Volunteer | North Carolina Zoo

2025 Volunteer Season is Now Closed
Applications for the 2026 volunteer season will be available on December 1, 2025.

Embark on a Wild Adventure

Volunteer

Join the North Carolina Zoo’s Volunteer Services Program and become part of a dynamic team of individuals who support the Zoo through service and contribute about 43,000 hours annually.

Volunteers enhance the work of Zoo staff by sharing their time and talents, helping expand our programs and impact. No experience? No problem. Our staff is committed to helping new volunteers succeed by providing the tools, resources, and training!

Zoo staff provide all the training and support you need. If you have time and a passion to inspire, we would love to have you!

Please see below for current volunteer opportunities.

A large giraffe's head reaches over a wooden fence to eat a treat from the hand of a young girl wearing a bright pink jacket. The girl is smiling as she offers the food. A zoo worker in a yellow shirt stands between the giraffe and the girl, supervising the interaction. The scene takes place outdoors on a sunny day with trees in the background.

Watch and Learn More about Volunteering at the Zoo

Volunteer Opportunities

Start your volunteer journey by choosing a category below.

A group of approximately twenty adults, all wearing yellow polo shirts, stands together posing on a gravel parking lot with a dense forest in the background.

Ages 16 and Up

Three zoo or park employees wearing bright yellow uniform shirts are standing near an animal enclosure. The center person, with long, dark, curly hair, is looking down at a tablet or handheld device.

Ages 12 and Up with Their Parent or Guardian

An Educator is talking with a young white girl in pink at the Mud Cafe with a steel counter behind her that is littered with kitchen utensils.

Ages 12-17

A group of five volunteers is working outdoors in a wooded area surrounded by a chain-link fence, loading various items, including cardboard, into a wheelbarrow.

Single Day of Service

Seasonal opportunities are available for businesses, organizations, and service groups to volunteer together to make a difference in just one day.

Five Zoo volunteers wearing yellow shirts and black lanyards posing, arms around each other, for the camera in the lush Africa Plaza.

Have questions about the volunteer program? Click here!

Other Ways to Be Involved

A woman with dark hair, wearing a blue NC Zoo uniform and black rubber boots stands next to a Zebra and handing it a snack. Two other Zebras stand grazing next to them in a grassy field with hay sprinkled on the ground, surrounded by trees.

Working at the North Carolina Zoo is meaningful and rewarding! And, there's so much more to do here than caring for the animals!

A woman with a blonde ponytail and wearing glasses and a yellow shirt stands holding a tablet in front of a handrail on a sunny day. In front of her is a barrier of bushy green plants. An Elephant stands proudly in a field in the background.

Internship Opportunities

The North Carolina Zoo offers a variety of exciting and unique internship opportunities.