Saving Wildcats Outreach and Engagement Placement

Saving Wildcats is a partnership project lead by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), dedicated to Scottish wildcat conservation and recovery, aiming to prevent the extinction of wildcats in Scotland by breeding and releasing them into the wild.

Based at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland‘s Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig, this role will primarily involve assisting the project's outreach and engagement team with:

Running stalls at community events such as Highland Games
Social media content creation and reporting
Drafting responses to general enquiries via email under supervision
Drafting copy for newsletters using Mailchimp
Administrative duties pertaining to outreach and engagement activities, such as updating the mailing list database
Running on site activities focused on wildcats at Highland Wildlife Park

Volunteers may also have the opportunity to gain experience in other aspects of wildcat conservation efforts.

Volunteering will give you the opportunity to contribute directly towards conservation efforts for the critically endangered wildcat in Scotland, as part of the RZSS Saving Wildcats project team. You will learn about the conservation issues affecting wildcats and the actions being taken to prevent their extinction.

This will include developing an understanding of the project’s outreach and engagement work, communications and content generation for wildlife conservation, as well as working in a partnership environment. You will also gain practical experience of stakeholder engagement, attending outreach events within Badenoch and Strathspey and further afield. You will be provided with full training for all aspects of this role.

You will be provided with accommodation (a private room in a shared hostel located in a town near Highland Wildlife Park), expenses to £50 per week, and a discount to be used on-site at Highland Wildlife Park for lunch. Transport to and from the hostel to Highland Wildlife Park can be provided on working days, but you will be responsible for your own transportation outside of working hours so having your own vehicle may be advantageous.

This is a full-time position working the equivalent of a maximum of 37.5 hours per week and will require some out-of-hours and weekend work. We would like the candidate to start on Monday 8 June and commit till Wednesday 9 September.

Specifically, we will need the candidate to work on Saturday 20 June, Friday 3 July, Saturday 4 July, Sunday 5 July, Saturday 18 July, Saturday 1 August, Friday 7 August, Saturday 8 August, Thursday 13 August and Saturday 5 September.

Outside of this, placements are encouraged to take the equivalent of two days off per month in addition to their weekly scheduled days off. Please advise your availability in your application.

RZSS is committed to being fair, open and inclusive. We believe that RZSS benefits from the involvement of volunteers from diverse cultures, perspectives and experiences. We will not discriminate on the grounds of gender, race, disability, age, religious beliefs, and so on. In some cases, extra support may be given to volunteers (e.g. those with disabilities). We expect our volunteers to adhere to the Guidelines on Equality and Diversity.

Find out more about how to apply for this role.