A zoo and aquarium veterinarian runs medical care for every animal in the collection. The vet does checkups, quarantine, surgery and necropsies, signs health papers when animals move, keeps the drug logs, and teaches keepers what to watch for.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, museums, zoos and gardens · BLS, May 2025
This role is for zoos and aquariums. Our Veterinarian leads the medical care of every animal in the collection: preventive medicine, diagnosis and treatment, anesthesia, quarantine and necropsies. You make the medical calls, keep medical records and controlled drug logs, and work with the Curator and keepers on each animal's welfare.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Run the preventive medicine program: routine exams, vaccinations and parasite control on the schedule in your animal health plan.
Examine, diagnose and treat sick or injured animals, including anesthesia and surgery, in the animal hospital or the habitat.
Run quarantine for incoming animals and set the tests each one needs before it joins the collection.
Perform or arrange necropsies, and send samples to diagnostic labs.
Keep medical records in [ZIMS for Medical or your records system], and keep controlled drug storage and logs as your DEA registration and state rules require.
Sign health certificates and meet testing and permit rules for animal transfers, with the Curator.
Train keepers on medical observation, safe restraint, and the zoonotic disease program for staff.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review keeper reports and do rounds on animals with appetite, behavior or health changes.
Treat cases at the animal hospital or in the habitat, with keepers' help.
Review lab results and adjust treatment plans.
Update medical records and drug logs before you leave.
Meet with the Curator and keepers on cases, diets, births and planned transfers.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Preventive exams completed on schedule: [your target].
Medical records completed the same day: [your target].
Controlled drug log discrepancies: [your target].
Quarantines completed before animals join the collection: [your target].
Necropsy reports completed on time: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree (DVM or VMD), or a foreign veterinary degree with ECFVG or PAVE certification.
Active veterinary license in [your state], or able to earn it before your start date.
DEA registration where you'll use controlled drugs, plus any state controlled substance registration your state requires.
USDA veterinary accreditation, or able to earn it, to sign health certificates for animal transfers.
[3+] years of clinical practice, including [zoo, wildlife, or exotic animal medicine].
Experience with anesthesia and remote drug delivery, such as darting.
6. Preferred Experience
Residency in zoological medicine, or board certification by the American College of Zoological Medicine (ACZM).
Experience with the species groups in your collection, such as [great apes, marine mammals, or birds].
Experience meeting your accreditation body's veterinary care standards.
Experience with ZIMS for Medical.
7. Physical Requirements
Restrain, lift and position sedated animals with a team, lifting up to [50] pounds yourself.
Kneel, bend and work in habitats, holding areas and water, in all weather.
Work around bites, scratches, zoonotic disease and anesthetic gases, using protective equipment.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Full-time, with an on-call rotation for animal emergencies at night and on weekends and holidays.
Works in the animal hospital, quarantine, habitats and holding areas.
Some travel for animal transfers, field conservation work and conferences.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new veterinarian gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
What makes zoo and aquarium veterinary work different
Every vet examines, diagnoses, treats and writes records. At a zoo or aquarium, the patients are wild species, many have to be darted before anyone can touch them, and several federal agencies have rules that shape the work.
Many species, one small medical team
In one week a zoo vet may treat a sea turtle, a monkey and a giraffe. The American College of Zoological Medicine recognizes four specialties: aquatic animal medicine, zoo animal medicine, wildlife population health and zoological companion animal medicine. So in the interview, ask which kinds of animals a candidate has treated and put under, not just how many years they have worked. Source: American College of Zoological Medicine: ACZM specialties.
Federal rules set out the care program
A USDA-licensed exhibitor must have an attending vet and a program for proper care. The program covers how to prevent and treat disease and injury, emergency, weekend and holiday care, and guidance for staff on handling, sedation, anesthesia, pain relief and euthanasia. Your vet usually writes and runs that program, so build the on-call schedule around it. Source: eCFR: 9 CFR 2.40, attending veterinarian and adequate veterinary care.
Darting means controlled drugs in the field
Big or dangerous animals are often sedated by dart, so controlled drugs leave the hospital in a locked field kit. DEA rules call for a separate registration at each main place of practice where controlled drugs are dispensed, so a zoo hospital that stocks them needs its own. A vet may carry drugs to treat animals at other sites in a state where they are licensed, as long as that site is not a main place of practice. Count every dose out and back in. Source: eCFR: 21 CFR 1301.12, separate registrations for separate locations.
Animal moves need an accredited signature
Zoos send and receive animals for breeding programs. The official health papers for those moves are signed by a vet accredited by the USDA. Category I accreditation leaves out birds, livestock and zoo animals that can spread exotic animal diseases to livestock, so most zoos need a Category II vet, the level that covers all animals. Accreditation starts in one state, and the vet needs approval to sign in others. Source: eCFR: 9 CFR 160.1, definitions for veterinary accreditation.
Quarantine and necropsy guard the collection
Each new arrival waits in quarantine until the tests the vet ordered come back clean. When an animal dies, the vet performs or arranges a necropsy and sends samples to a lab. Both jobs keep disease out of the collection and protect staff, since some animal diseases spread to people. Budget for lab fees and a necropsy room.
