The SeaWorld Parks Externship is offered in the 3 SeaWorld Parks with a large aquatic animal population and Busch Gardens Florida, in Tampa, Florida, also with a large population of terrestrial animals.
The externship program in all 4 parks consists of a 3-4 week preceptorship for veterinary students wanting to augment their knowledge and experience in non-domestic animal medicine. The program is designed for fourth-year veterinary students. They will be given a full range of opportunities in aquatic and terrestrial animal husbandry and medicine which includes whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, walruses, sharks and rays, marine and freshwater fishes, penguins, and many other species of birds, amphibians, and reptiles at the SeaWorld parks; as well as gorillas, chimpanzees, lions, tigers, cheetahs, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippos, giraffes, zebras, antelope, kangaroos, wallabies, aardvarks, giant anteaters, and many other small-sized terrestrial mammals at Busch Gardens. Within such a diverse collection, there are some unique aquatic animals only found in certain parks, such as, the polar bears and southern sea otters at SeaWorld California, Pacific white-sided dolphins at SeaWorld Texas, and manatees at SeaWorld Florida. Most terrestrial mammals are based at Busch Gardens Florida.
Applications are accepted between September 1st and November 15th each year.
Each park has 2 or more veterinarians on staff and a hospital with cutting edge medical equipment to do radiographs, anesthesia, bronchoscopy, gastroscopy, and surgery. We have a pharmacy in house for all the parks. We have a laboratory in each of the 3 SeaWorld parks to run chemistry and hematology blood panels and microbiology. We run water chemistry testing for ammonia, salinity, chlorine levels, PH etc. for the wellbeing of our aquatic animals. We have 2 pathologists on staff who oversee our in house necropsies and histopathology for all the parks.
The SeaWorld Parks Externship is four weeks and the extern student is expected to complete a short research project or present a Power Point presentation of an approved research topic to the Veterinary medical staff and interested team members.
Students participate in animal husbandry practices, clinical rounds, and veterinary diagnostic and surgical procedures. Clinical case exposure will depend on the present case load. Students are encouraged to select the months of January through June for SeaWorld of California, in order to experience the avian breeding and the beached animal seasons, and November through April for SeaWorld of Texas. Any month is acceptable for SeaWorld of Florida and Busch Gardens Florida.
The usual work week for the extern student is Monday to Friday and working on week-ends is optional at the discretion of the extern student. There are however many interesting procedures that could take place on week-ends and we encourage the students to take advantange of those learning opportunities. The typical working hours vary in each park but are generally 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.