How can I make a life and a career out of helping animals, and how can, if at all, my degree be a part of it?

January 27, 2012 8:58 AM

How can I help animals?

I would like to spend my life really helping animals and making as much of a difference as I possibly can.

I take in a lot of strays and rehabilitate them when needed, but I want to do more. I want my career to be in helping all kinds of animals. I'm not looking to make money, just to be able to live modestly and have food, so where can I find work helping animals?

I'm not really sure where I can make the most difference, though. On the front lines or in legislation? There's many avenues of helping animals, but I don't want to only help strays. I want to really do something about Chinese fur farms, factory farming, and animal abuse.

Right now I'm in school getting my degree in Biochemistry. I love the subject, which is why I chose it, but I am having trouble figuring out what I can do with it. I don't want to work for a company that uses animals in their research, and obviously don't want to do it myself. I'm thinking that my degree will be pretty useless for me in the end.

So, how can I make a life and a career out of helping animals, and how can, if at all, my degree be a part of it?

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Why not become a veterinarian? This gives you (1) expertise and authority on the subject if you take the policy/legislative route and (2) you can make a living helping animals (and their owners).
posted by resurrexit at 9:10 AM on January 27, 2012 [4 favorites]

Biochemistry would be a great precursor to veterinary school.
posted by infinitywaltz at 9:10 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

One thing that could help you narrow down your decisions could be to define, for yourself, exactly what you mean by "helping" animals. Simply "helping" is a very broad goal -- because you could mean:

* Taking care of their medical needs
* enforcing anti-cruelty laws for the ASPCA
* Running a no-kill shelter
* Starting a political advocacy group against no-kill shelters, fur farms, factory farming, etc.

Those are all roles in which you'd be "helping animals," but they are four VERY different careers:

* Veterinarian
* Criminal Justice with a concentration on animals and livestock
* Non-profit management
* Public policy and law

I would suggest that rather than ONLY thinking about "what job would let me help animals," I'd also spend some time thinking about "what am I good at doing and how can I apply that TO helping animals". What I mean is, if you know that you'd be awful dealing with medicine, but you think you have a knack for writing, maybe you could turn your writing talents to some kind of grant-writing position at a shelter. You say that you've taken in strays -- maybe look into how to start a shelter of your own; that'd take some training in running a non-profit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:21 AM on January 27, 2012 [9 favorites]

Go to your local animal shelters, find the one in need of the most help, and volunteer with different parts of the shelter. I've been a volunteer vet assistant, adoption counselor, intake specialist (this will make you hate people), dog rehabilitator, etc. You'll learn if you're up for any of those roles by gaining first hand experience and helping while doing it.

In regard to your factory farming issues and etc., if you haven't already, become vegetarian/vegan. You should then consider going to local meetups of vegetarian/animal rights groups (they end up being basically one and the same) and talking to them about advocacy and the local paths you can start taking immediately as well as getting info from them on advocacy career paths in the region. And/or, start a campus group if there isn't one or join the existing one. That sort of undergraduate passion can lead to job opportunities at more well-established animal rights non-profits. Or you'll learn you don't like that career path.

Basically, my advice boils down to - don't wait, start now! Take as many paths as you can find, and you'll soon be able to whittle down the options into something you'd like to do as a career.
posted by vegartanipla at 9:25 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

You might consider a PhD in ecology and conservation, your biochemistry UG degree would set you up perfectly.
posted by biffa at 9:26 AM on January 27, 2012

Right now I'm in school getting my degree in Biochemistry. I love the subject, which is why I chose it, but I am having trouble figuring out what I can do with it. I don't want to work for a company that uses animals in their research, and obviously don't want to do it myself. I'm thinking that my degree will be pretty useless for me in the end.

So, how can I make a life and a career out of helping animals, and how can, if at all, my degree be a part of it?

That degree doesn't sound at all useless to me for helping animals. Two things come immediately to mind that you could do (though you would probably have to go to grad school):

-Work on developing alternatives to animal testing.

-Study the brains of people who enjoy/don't care about inflicting pain on other people and animals.
posted by cairdeas at 10:56 AM on January 27, 2012

If you decide to become a veterinarian, you could go to work for the USDA (if you're in the U.S.). A friend of mine is a livestock inspector. I'm actually not sure of her exact title, but she travels around making sure livestock are being treated properly.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 3:25 PM on January 27, 2012

Good suggestions already. If I might add to the list: spend a summer doing an internship like wildlife rehabilitation or volunteering with a nonprofit or the humane society. This can really help you narrow things down as well as give you experience to put on your resume. I've worked in a vet hospital, wildlife rehabilitation, and in captive facilities. Those experiences are what really helped me best decide what I wanted to do with my career.

Some of the best resources are your advisors and professors- not only can they help you A LOT, but making relationships with them can make them great references down the road!

Good luck!
posted by biograd08 at 4:39 PM on January 27, 2012

veterinarian with your background. but i would also strongly urge you to consider animal advocacy through law and public policy. there are plenty of veterinarians out there but i feel as though there are far too few animal advocates with law backgrounds—and i think that kind of person can find a place in a number of venues.
posted by violetk at 5:19 PM on January 27, 2012