DuPage County Animal Care & Control is accepting applications for Animal Care Interns to assist the animal caretaking and veterinary staff. Interns will have the opportunity to participate in all aspects of animal care, training, and enrichment alongside experienced staff in an open-admission animal control facility.

The Animal Care Internship is the perfect opportunity for college students to gain experience in: shelter intake and adoption procedures, animal care, veterinary medicine, animal behavior and training, and so much more! Interns will gain valuable skills relevant to future careers in veterinary medicine, animal behavior, animal training, and animal husbandry for a variety of species of domestic animal. This internship is ideal for someone who has a passion for animal welfare and wants to take an active role in improving the lives of homeless pets.

• Clean cages, feed and exercise all animals housed in the shelter
• Wash dishes, litter pans, and small animal cages
• Sort and store donations
• Observe, record, and discuss animal behavior, and animal health
• Participate in behavioral assessments and participate in group training and information-sharing with Veterinary Behaviorist Consultant Dr. Sarah Bennett, Certified Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant Allie Bender, etc.
• Assist with shelter training and enrichment programs
• Counsel potential adopters and help with the pet selection and adoption process
• Facilitate animal intakes and reclaims
• On a limited basis: support the veterinarian and veterinary technician in surgery prep, health checks, vaccinations, and microchipping
• Secondary Responsibilities:
• Intermediate photography and videography of shelter animals
• Documenting adoption and rescue stories
• Cropping and sizing images for adoption websites
• Writing bios for animals on adoption sites
• Working with staff and volunteers to create and post social media content
• Data entry and filing
• Answering phones
• Process adoption applications and assist with customer service and other miscellaneous volunteer projects as needed

What Interns Will Take Away

• The history, services, and basic operations of DuPage County Animal Care & Control
• Opportunity to learn from and interact with a wide variety of shelter animals with a wide range of medical and behavioral needs
• Gain professional hands-on animal care experience at an open admission county animal shelter
• Receive a basic education in animal handling, animal behavior, animal body language, animal training, animal sheltering and shelter medicine from staff and leading experts
• Gain a basic understanding of open admission animal shelter operations, volunteer management, herd health management, animal control, and the laws that govern each
• Work with like-minded animal-loving professionals

​How to Apply
To apply all applicants must for through the official Human Resources Department of DuPage County. The following link: http://www.dupageco.org/hr/ will take you to the Humane Resources page. The job that you are applying for is listed as Intern, 9170. When applying please include a cover letter indicating which internship program you are interested in.  Please also send an email to HumaneEducation@dupageco.org when you have submitted your application to Human Resources so that our staff can follow up on it.

Once an application is submitted to Human Resources it will be reviewed and sent to Animal Control. Once applications have been received a staff member at DuPage County Animal Care & Control will reach out for a phone interview and to schedule an in-person interview to follow. Applications will be due by April 1st. Internships will begin mid-May.