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.

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 by end month. New memberships taken out after October 1st will be valid for one year after the following February.

Membership Type	Membership Fee
Individual	$15.00
Senior (60+)	$10.00
Student	$10.00
Family	$25.00
Corporate	$250.00

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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.

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!

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.

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Work Experience Program

Mentorship and education are among our core guiding principles at MARS. As a result, every year the MARS Wildlife Hospital offers young aspiring wildlife rehabilitators an opportunity to gain hands on experience working with injured, ill or orphaned wildlife.

What to Expect

The Wildlife Hospital is staffed by a wildlife rehabilitation manager, assistant wildlife rehabilitation manager, a wildlife rehabilitator, 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 respect and friendship.

You can expect to be involved in all aspects of the rehabilitation process, although your main responsibilities will be diet preparation, feeding, and cleaning. You will also participate in animal rescues and releases, treatment administration, building projects, grounds maintenance, and our community outreach program.

Spring, summer, and early autumn are considered "Baby Season". This is when we receive the greatest number of patients. We care for many different species of wildlife native to Vancouver Island, including songbirds, raptors,

waterfowl, fawns, raccoons, and other small mammals. Be forewarned, work at the Wildlife Hospital can be very demanding! In the summer, our volunteer caregivers typically work varying shifts between 7 am – 10 pm, with occasional night feedings. The schedule can be intense, but you will also be given time off to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Vancouver Island. MARS offers very basic housing, linens, cooking utensils, and bicycles for student use. You are responsible for you own food and meals, which you can plan on your own or coordinate with other students!

We accept work experience volunteers from all over the world, with a variety of different educational backgrounds. You must be at least 19 years of age and have a current Tetanus vaccination. We do not require our work experience volunteers to have any previous wildlife knowledge, nor do they have to be students. Come here prepared to give 100% to our wild patients and you will have an extraordinary experience.

If you are interested in volunteering with us to learn about and care for a variety of different wildlife species, MARS might be the perfect place for you!