What qualifications do I need to work at an animal shelter?

It depends on the shelter as to whether you can be a paid employee. Some small shelters only have volunteers but there are many larger shelters that have paid workers as well as volunteers, such as the Humane Society and the RSPCA (or SPCA depending on where you are). There are degrees that would help you gain employment at a shelter but many shelters require no formal education. It would depend what you want to do at the shelter as to what would help you gain that position, for example if you want to work in reception or the office you would obviously need different skills than someone working in dog adoptions or caring for cat strays. The best way to gain skills to work at a shelter is to become experienced working with animals first. Volunteering is a great way to do this. You could also complete some basic pet care courses, dog training course or even a more indepth animal behaviour science degree. Some courses even have a shelter working focus area built in. I would suggest you ...  more