Work Placements

Prickles and Paws Hedgehog Rescue offer work experience placements for students aged 18 years old and above on Veterinary, Animal Management and Conservation related courses, or for people interested in working the sector. 

These placements are usually organised as a ‘block’ where students attend for a minimum of 1 week  and a maximum of 5 weeks.  Block placements are available from May to October. 

*Veterinary students – Please note we are only able to provide Pre-clinical Animal Husbandry placements and not Clinical EMS placements as we do not have a Veterinarian working on site with us.

Work Experience placements will enable students to gain experience and increase their knowledge of the following areas:

  • Handling: learning to safely handle and uncurl hedgehogs.

  • Biosecurity and hygiene: use of appropriate disinfectants and PPE to reduce the risk of zoonotic disease transmission. 

  • Husbandry: learn about accommodation requirements, daily cleaning out, nutrition, food preparation, medications and treatment protocols. Gain experience in routine care such as claw clipping.

  • Health checking: carry out basic head to toe health checks learning about common ailments and problems. Assist staff in the triaging of new admissions.

  • Faecal sampling: students will have the option to learn how how to carry out faecal sampling using the rescues microscope.

  • Hoglet rearing: depending upon the time of year students may be able to assist in hand feeding hoglets and learn about the hand rearing process.

We rely greatly on volunteers and students, especially from June to October when the rescue is running at full capacity.  Therefore, we require that students are reliable and punctual. Placements are hands on and can be physically demanding. You will be required to attend 5 days out of 7 and complete full days. We are unable to provide accommodation and would recommend checking public transport availability, if required, before booking.

What will a work placement at Prickles & Paws involve? Watch our video to find out: