Applications are open for 2025
Spend a full week on-site and behind-the-scenes at the AZA-accredited Toledo Zoo, a top American zoo, to learn all about healthy animal care and upkeep in a zoo setting. This program is open to participants aged 18 and up.
This program is designed to help you and your team learn all about zoo management. Each day, your teaching vets and the zoo staff will help you to understand and practice different aspects of managing a zoo and its animals. You will have the opportunity to spend time with the animal health and nutrition departments as well as complete lab work with veterinary technicians and participate in veterinary rounds.
Your program will cover such topics as:
This program provides the unique experience of working directly with staff and veterinarians as they work behind the scenes caring for zoo animals. You will get an in-depth view of what it takes to provide healthcare and nutrition for a wide range of wildlife species in a zoo setting. Each day includes a full schedule of labs, field lectures and hands-on practice throughout the zoo.
“Loop Abroad provided me with the truest experience of what it means to be and become a healer in the arts of veterinary medicine.”
Grace B., Texas Zoo Management Experience 2022, Virginia Tech
This program is designed for students ages 18 and over who are interested in veterinary medicine and in learning more about successfully caring for wildlife and exotics in a zoo setting.
There are no prerequisites for this program. You do not need to be in school currently to apply. Individuals of any nationality may apply.
This program is limited to a maximum of 10 participants to ensure that everyone gets up-close experience in their time at the zoo.
This is an extremely rare opportunity to learn in a small group with the veterinarians and keepers at one of the most respected zoos in the United States. Participants are expected to be positive, attentive, fully engaged, and eager to learn.
Spring 2025
March 9- March 15, 2025Summer 2025
July 20- July 26, 2025
You will receive a certificate for 40 service hours per program week upon completion.
Many of your fieldwork hours can be classified as research hours, veterinary hours, or animal experience hours. Students can calculate their own record of research hours for their VMCAS or other applications.
From Monday through Friday, you and your cohort will be full time at The Toledo Zoo, a leading AZA-accredited zoo. The zoo will be our classroom, lab, and field learning experience for the week in this busy and immersive program.
The Toledo Zoo is home to over 700 species of animals including elephants, tigers, orangutans, hippos, polar bears, and many other amazing mammals, as well as a wide array of bird, reptile and amphibian species.
This program has opportunities for you to learn about case rounds, restraint, physical exams, care in captivity, and other issues of veterinary medicine and management at a large zoo from the zoo’s veterinarians and other staff.
There will be one Loop Abroad group on site at the project, with a Loop Abroad facilitator. Program teaching is provided by the staff at the Toledo Zoo.
You will be staying at a local budget hotel a short drive from the zoo. Transportation to and from the zoo will be provided each day. Hotel room and hotel breakfast are included in your tuition. You will be sharing a room with another participant of the same gender. Each participant will have their own bed.
Lunch at the zoo is included in your tuition. Dinner is not included in your tuition. There are several restaurants in walking distance from the hotel. You could also use a meal delivery service.
DRESS CODE: Long pants, tee shirt or polo shirt (no inappropriate logos, no writing, no tank tops, no exposed midriff), and full shoes with a heel and closed toe (no sandals or flip flops).
One-week program: Regular tuition for the one-week program is $2350. ONLY TEN SPOTS ARE AVAILABLE.
Tuition does not include airfare to the program location.
The Loop alumni discount for this 1-week program is $250.
During COVID-19, conservation efforts around the world have suffered as they have lost the funding and help often provided by tourists and visitors. Your participation in this program helps to support this nonprofit zoo in a fragile time. Your support truly means the world to the organizations we work with. There is so much that we can learn from their experts on staff!
Your space is not held until your $1,000 deposit (credited toward tuition) is paid.
Tuition includes housing, daily transport to the zoo, zoo program project, 24/7 on-site emergency support, breakfast, and lunch. The first meal included is breakfast on the program Monday and the final meal included is breakfast on departure Saturday. Tuition does not include medical insurance (the policy we suggest is under $25), dinners, snacks, and any COVID testing required for travel.
Airfare is not included. Transportation to and from the airport is not included in your tuition. Participants are welcome to drive – parking is available. Participants who drive may need to fill out an additional waiver and release form.
According to the Toledo Zoo: “Toledo Zoo is committed to inspire their guests to join them in being advocates for wildlife and conserving the natural world by providing fun, awe-inspiring, and educational experiences. Others can help build a movement that cares for animals and creates a shared space for wildlife in this world. As part of that mission, The Toledo Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), a leader in global wildlife conservation. AZA member institutions are dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for visitors and a better future for all living things.
Toledo Zoo is home to more than 10,000 individual animals representing over 720 species. In an effort to save endangered wildlife they participate in more than 80 Species Survival Plans that ensure healthy, genetically diverse Zoo populations. Travel around the world from the tropics to Greenland, ocean to sky and desert to rainforest in one Zoo visit.”
You will arrive in Toledo on the first day of your program and meet your group. Your arrival Sunday will include an orientation and a chance to get to know one another. Your program takes place at The Toledo Zoo from Monday – Friday of your program week. On the final program Saturday, we’ll have our alumni meeting at breakfast, and then you’ll head home.
One-week Program ItineraryFrom Monday – Friday, you will plan to spend the full day working with your teaching veterinarian and your learning team at The Toledo Zoo. After breakfast, we will head to the project each day from approximately 9am – 5pm.
You can expect a combination of training and lectures, practice labs, case rounds, veterinary shadowing, and volunteer work. This is an opportunity to learn in a small group from the veterinarians and keepers at one of the most respected, AZA-accredited zoos in the USA. You are expected to behave in a professional and courteous manner at all times.
The following is an ESTIMATED schedule. You should expect this schedule to change, but it will give you an idea of what to expect. You will also have time to observe the animals at the zoo during your down time.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
This program is a unique opportunity to learn from and work with the veterinary and keeper teams at an AZA zoo in a small group of focused participants. We expect that you will learn a HUGE amount about zoo veterinary medicine from their expert team!
