Christchurch · Online course

Vet Assistant in Christchurch

If you love animals and want to work with them professionally this Vet Assistant course is perfect for you.

Full course details

What you'll learn

The course is the same online course wherever you study from. Its modules:

1. Subject 1 – Animal Healthcare
2. Subject 2 – Common Diseases in Animals

See the full Vet Assistant course outline

Animal & wildlife near Christchurch

Places in and around Christchurch where you can see this field in action.

Orana Wildlife Park (opens in a new tab)
An 80-hectare open-range zoo on McLeans Island Road, Harewood, holding species such as giraffes, rhinos, cheetahs, lemurs, siamangs and the country's only gorillas. It breeds threatened native species, including kākāriki karaka, brown kiwi, pāteke, whio and pepeketua, for release to the wild.
Daily animal presentations and paid encounters let students watch keepers work with exotic and native species, and the park lists work experience and volunteering under its support pages.
Willowbank Wildlife Reserve (opens in a new tab)
A wildlife reserve at 60 Hussey Road, Harewood, featuring North Island brown kiwi, great spotted kiwi (roroa), kea, South Island kākā and takahē, plus a farmyard. It also keeps rare farm breeds such as Arapawa Island goats, kunekune pigs and Damara sheep as part of a breeding programme with an offsite farm.
A place to see native birds and rare livestock breeds close up; the reserve has its own conservation, foundation and volunteering pages.
SPCA Christchurch Centre (opens in a new tab)
The SPCA's Christchurch centre at 14 Wilmers Road, Hornby, handles adoptions, cruelty reports, lost and found animals and desexing. It is supported by over 500 volunteers and about 40 staff.
Students of animal care and welfare can apply for animal-centre volunteering or fostering roles listed by the centre.
International Antarctic Centre (opens in a new tab)
A visitor attraction at 38 Orchard Road beside Christchurch Airport that houses rescued kororā (little penguins) and huskies.
Visitors can watch rescued little penguins and huskies and learn about Christchurch's role as an Antarctic gateway city.
Banks Peninsula marine mammal sanctuary and marine reserves (opens in a new tab)
A marine mammal sanctuary around Banks Peninsula protects the Hector's dolphin / upokohue, and the Akaroa and Pōhatu (Flea Bay) marine reserves protect marine life.
Within a day trip of the city, students can observe Hector's dolphins and protected coastal ecosystems.

What our students say

I’m loving my course with Online…

I’m loving my course with Online Learning. I’m studying Veterinary Nursing Assistant in Wildlife. I work full time and I love the fact that I can study in my own time and complete my certification in my own time. I find the course material fantastic and I love my assignments. I’ve recently also started a volunteer job at Taronga Zoo that I got from being an Veterinary Nursing Assistant student through Online Learning. It’s a really amazing course with thorough information and I’ll highly recommend this course.

Adele Scholtz