Animal Interpreter/Animals of the Night Keeper

Summary

This position is primarily responsible for daily husbandry of a collection of small mammals, birds, amphibians, invertebrates, and reptiles in the Animals of the Night and Ambassador Animal collection.

The Animals of the Night collection is managed in a reverse-light cycle building and encompasses a variety of small mammals including aardvarks, agoutis, armadillos (three-banded and six-banded), bats (bulldog bat, Egyptian Rousettus bat, Seba’s short-tailed bat, and vampire bat), binturong, bushbabies, genets, ringtail cats, kinkajous, pygmy slow lorises, naked mole rats, owl monkey, pottos, tamandua, and two-toed sloths. The ambassador collection of a variety of small mammals, birds, amphibians, invertebrates, and reptiles. The collection includes Virginia opossums, skunk, tenrec, toucan, kookaburra, Baird’s rat snake, Louisiana pine snake, prehensile tail skink, centipede, toads, tortoises, Madagascar hissing cockroach, and other small animals.

The ideal candidate would be proficient in all aspects of zoo animal care including husbandry, enrichment, training, exhibit maintenance, record keeping and keeper chats, as well as engaging guests to connect with the animals in both formal and informal settings. Candidates for this position should be self-motivated, excellent at time management, hard-working, positive, dependable, who can work both independently and within a team setting.

Essential Job Functions

· Provide best available practices in daily animal care, husbandry, enrichment, and training.

· Guest engagement: Facilitates formal and informal public presentations to engage guests and provide a positive guest experience.

· Actively observes animals’ behavior, checking for any signs of illness or disorder; reports irregularities and abnormal behavior to supervisor; works with vet staff to address medical needs.

· Prepares and administers appropriate daily diets and maintain accurate records of assigned animals.

· Appropriately cleans and disinfects assigned animal enclosures/habitats according to written protocols and ensures a sanitary and safe environment.

· Performs exhibit maintenance, including concrete work and periodic updates to exhibit perching and hides.

· Exercise good judgement when making decisions that affect our collection.

· Assists hospital staff in all aspects of animal treatment within the assigned section.

· May incorporate modern behavioral husbandry techniques such as operant conditioning and environmental enrichment into animal care.

Salary: $16-17.50/hour (commensurate with experience).

Minimum Requirements:

· Bachelor’s degree in Zoology, Biology or a related field

Preferred Qualifications: Previous experience with animal care and operant conditioning in a zoological setting.

Competencies:

· Written and oral communication Proficiency

· Proficient in MS Office, current technology and applications for communication, research and record keeping.

· Records and reports creation and management

· Problem Solving/Analysis.

· Stress Management/Composure.

· Flexibility.

· Teamwork Orientation.

Supervisory Responsibility: None

Reporting Structure: Reports to Associate Curator.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work: This is a full-time position that works a minimum of 40 hrs per week and regularly requires weekend work.

Work Environment: While performing the duties of this job, the employee frequently works in outside weather conditions. The employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, fumes or airborne particles, chemicals and vibration.

The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet while in the office, or moderately loud while on Zoo grounds.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, talk and hear. The employee is constantly required to use hands and fingers to feel, handle or operate objects, tools, or controls; and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl and walk. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, color vision, and the ability to adjust focus.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Other Duties: Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.