Volunteering at the sanctuary is a fantastic opportunity to be part of something really special. For giving up your time we can promise you one thing, small pieces of your heart will remain with the many rescue animals you’ll work with and help. Our residents will be grateful for any time you have to spare – this goes a long way in improving the quality of life we can offer to them whilst in our care.

We have a variety of ways you can volunteer your time to helping the animals in our care:

• Dog Walking – take some time out of your day to help us exercise the dogs in our care. With an average of 30 dogs in our kennels and the goal of giving them two walks a day each, this equates to 30 hours of dog walking every day – something we cannot achieve without the help of our volunteers.
• Kennel Cleaning – the first job of the day, this role starts at 8am to keep our kennels clean and cosy for all of our dogs.
• Cattery Duties – sign up to a morning or afternoon shift in our cattery, covering the cleaning duties, feeding and spending time socialising and interacting with our cats.
• Reception – sign up to a shift in our reception, welcoming visitors, answering phone calls and arranging appointments.
• Fundraising – we are looking to build a fundraising team to focus on collections and outreach events.
• Charity Shop – we have two charity shops, one in Antrim town and one in Larne, that are almost entirely run by volunteers.

Your volunteer journey at our Sanctuary will begin with a Meet & Greet Induction Day here at the Sanctuary for a Talk & Tour about all things volunteering. On the day, you will be able to fill in a Volunteer Application Form if you’d like to join our team. After this, you will receive a Volunteer Starter Pack and you will be invited to a Practical Session with a staff member to get you started with us in whichever role you are interested in.

If you are interested in volunteering at one of our charity shops you can pick up a volunteer application form in the shop and have a chat with our retail manager about how to get started.

.

𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺?

We are looking for new volunteers to help with:

Walking our dogs on weekdays between 8am-5pm

Cleaning our kennels between 8am-10am daily

If this sounds like something you’d like to help us with – 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 & 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟲𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿

The spaces on these inductions are limited, so please fill in the contact form linked below to register your interest – please let us know which area you’d like to volunteer in and your availability!

If you are interested in volunteering with us but these areas or days don’t suit you, don’t worry – we’ll be announcing more Volunteer Talk & Tour Induction dates soon!

*Please note that due to our insurance policy, all of our volunteers must be over the age of 18.

.

We also offer Work Experience Placements for students over the age of 18 in need of animal care experience as well as Corporate Volunteer Days here at our Sanctuary.

We will be holding a Talk & Tour Open Day on Tuesday 1st September 2026 for new Student Work Experience Placements for the coming academic year. If you would like to come to this Talk & Tour please complete the contact form below with details of your course and placement hours needed to register your spot.

*Please note that due to our insurance policy, all of our placement students must be over the age of 18*

If you have any further questions about volunteering, a corporate volunteer day for your team or about carrying out a work experience placement with us please fill in the contact form below.