October half-term is here, and for many zoos, wildlife parks or farm attractions, that means a Halloween-themed final push to see out the 2026 season.

From November, things look very different at most animal visitor attractions, with shorter opening hours, or days when the site is completely closed to the public. The benefits to the organisation are obvious. Running costs fall and repairs or projects that were parked during the summer months can finally get underway. But for staff who aren’t in a permanent role, this often means fewer available hours or a contract that is coming to an end.

If you’re in the last few days of a seasonal job and plotting your next move, or looking to start a career in zoos or farm parks and haven’t previously considered what working over the winter involves, then this week’s blog is for you.

What changes in the winter

How a zoo or farm park operates during the winter varies from one site to the next, but many of the basics remain the same. Feeding, cleaning and daily health checks carry on, while enrichment, training and record keeping will remain a priority in any reputable attraction.

For staff working year-round, the transition between seasons can go unnoticed, but for anyone new to the sector, some of the main differences are as follows:

Fewer colleagues: At the height of summer, a large attraction may have hundreds of staff supporting its day-to-day operations. Fast forward to the winter months, and teams such as visitor services, catering and retail will have shrunk down considerably, particularly during the week. Maintenance and ground staff will also operate with a smaller core team, often focusing on specific projects rather than the running repairs that take priority during peak season. Full-time keepers may go from being part of a large community of staff to being some of the only people visible on site during the dark days of winter.

Less public engagement: From talks and demonstrations to animal experiences and behind-the-scenes tours, public-facing activities can form a significant part of a zoo keeper’s day during the warmer months. Similarly, at farm parks, animal feeding or handling and activities such as pony rides are a big draw for visitors. As numbers drop during the winter, these activities are scaled back, and keepers may find that more of their day is spent with the animals themselves.

Weather: The keeper’s tan you’ve been showing off all summer will quickly need to be covered up with thermals and waterproofs. Cold weather also creates extra jobs, from additional bedding to protecting water supplies from frost. With less grass and browse available, some animals rely more on hay and other feed, so there is more feeding out to do. Shorter days also mean staff have to plan outdoor jobs around the light. Some animals need closer monitoring, with heat lamps and temperature-controlled enclosures requiring regular checks. Others may need to stay indoors during icy weather. Giraffes, for example, are more at risk when the ground is icy, because a slip could cause a serious injury. Extreme weather such as snow or gales can present challenges too. It’s not unheard of for animal staff to need to stay over on site if getting to and from work becomes difficult.

Opening hours: Zoos are surprisingly dark places at night. The Standards of Modern Zoo Practice require enclosures to have conditions, including lighting, that suit each species. Street lamps and artificial lighting are generally kept to a minimum. Once the clocks go back, many attractions begin to close earlier, often around 4pm, with last entry an hour before. In some zoos, working hours may be adjusted around this, with areas closing down earlier and an eerie quiet often noticeable from mid-afternoon. Where an attraction is fully closed to the public, that quiet lasts all day. Keepers who are lone working may find it feels very different. Regular radio check-ins with colleagues and coordinated break times are often put in place to ensure safety and sanity.

Winter workload

With fewer people around and less public engagement, permanent zoo or farm park staff may find that their focus changes in the winter months. Again, this will vary greatly depending on the attraction you work at. Here are a few things that may come to the fore.

Enrichment: It does not stop when the visitors do. Under the government’s Standards of Modern Zoo Practice (due to take effect in May 2027), a licensed zoo must document and provide an active, species-appropriate enrichment programme for every animal. Keepers are expected to plan, deliver and assess it as part of routine husbandry, which might mean puzzle feeders, new scents, changes to the enclosure and training sessions.

Browse: Some of the work for winter begins months earlier. The leaves and twigs that giraffes, okapi, some primates and other browsing animals eat are hard to find in the cold months, so many zoos preserve browse when it is plentiful. Depending on the zoo, it might be dried, frozen or packed into barrels to ferment as silage. Come winter, the job is to bring it out of storage and feed it out, so animals that would normally eat fresh leaves still have them. Anyone who has worked on a farm will recognise the idea of making hay while the sun shines, and this is very much the zoo equivalent.

Maintenance: While significant projects will usually be carried out by external contractors, things like enclosure upgrades, changes in layout and minor repairs will often involve maintenance or keeping staff. This is a good reason for prospective animal keepers to gain basic DIY skills before starting their career.

