We’re proud to offer a well‑equipped Animal Welfare Centre to support your learning.
Our purpose‑built facility is home to over 130 different species, giving you the chance to work closely with everything from tiny invertebrates to exotic mammals.
These facilities mean our students get to:
- Work hands‑on with an exceptional range of species
- Learn in environments that reflect real workplaces
- Have expert staff guide your journey
- Develop confidence, independence and employability
- Becoming genuinely work‑ready
Care for a wide range of species
One of the biggest advantages of studying in our Animal Welfare Centre is the diversity of species you’ll work with.
From tiny assassin bugs to meerkats, we give you opportunities to house, care for and handle a wide range of animals.
The centre promotes best practice in all aspects of animal husbandry and our species include:
- Domestic species such as rabbits and guinea pigs
- Exotics including primates, sugar gliders and dwarf mongoose
- Reptiles and amphibians including frogs, lizards, tortoises and snakes
- Birds from parrots and cockatiels to finches and doves
- Aquatics including tropical, freshwater and cold‑water species
We work in partnership with other organisations to grow our collection and keep our range of species broad and industry‑relevant.
Learn to work like a professional
We run the centre to commercial standards, so students get a greater understanding of what the animal care industry is all about.
The centre is coordinated by a team of experienced animal keepers who provide industry insight and support students to develop their employability skills through Commercial Experience sessions.
The centre is Balai Approved, which ensures that facilities are maintained to the highest standard and allows the movement of animals between other collections. We are proud to hold a Primate Licence, meaning that we can house small primate species at the centre for students to learn about their complex husbandry and conservation needs.
We also use the state-of-the-art system ZIMS, which is used globally by many large animal collections to produce detailed reports including stock lists, medical reports and daily observations on our animals.
Contributing to Global Conservation
Our Animal Welfare Centre doesn’t just support learning on campus, it plays an active role in real‑world conservation.
As proud partners of Nature’s SAFE, Europe’s leading wildlife cryo‑biobank, we work alongside scientists to help protect endangered species for future generations.
By contributing to the preservation of living cells and tissues from threatened animals, we’re helping to support future conservation and restoration programmes.
Our specialist facilities
A collection of unique and diverse species for students to work with, including millipedes, tarantulas, vampire crabs, snails, tiny dart frogs and large tree frogs. This collection is the ideal space for you to come face to face with species that many overlook but have complex care needs and are vulnerable to multiple threats in the wild.
Working within this area will develop your knowledge on how to set up and maintain complex enclosures, maintain correct environmental parameters and the importance of correct biosecurity - a skill that is increasingly important due to threats like the Chytrid fungus.
Our Aquatics Centre is home to freshwater fish, both cold and tropical, and the endangered Asian yellow pond turtle. Housed in modern industry specific aquariums the centre showcases the high standards seen in the aquatic pet trade, modern zoological collections and the hobbyist industry.
This environment will teach you the importance of correct water chemistry, how to maintain aquatic living systems and how to set up and maintain aquariums for the support of multiple fish species.
The Animal Welfare Centre is home to a large collection of small mammals housed in various rooms and areas of the centre.
The Rodent Centre is set up to replicate the pet shop industry and houses species commonly kept as pets, Syrian hamsters, Mongolian gerbils and dwarf hamsters can all be found within this area. Rabbits and Guinea Pigs are housed within purpose-built barns providing both internal and external spaces.
Our small mammals provide the opportunity to develop handling skills, providing good practice for those who wish to enter the veterinary and pet industries.
Meerkats, common marmosets, Goeldi's monkeys, mongoose and wallabies are just some of the exotic mammals we house at the AWC. These species can be found in species specific housing and provide the opportunity to develop your 'hands-off' skills.
We work with our exotic mammals without physically touching them, so you can develop your behaviour observation skills alongside animal training and environmental enrichment. Working in this way also encourages our exotic species to display natural behaviours and emphasises that they are not pet species or domesticated.
Throughout the Animal Welfare Centre you will find aviaries housing various avian species, from burrowing owls to small finches and the endangered blacked-checked lovebird.
You'll learn about avian biology, safe handling practices and the importance of heightened biosecurity. Avian Influenza continues to be a risk to birds in the UK and you will learn how to work in a way that minimises the risks.
Our reptile centre provides great examples of the zoo, pet shop, and hobbyist industries, housing a fantastic range of lizard, snake, and tortoise species.
You will learn how to set up and maintain specialist equipment and habitat, how to take and record environmental readings, and how to safely handle and work with these species. The reptile centre provides the ideal environment to develop your confidence working with species that are less familiar and need more specialist knowledge.
The twilight centre is a specialist area of the AWC, run on a reversed light cycle, allowing observations of nocturnal animals whilst they are active.
We house northern Luzon giant cloud rats and sugar gliders in this area, providing additional exotic species to learn about and help care for within the collection.
The twilight centre is a group of walk-in exhibits in a reversed light cycle room, housing rats, sugar gliders and an Asian palm civet.
The Animal Welfare Centre has a large outdoor collection of paddock spaces. Here we house a range of species including, goats, alpaca, pigs, sulcata tortoises and wallabies. This is a great area if you have an interest in the farm park industry, providing valuable hands-on experience with larger hoof stock.
Learning guided by experts
Our Animal Welfare Centre is run by a dedicated team of keepers and specialist staff.
Our team work together with our students to ensure that:
- The animals and facilities we maintain reflect real industry sectors
- Students build relevant, practical, work-ready skills, focusing on industry standards and expectations of employers.
- Every animal receives high-quality care, every day.
Watch our video with Centre Manager Dean Sharman Frost as he explains more about his team and how they genuinely care about both student development and animal welfare.
Ready to take your next step?
Explore our animal welfare courses at Moulton College.
See our facilities for yourself!
Register to attend one of our upcoming open events.
