Britain truly is a nation of animal lovers, spending in excess of ?520 million each year on new pets, and shelling out billions for their upkeep. We all love the zoo-oriented shows on television, but how many of us are willing to take the extra step of volunteering with animals and helping them in their own environments?

Home and Away

It's encouraging that about a quarter of cats that become pets in Britain now come from rescue centres. Working with animals that have been abused or abandoned can be difficult: they will be anxious, and you have to feed them, settle them into the new environment of your home, and nurture them back to confidence. It can be a trying time for the pet and owner alike ? and messy too. Now from that little kitten scale things up to the size of a lion cub. This is the kind of task that goes on in the African version of animal rescue centres.

The Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre in South Africa opens its gates not just to sick and injured wildlife, but also to a host of volunteers from abroad keen to work with the animals there. This is the kind of place where you might find yourself helping to bottle feed an orphaned lion cub. A growing number of graduates and young professionals are coming here for volunteer placements, exchanging the grind of working life for the rewards of wildlife.

Working with animals

Moholoholo is one of many opportunities to get 'hands on'. There are a number of holiday packages and long-term volunteering opportunities out there. Game reserves will take in volunteers to help with park maintenance. This could include checking the electric fences and clearing trails, as well as monitoring animal migrations. Wildlife capture & care is an exciting concept, conjuring images of the kind of work with animals where you are chasing after them in jeep, or trying to track them at a distance.

There are similar projects in India and Sri Lanka too, and volunteering with animals is not restricted to the countryside either. In Jaipur, the Animal Rescue and Care project seeks out mistreated animals in the busy city, and tries to promote community awareness of their plight. The beauty of all the projects is that most require no veterinary experience, only a motivation to work with animals and make a difference.

It's no wonder that these wildlife conservation projects are becoming more popular. Since the early years of 'Save the Whale', the concept of nature conservation has risen dramatically in our society's consciousness. Animal charities have always earned a generous bite of our annual donations, but as concerns about global warming spread, so does the awareness of the animals that depend on endangered habitat. Not long ago you were unlikely to hear of the phrase "endangered habitat" unless it came from the mouth of David Attenborough. Now anyone with a few weeks to spare can emulate Attenborough by volunteering to work with animals up close for a rewarding and life-changing experience abroad.