How much zoo and aquarium veterinarians make
Veterinarians who work for museums, zoos, gardens, and historic sites earned a median of $49.09 an hour ($102,110 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $130,100 median for veterinarians in all industries. About 250 of the 83,900 veterinarians in that survey work for museums, zoos and gardens.
Usually a salary. On-call nights, continuing education, conference travel, and state license and DEA registration fees all belong in the offer. Say in writing which ones you pay.
Museums, zoos and gardens
$102,110$102,110 median Middle half $79,550–$124,170 10th–90th $53,990–$142,050
All industries
$130,100$130,100 median Middle half $101,460–$166,120 10th–90th $73,920–$215,700
$0k$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Museums, zoos and gardens
$53,990
$79,550
$102,110
$124,170
$142,050
All industries
$73,920
$101,460
$130,100
$166,120
$215,700
BLS groups museums, zoos, botanical gardens and historic sites together. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
A DVM or VMD (or a foreign degree with ECFVG or PAVE) and a license in your state, or a clear path to one by the start date
Anesthesia and remote drug delivery on large or dangerous animals
Sound clinical judgment across many species, including some with little published data
Medical notes and controlled drug logs that hold up to an audit
Listens to keepers' reports and teaches them what to look for
Calm decisions in an emergency, such as a fight wound or a hard birth at night
Teach these on the job
Your medical records system and hospital routines
Your animal health plan and its vaccine and parasite schedules
Your quarantine and transfer procedures
Paperwork for animal moves in and out of your state
Species new to the candidate, with help from outside specialists
Your zoonotic disease program for staff
Zoo vets keep medical records in ZIMS for Medical or a similar system, which can share an animal's file with another zoo when the animal moves. The work runs on portable X-ray and ultrasound, anesthesia machines, dart projectors, a locked drug safe and outside diagnostic labs. In the ad, name your species groups and the equipment your hospital has.
Zoo and aquarium veterinarian interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Draw each target from last year's medical records and drug counts, and check progress with the CEO and the curator twice a year.
Preventive exams completed on schedule
Each month, pull the exams, vaccines and parasite checks due from the animal health plan. Count how many were done inside their window.
Medical records completed the same day
Compare treatment times with the time each record was entered. Late notes leave keepers and the next vet on call guessing.
Controlled drug log discrepancies
Match the drug log against the shelf and the field kit at every count, and record each gap with its cause. Have a second person witness counts and wasted doses.
Quarantines completed before animals join the collection
For every arrival, check that each test in the quarantine plan came back before the animal moved. Any early release needs a written reason.
Necropsy reports completed on time
Track the days from each death to a finished report with lab results. Share what you learn with the curator and keepers, since it can change diets or habitats.
Career path
Veterinary student or internTakes externships and post-DVM internships at zoos, aquariums or wildlife centers.
Zoo medicine residentTrains for three years in a program run by ACZM diplomates.
VeterinarianLeads medical care for the whole collection.
Director of animal healthLeads a team of vets and technicians at a larger zoo or aquarium.
A zoo vet keeps the whole collection healthy. Most days mix planned work with surprises. Planned work means exams, vaccines, parasite checks and tests for new arrivals. Surprises are things like a fight wound or a sick bird. The vet also darts and sedates animals, operates, reads lab results, plans births and moves with the curator, and shows keepers how to restrain animals safely.
How much does a zoo and aquarium veterinarian make?
Veterinarians who work for museums, zoos, gardens, and historic sites earned a median of $49.09 an hour ($102,110 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $79,550 and $124,170 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What licenses does a zoo veterinarian need?
First, a license from the state where the zoo is. Every state requires an accredited veterinary program and a qualifying exam, and most also require a state licensing exam. Controlled drugs at your site need a DEA registration for that location, and federal rules say the drug records must be kept for at least two years. To sign official health papers for animal moves, the vet also needs USDA accreditation.
Does a zoo veterinarian need board certification?
Not to practice, but it shows deep training. To sit for the American College of Zoological Medicine exam, a vet completes a three-year ACZM training program or a six-year experience route with two diplomate mentors, and is first author on at least three peer-reviewed papers. The template puts it under preferred, not required. For a first or only vet, broad hands-on zoo experience may matter more than the title.
Can a smaller attraction use a part-time or contract veterinarian?
Yes, with a formal agreement. USDA rules let licensed exhibitors use a part-time or contract attending vet. Then they need a written program of vet care and visits on a set schedule. Ask how fast the vet can reach you in an emergency and who covers when they are away. Hire full-time when the medical work or night calls outgrow the contract.
Who should a zoo veterinarian report to?
In this template, the veterinarian answers to the CEO. Federal rules say the exhibitor must give the attending vet the authority to make sure animals get proper care, and to oversee other parts of their care. Reporting to the CEO rather than the curator lets the vet push back on an animal plan or a budget cut for medical reasons. Larger zoos may add a director of animal health in between.
