Employment Opportunity

The Animal Care Assistant is responsible for assisting the director and staff with all aspects of daily operations, including patient care, training of volunteers, public outreach, record keeping and facility maintenance.  Applicants should possess excellent team-building skills. The Animal Care Assistant must be able to juggle a multitude of tasks with professionalism, flexibility, and a sense of humor. They will be working with volunteers, interns, partner organizations and the general public. A passion for wildlife conservation is an essential element of this job.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities 

• Assists with the rehabilitation of injured and orphaned songbirds, including cleaning, diet preparation, habitat set-up and maintenance, enrichment
• Assists in the training of volunteers and interns
• Maintains cleanliness & organization of the facility 
• Other duties as assigned

Preferred Skills & Experience

• At least 1 year experience working or volunteering in a wildlife rehabilitation facility or comparable experience in other wildlife-related work or study
• Experience working with volunteers, preferably in an animal care setting
• Knowledge of natural history, particularly of native songbirds
• Excellent communication skills, on the phone and in person 
• Computer literacy & ability to learn our medical database system
• Able to work calmly and efficiently in busy, high-intensity situations 
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Ability to add and subtract, multiply and divide. Ability to perform these operations using units of US currency, weight measurement and volume.
• Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed written or oral instructions
• Ability to endure long workdays in a physically and emotionally demanding setting while maintaining focus, accuracy, energy and physical activities required by the job 

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described herein represent essential components of the job of working in wildlife rehabilitation. They include, but are not limited to the following: able to lift or move up to 50 lbs, stand on a concrete floor for up to 8 hours a day, and kneel, crouch, stoop, crawl and reach to an arm’s length.  Must have 20/20 vision and possess physical dexterity and coordination to use hands and fingers to handle, feel and feed tiny fragile patients as small as 2-3 grams. While performing the tasks listed elsewhere in this document, incumbent is routinely exposed to toxic or caustic chemicals, allergens such as dust and dander, zoonotic diseases, frightened animals, inclement weather conditions, and noise.

SCHEDULE

The schedule for this position begins the first week of May and concludes mid-August.  There is some flexibility for start date.  This position is approximately 20-24 hours per week.  Shifts are generally 4-6 hours and include weekends, holidays and some evenings.  Absolutely no time off during June and July, the peak of our busy season.

COMPENSATION

$15.00 per hour.  This is a part-time, temporary, non-exempt position.  

Review of applicants begins March 15, 2022.  The position is open until filled.