The Santa Fe Animal Shelter is committed to supporting the education and training of the next generation of veterinarians. In particular, we love working with those interested in pursuing a career with an animal welfare organization or shelter. We provide externship opportunities for fourth year veterinary students to gain valuable hands-on experience and training in our progressive animal shelter.
Duties include: Helping with general rounds of our shelter population; assisting with emergency care of injured and ill animals; surgical sterilization of shelter animals; performing basic medical procedures (venipuncture, intubation, injections, radiographs); and assisting with animals in our foster program. Students will also be exposed to our intake protocols, behavior assessments and modification processes and adoption procedures to better understand shelter medicine as a whole. There may be opportunities to assist in our other medical facilities as well, including our public spay/neuter clinic, our mobile spay/neuter van, and our public full service veterinary clinic. Students are encouraged to schedule at least a 2-week block in order to get a full experience.
We maintain an onsite apartment for the extern program, located directly above the shelter hospital. The apartment provides Internet access, private full bath, washer/dryer, and a minimal kitchenette. Because the shelter is located outside of town, bringing your own vehicle is strongly recommended.