Get Paid To Pal Around With Lions In The Ozark Mountains

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Good news, cat people: You don’t have to buy a plane ticket to Africa to work with lions. There’s a job right here in the United States that needs you to help care for rescued exotic animals like big cats and bears.

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge is an animal sanctuary in northern Arkansas in need of 12 interns for a six-month program working with all sorts of creatures. You’d be responsible for taking care of the most thrilling list of animals. According to the Turpentine Creek website, the refuge is home to tigers, lions, cougars, black bears, a grizzly bear, a Russian brown bear, leopards, African servals, bobcats, a rhesus macaque and a coatimundi. And they’d all be under your watch.

Turpentine Creek adopts abandoned, abused and neglected big cats from around the country. And for the discerning animal lovers out there, don’t worry. Turpentine Creek is verified by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, meaning they treat the animals ethically.

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To be considered for the job, you must love animals. That’s the most important qualification. But it helps to have a degree in zoology, biology or a related field as well.

Your duties as a Turpentine Creek intern would include feeding the animals, giving tours of the sanctuary to visitors, cleaning animal habitats and monitoring animal behavior. You’d live at the refuge for six months and get a small stipend each week for food.

To take your shot at befriending lions, tigers and bears, you need a resumé, cover letter and two letters of recommendation. The deadline is November 1, so get applying, animal lovers.