Greater Androscoggin Humane Society

 

Lewiston, Maine

Animal Care Associate

Class: non-exempt, hourly Revised: February 2023

Reports to: Animal Care and Behavior Supervisor

Supervises: none

Pay : $14.00

Department: Operations/Animal Care

 

Position Summary:

Provide all animals at the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society with professional, conscientious, compassionate care, meeting physical and behavioral needs. Including, but not limited to, cleaning kennels, enrichment, feeding, engaging with animals and providing basic vaccinations and medical treatments as directed by veterinary and management staff.

Responsibilities Include:

• Provide consistently high standards of humane care for all GAHS animals, including best practices in enrichment, feeding, housing, and medical care.
• Perform routine kennel work, including cleaning and maintenance of animal care areas, cages, kennels, and public areas.
• Providing high quality customer service to people who visit or contact GAHS.
• Monitor the health of the animals in the shelter and rapidly identify any health problems or conditions, and treat as directed by veterinary staff, reporting any serious issues to the Animal Care and Behavior Supervisor.
• Monitor behavioral health of animals and rapidly identify any issues that may require special action and report to Animal Care and Behavior Supervisor.
• Provides daily guidance to volunteers, including ongoing support and promotion of developing skills related to the advancement of our goals and mission.
• Works collaboratively with all other staff members and volunteers to achieve the completion of the daily work assignments.
• Must have or be willing to gain working knowledge of state animal welfare laws, various breeds and species of animals, and how to handle animals properly and humanely.
• Ensure that all animals have appropriate housing, food, water, bedding and toys.
• Provide the animals with mental stimulation and enrichment, social interaction with humans, and interactions with other animals when appropriate.
• Maintain excellent knowledge of all shelter medical procedures, vaccines, preventatives, and common diseases and their symptoms, transmission, prevention.
• Use shelter database to keep accurate, real-time records of animal care, behavior, health, adoptability, location, and stage & status.
• Ensure all animal housing is clearly and consistently marked with accurate, up-to-date, easy to read kennel cards.
• After appropriate training, provide appropriate adoption counseling to place animals in well suited homes
• Conduct compassionate intakes of surrendered animals.
• Attends GAHS events and monthly staff trainings as required.
• Follows safety guidelines to ensure a safe work environment.
• Complies with all GAHS personnel policies and operations procedures.

Specific Job Skills:

• The animal care associate must agree with and be committed to the mission, policies, and goals of the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society.
• Compassion and empathy for animal and human clients.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to remain calm and empathetic in stressful situations.
• Demonstrated capability to be a self-starter, facilitator, organizer, innovator, and a team player.
• Shows maturity, good judgment and performs duties in a professional manner.

Physical Requirements:

• Physical ability to walk and/or stand throughout a normal workday required.
• Ability to lift and carry 50lbs for 100 feet.
• Physical ability to work with animals of various sizes, strengths and dispositions.

Educational & Experience Requirements:

• High school diploma or equivalent
• Prefer experience with animal handling, training and/or veterinary medicine.
• Must be familiar with basic computer functions and web-based programs such as PetPoint (or similar software) and Microsoft Office.
• This position description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee occupying this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job related duties required by their supervisor. GAHS does require a pre-employment criminal background check.

Work Remotely

• No

Job Type: Part-time

Pay: $14.00 per hour

Benefits:

• Employee assistance program
• Employee discount
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Day shift
• Holidays
• Weekends as needed

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Lewiston, ME: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)

Education:

• High school or equivalent (Required)

Experience:

• professional animal care or handling: 1 year (Required)

Work Location: In person

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