on their FB page and see if anyone notices. The 17yr cicadas are due out this spring so maybe I can get a bitchin' capture of that and it'll actually be something special.
>>2108085
Vet student here.
If you were considering vet med, I'd STRONGLY advise going to shadow a vet for at least a few weeks and then re-evaluate. Vet isn't all cuddling fluffy animals, and the road to get there is extremely long, tiring plus the debt in the states especially is unreal.
Have you thought about being a vet tech? If you enjoy working with animals, it's quite hands on if you can cope with the working environment and certainly a lot less debt laden than vet.
>>2108552
it mightn't be all sunshine and roses (nothing really is I guess) but we need you anon. also, debt schmet. it can be managed
>>2108558
Oh, I love my degree dearly, however I do know it is not for everyone. Hence why I always suggest shadowing: it'll rapidly tell you how much you love the job, and more experience is never a bad thing for an application form.
However, it also gives you a better idea of the realities of the job. I've seen quite a few students go see practice only to find out it is entirely the opposite of what they thought it would be.
Please don't get me wrong, being a vet is an amazing job, it's just not for everyone.
>>2108577
>tfw made it to interview stage for vet school 4 times and got shot down every time
>>2108602
they could probably smell the peanut butter m8
>>2108603
No, I'm just a sperglord and shit up interviews something fierce. 4.0 GPA double major in Biology and Chemistry, around 5,000 hours large and small animal veterinary assisting/shadowing experience, plenty of good references, I just choke during interviews. I've even spent money on courses or whatever to improve interviewing skills but they didn't help.
>>2108602
Four times? Good grief, we have an application limit in the UK of one interview for each University (a few will do two interviews, but rarely- normally if they don't like you at interview that's it.)
Sorry /an/on. However, if it's your dream then don't give up!
>>2108606
dude this is crazy. with that kind of ability and proven dedication it seems criminal that they wouldn't accept you. wtf?
>>2108609
Because it's a ridiculously competitive course. We had 2200 applicants for our course for 120 places- every single one of them had the grades, everyone who got an interview (around 900 of us) had extensive work experience close/matching/more than that of the anon posting.
They have to differentiate between us, and I'm afraid it comes down to interview performance. Mind, we had a days interview undertaking various activities- was it just a face to face anon? It's harsh if it was, but keep trying!
>>2108610
have you considerd pic related?
>>2108608
Honestly at this point I'm considering just going to medical school.
I'm an eco-tect, meaning I design platforms that support and sustain ecosystems.
it's flora AND fauna though, so I'm not sure if it counts.
>>2108627
I highly doubt med school will be any better in terms of competition- in fact I'd imagine it will be even more fierce.
But best of luck to you!
>>2108674
In the united states it's literally easier to get into medical school than veterinary school, because there are far fewer veterinary schools than medical schools, therefore less competition.
I work at a petsmart and it is utterly soul crushing.
>>2108708
Two questions famalam:
1. Why?
2. Is it Pet Smart or Pet's Mart
>>2108710
Because I wasn't able to finish highschool due to homelife and its the only job I could find where I got to even mildly deal with herps.
Pretty sure its pet's mart because its spelled like PET(ball that I assume is an apostraphy)sMART
>>2108712
you should ride it out awhile, and get your GED when you're ready. then the world is your oyster to go to a state or community school for a cert or associates or bachelors or whatever
>>2108402
ACO is usually a division off of the police, so you'd need to be a police officer first and then be moved to ACO.
ACO is generally used as a punishment because 90% of your job is picking up roadkill
>>2108602
This is one of the cases where men actually have a better chance of getting into the school/job because the field is so over saturated with women
I work minimum wage at a shelter. It's pretty rough work, I wouldn't be able to live off of it alone
>>2108552
>shadow a vet
SO much this! I was in a similar situation to you (OP) and just wanted to help animals. After a few months of working as a vet tech I realized I was coming home angry at the world and losing my compassion. One incident in particular made me reevaluate my situation:
>walk-in (someone without an appointment) comes in 15 minutes before we close
>owner complaining about dog unable to keep eye open
>think owner is being over dramatic and treat her as sort of a nuisance
>ends up dog got thorn stuck in eye and would need immediate surgery
>dog was pretty old so owner decided to put the dog down
>assisted in the euthanasia and bagged up the dog
>clocked out after the papers were filed
>drove home in tears
I was so ashamed of myself. As a vet tech it was my duty to show compassion to pets and owners and I failed. That woman walked in hoping for some eye drops and walked out completely empty handed.
Working with animals is definitely not all fluffy kitties and puppies - not even close. That being said, I have the utmost respect for all who work in the animal field; it's not meant for me but they serve an amazing purpose.
>>2109115
ugh man I couldn't do it
I'm getting a degree in animal behavior, working in the kennel of a shelter at the moment just to make some money to live. I love it, but I know it's certainly not for everyone
>>2109115
Ugh, this reminds me of something. I don't work for a vet or anything, but the customer service for 24PetWatch (microchip company) so if someone finds a pet they'll call us and we contact the owner.
Anyway,
>get a call from vet clinic
>great dane puppy (13 months on our records) was hit by a car
>she's alive but injured and they permission from the owner to proceed with treatment
>call owner
>his exact words "nah, I don't give a fuck. put her down. she should've had enough sense to stay in the fucking yard"
>tell vet what he says, she's kinda shocked and says umm ok
I called the rescue who initially adopted the pet out but I work overnights so I didn't reach anyone. I checked the file the next day and it said that someone from the rescue did end up calling back but we never found out if the dog was put down or not. I was so upset about the owner, though. if you're not going to supervise your puppy outside or train it to stay close how can you be mad when it wanders...some people should never have pets
>>2108609
With each new application cycle, all pre-existing information of past applications are trashed.
They're recognize your name, maybe, but you start fresh every round.
I'm a (soon to be former) sumariner.
Yoy see dolphins jumping through the bow wave around the sonar dome whenever we're on the surface. Does that count?
>>2109328
that's cool beans. i'm fascinted by submarines and hydrosonics and that.
Become a biologist
Would love to be a bet but
>shit at math
>shit at biology
What do I do now?
>>2109686
Get your undergrad degree in a nonscience major and just study extremely hard for your pre-reqs.
