Get Involved
Become a Member
A MARS membership is a great way of getting a little bit more involved with the MARS Wildlife Rescue Centre. It’s a way of saying you care and shows you are willing to step up and make your support concrete.
Membership entitles you to attend the Annual General Meeting held each year in May. You can help elect MARS board members and vote on the principles and policies that guide the MARS Wildlife Rescue Centre. You will also receive our eNewsletter. Having a strong membership base also helps demonstrate our organization’s support in the community when we apply for grants.
Most of all, you will be helping us to help wildlife on northern Vancouver Island. Your fee goes towards the care and rehabilitation of injured, ill or orphaned wildlife.
Memberships are renewed every February until the end of the month. New memberships taken out after October 1st will be valid for one year after the following February.
Membership Types
Become a Volunteer
Did you know?
… MARS Wildlife Rescue depends almost exclusively on volunteers? It’s true. There are over 100 volunteers working at MARS, filling every position imaginable.
Join Us
So why not give it a go, join us, and share in this incomparable opportunity to be in service to wild nature. We look forward to your application.
Work With and For Wildlife
WILDLIFE HOSPITAL VOLUNTEERS
At the Wildlife Hospital, we have positions for wildlife caregivers, ambassador bird caregivers, housekeeping volunteers, and transportation volunteers. We also accept work experience volunteers. We literally could not treat the 1000+ patients annually without the generosity of all these individuals. And of course, even if you’ve had no experience working in a wildlife hospital setting, our professional wildlife rehabbers will teach you what to do.
VISITOR CENTRE VOLUNTEERS
At the Visitor Centre, we are seeking gift shop volunteers, and people from all walks of life to work with the education and interpretive tours. We also depend on volunteers for on-going habitat stewardship and property development. We are looking for people with special skills: gardeners, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, heavy-duty machinery operators, labourers, and shovelers, too. We also have a cohort of people working off-site to raise money for MARS through park trail maintenance.
OTHER
Or perhaps you have a skill we didn’t even know we needed!
Work Experience Program
MARS Wildlife Rescue is an education centre and a wildlife hospital that rescues, rehabilitates, and releases sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife on Vancouver Island. Our Mission is to conserve and protect native wildlife and its natural habitat through education and rehabilitation
Our rural property is in Merville, British Columbia on central Vancouver Island in the beautiful Comox Valley. Our hospital is staffed by a manager, hospital team lead, three wildlife rehabilitators and many dedicated volunteers. As a work experience volunteer, you will become part of a team of like-minded people and will be treated with both respect and friendship. MARS accepts student volunteer position applications all year round.
We are looking to fill spots beginning now and into the coming year. These are unpaid volunteer positions and are usually filled on a one-to-three-month placement basis. We accept stays as little as two weeks and are happy to accommodate longer-term volunteers as well.
What to Expect
As a work experience volunteer, you can expect to be involved in all aspects of the rehabilitation process, although your main responsibilities will be diet preparation, feeding, and cleaning. Volunteers must be willing to work long hours and perform repetitive daily chores and tasks, and constant cleaning of the facility, including laundry, sweeping, and cage cleaning, as our wild animals are constantly creating a mess.
Along with the grunt work, you will also learn how to properly calculate and administer medications to animals, proper rescue and rehab techniques, as well as how to handle all types of wildlife, including songbirds, raptors, seabirds, mammals, and occasionally reptiles. You will be expected to take part in animal and bird rescues and releases, participate in building projects and grounds maintenance, and participate in our community outreach program.
Spring, summer and early autumn are what we call Baby Season. This is when we receive the greatest number of patients during the year. Be forewarned, work at the wildlife hospital can be very demanding! In the summer, our skilled caregivers typically work a variety of shifts between 7 am – 10 pm, with occasional rescues, pickups, and drop offs outside of regular hours. The schedule at MARS can be intense, but you will also be given time off to enjoy the beautiful scenery Vancouver Island has to offer.
MARS Wildlife Rescue offers very basic housing and occasionally some meals, but for the most part you will be responsible for your own food and other amenities.
Previous wildlife experience is not a prerequisite. Come here prepared to give 100% to our wild patients and you will have an extraordinary experience.
Work Experience Volunteer
The work program experience at MARS is something I highly recommend. The staff are not only incredibly knowledgeable but also warm, kind, and welcoming. The local volunteers are equally amazing and make the experience even more rewarding. I came with a passion for small mammals, but I left with a newfound love for birds. The location is stunning, and being able to walk to the beach on your days off is such a bonus, especially in the summer. I truly hope to return and volunteer again one day. I can’t recommend this facility enough. You won’t regret it. You’ll leave with invaluable knowledge and friendships that will last a lifetime.
Interested applicants should be:
- self-motivated
- hard-working
- respectful
- cooperative
- independent
- responsible
- willing to work as part of a team
Our website is rich with information about MARS. Check out our Facebook and Instagram to get to know us better. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to hearing from you!
Submit an ApplicationJob Opportunities
Thank you for considering a role with the MARS team. At this time, we do not have any paid positions available. Please check again for future job opportunities.
Support Us
Donate Funds
Support wildlife through one time or monthly gifts, legacy giving, or adoption.
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See current and everyday needs and learn what items we can and cannot accept.
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