Being an animal lover involves the feeling of affection, companionship, and compassion towards animals. It is a lifestyle trait where you feel fondness towards animals. You have huge concerns about the well-being of animals and tend to have a great bond with them. So working with animals is one of the topmost priorities for animal lovers.
Making it a career option is the biggest dream where your passion can help you earn revenue. Jobs for animal lovers can be in research, medical care, or training of animals and require particular educational qualifications and degrees. But when your passion turns into your profession, you tend to derive the highest amount of satisfaction.
Listed here are the topmost job opportunities for animal lovers who wish to make a career path out of their passion.
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Animal Caretaker
An animal caretaker’s primary duty is to look after the well-being of animals in zoos, shelters, and clinics. It is their responsibility to look after proper water, food, nourishment, cleanliness of the living areas, and help animals follow a timetable set for their healthy life. They must play with the animals and look out for any signs of illness shown by them.
The national average salary for such jobs is around $24,000 per year. There is no need for any specific degree to get into this occupation. A high school diploma or GED is all that is needed. The job can be physically and emotionally challenging as they look after the animals, feed them, take care of the animals’ grooming, bathing, exercising, and health issues. Not only do they look after the basic needs, but with experience, they may also help to vaccinate the animals under the guidance of a veterinarian. Generally, kennels, zoos, stables, shelter homes, pet stores, aquariums, and even veterinary clinics hire animal caretakers.
Pet Groomers
As the name suggests, a pet groomer helps the pet to look their best. They help in cleaning the animals and trimming their fur. A pet groomer must have a high school diploma and opt to study at a pet grooming school. To become a pet groomer in a zoo, you would generally require a bachelor’s degree in animal science or biology.
The salary of a pet groomer varies from around $18,000 to $34,000 a year. A pet groomer also plays a very crucial role in maintaining the pet’s health by weeding out the initial problems of ear or skin infection and tooth decay. They can simultaneously own their grooming salons for pets. Specialty stores, veterinarian hospitals, kennels, shelter homes, and even high-end resorts hire pet groomers. All you need to be is patient and have high standards of hygiene maintained.
Veterinary Assistant
Veterinarians often employ veterinary assistants to help them take care of animals in the hospital. They help the doctors with everyday tasks. To become a veterinary assistant, you must have a high school diploma. Generally, they tend to have hands-on experience when they start working, but love for animals needs to be the driving force.
They typically earn somewhere around $18,000 to $37,000 a year. Additional certificates help in getting quicker promotions and more prominent positions. The veterinary assistant is usually the first to attend to an injured animal, schedule an appointment, do paperwork, and follow up the process for an animal.
Wildlife Biologists And Zoologists
The main goal of a wildlife biologist or zoologist is to study animals’ interaction with each other in their ecosystem. They learn the in-depth behavior and physical characteristics of animals and their impact on their natural habitat. Conducting experiments and collecting data is the primary job profile. They develop plans to conserve wildlife by researching different species, wildlife populations, breeding, and animal threats.
The minimum qualification needed to be a part of the team is a bachelor’s degree in biology or zoology. If you wish to be an independent worker, then a doctorate is a must. The average salary is approximately $62,300 per year.
Similarly, Marine biologists would study marine life’s characteristics and the environment under the layers of water. It may additionally require them to know scuba diving along with a degree in marine biology. But since the competition is increasing day by day, a master’s degree is recommended to enter this field.
Animal Nutritionist
Just like humans, animals also need food to live, grow, and stay healthy. It is the job of an animal nutritionist to take care of animals’ dietary requirements to eat what is best suited for them. They also note the change in behavior of animals with the difference in the diet.
Zoos, shelter homes, kennels, veterinarians, and even individuals hire an animal nutritionist for animals and pets. A bachelor’s degree in Animal Sciences is needed to become a nutritionist, but a Master’s degree will give you an upper edge. The average salary of an animal nutritionist is around $53,000 per year.
Conclusion
Not only these jobs but there is a long list that you can opt for if you have a passion for animals and want to make money out of it simultaneously. Few other options like an animal trainer, becoming a veterinarian, zookeeper, breeder, animal control officer, veterinary nurse, pet sitter, conservation land manager, ranch manager, animal scientist, fish wardens, dog walker, conservation, and forest technician, is very much in demand.
Your love for animals can help you become successful in your career, and you would earn out of something that you love to do and are passionate about. Generally, when you look out for a job, you tend to either compromise on your passion or the earnings. These are a few options that will give you the utmost job satisfaction along with handsome salaries. These jobs will help you find a balance between your liking and income generation, and your level of commitment and love for animals will grow manifolds.