Holidays: Winter is also when many keepers take their annual leave. At a lot of attractions, time off is limited or restricted during peak season and school holidays, when every pair of hands is needed, so the quieter months are when holidays get booked.

What happens when your contract ends before the winter

The most useful thing to know is what your contract actually says, because the end of the season hits people differently depending on it.

Fixed-term contracts: If you are on one, it normally ends on the agreed end date, and your employer does not have to give notice. If you are kept on past that date without a new contract, GOV.UK says the employer is treated as having agreed to extend it, and you are owed proper notice before it can be ended.

Zero hours contracts: The employer does not have to offer you any work. Government guidance says zero hours workers still get statutory employment rights, and employers cannot stop you taking work elsewhere through an exclusivity clause. New rules on guaranteed hours and shift notice are expected in 2027 under the Employment Rights Act 2025, but at the time of writing they are not yet in place.

Annualised hours: These work the other way round. Acas describes them as an agreed number of hours over a year, with flexibility over when they are worked. Its example is 1,500 hours a year, with at least 30 hours a week from October to December and at least 16 a week for the rest of the year. If your contract is built like that, a quiet winter is planned for from the start. Check your contract for how pay is worked out.

Holiday: When you leave, your employer must pay you for any statutory holiday you have built up but not taken, though extra contractual days are only paid if your contract says so. If you are on irregular hours or work only part of the year, holiday has built up at 12.07% of the hours worked in each pay period since April 2024.

Your options when the season ends

Many attractions start recruiting for next season early in the new year, so it’s worth expressing an interest in returning before the end of your contract if that’s your goal. If your aim is to apply for other animal-focused roles, make sure you leave on good terms and can get a written reference while your work is fresh in their minds. In the interim, you may want to consider some of the following options:

Look at winter events. Increasingly, attractions are building a Christmas and winter offering to draw visitors in at what would otherwise be a quiet time of year. Longleat’s Festival of Light and Edinburgh Zoo’s Giant Lanterns trail are two examples, both held after dark, and many attractions have started to add Christmas grottos too. Most of this has little to do with animals (unless you have reindeer!), so the impact on keeping staff is fairly minimal.

For seasonal staff, though, trails, grottos and event nights need people to welcome guests, run queues and keep things running. Longleat and ZSL London Zoo have both advertised seasonal grotto roles for the Christmas period. These adverts can close as early as September, so ask your manager now rather than waiting until December. Whether the extra work is open to seasonal keepers or sits with visitor and events teams depends on the attraction, so ask before you assume either way.

Look for fixed term and winter work. Not every role stops at the end of October. Use the Fixed Term filter on our jobs page to see roles with an end date, from funded posts to maternity cover.

Try lambing. The National Sheep Association runs a Lambing List that matches farmers needing extra help at lambing time with veterinary and agricultural students looking for work experience. The list typically runs from October to April, and students can see placements on the NSA Next Generation portal from November, so it is worth checking early. No formal experience is listed, and terms vary between farms, so check whether a placement is paid and whether accommodation is included. If you are not a student, it’s worth asking the NSA whether you can use the list.

Look at wildlife rescue. Grey seals pup from September to December, and the Marine Rescue Team at Blue Reef Aquarium in Tynemouth works with British Divers Marine Life Rescue volunteers to help pups in trouble. BDMLR’s callouts are answered by volunteer teams, and its full-day Marine Mammal Medic course is open to over-18s with no qualifications needed. It is voluntary rather than paid, but it’s a way to build hands-on experience while you look for your next role.

Bridge the gap with other seasonal work. It may not be animal-related, but Christmas work in retail can cover the weeks between contracts. Tesco, for example, hired more than 28,500 temporary staff across the UK for Christmas, in customer service, shelf stacking and picking online orders, with early, day and evening shifts. Other supermarkets and retailers recruit in the same way, and the autumn is when those drives tend to start, so do not leave it until December. If you claim any benefits, check how short-term earnings will affect your claim before you start.

Use the quiet months. A gap between contracts is a good time to update your CV, record the skills you picked up over the summer and work out where you want to go next. Our Career Finder and Career Guides can help you match your experience to a longer-term path.

Where to get help

If you are unsure about your rights on a zero hours, annualised or part-year contract, Acas and GOV.UK both have clear guidance on holiday, notice and working time. Then keep an eye on our jobs page, where new roles go up every week.