How To Become A Lion Trainer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a lion trainer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a lion trainer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.35 an hour? That's $38,163 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 28% and produce 101,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreLion TrainerUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,163

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate 28%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.15%

Asian 1.64%

Black or African American 3.87%

Hispanic or Latino 11.18%

Unknown 7.15%

White 76.01%

Gender

female 38.89%

male 61.11%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.3

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.3

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a lion trainer

Explore lion trainer education requirements

Most common lion trainer degrees

Bachelor's

63.6 %

High School Diploma

18.2 %

Diploma

9.1 %

Start to develop specific lion trainer skills

Skills	Percentages
Safety Procedures	55.49%
Training Sessions	44.51%

Complete relevant lion trainer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New lion trainers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a lion trainer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real lion trainer resumes.

Research lion trainer duties and responsibilities

Acquire knowledge in animal husbandry, natural history, and animal conditioning principles through reading materials and participating in training sessions.
Assure proper annotation of administrative MWD utilization and training records used for legal reviews.

Prepare your lion trainer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your lion trainer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a lion trainer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable lion trainer resume templates

Build a professional lion trainer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your lion trainer resume.