Napier · Online course

Vet Assistant in Napier

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 Napier

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

National Aquarium of New Zealand (opens in a new tab)
A council-run aquarium on Marine Parade, open since 1976, whose Penguin Cove doubles as a rehabilitation centre for sick or injured little penguins (kororā). Its guided tour includes a nocturnal kiwi habitat, tuatara and behind-the-scenes areas.
A place to see marine animal husbandry, penguin rehabilitation and native species care up close; the aquarium also lists a volunteer page worth checking.
Cape Kidnappers / Te Kauwae-a-Māui Gannet Reserve (opens in a new tab)
A DOC reserve on the Hawke's Bay coast that is home to nesting gannet colonies. The track from the beach to the plateau colony closes each year from July until the week before Labour Weekend.
Seabird students can observe a breeding colony in season, keeping to DOC's minimum five-metre distance from nesting birds.
Ahuriri Estuary (opens in a new tab)
The estuary on Napier's northern edge is a feeding and resting area for more than 70 species of waterbirds, including bar-tailed godwits/kuaka that arrive from arctic breeding grounds. A DOC walking track and boardwalk start from Humber Street, off Pandora Road.
An easy, flat place to practise bird identification and watch estuary wildlife throughout the year.
SPCA Napier Centre (opens in a new tab)
The SPCA's Napier centre is at 31 Mersey Street, Pandora, and takes volunteer and foster enquiries by phone and email.
Fostering or volunteering is a practical way to gain hands-on companion animal experience; current roles are listed on the SPCA site.
Cape Sanctuary (opens in a new tab)
A privately funded 'mainland island' conservation project on the Cape Kidnappers peninsula, running since 2006, which now holds a population of around six hundred Eastern brown kiwi. Guided tours cover dune restoration, species translocations and seabird projects.
A working example of predator control, translocation and kiwi management that can be seen on a guided tour.

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