Zookeeper/Animal Interpreter

Summary

This position supports the Memphis Zoo's mission of Saving Wildlife, Creating Adventures through daily engagement with zoo visitors.The successful candidate for this position will be responsible for providing educational and entertaining encounters with our ambassador animals, as well as providing for daily husbandry of a collection of small mammals, birds, amphibians, invertebrates, and reptiles in the Animals of the Night and ambassador animal collections.

The Animal Interpreter acts as an ambassador of the Zoo through a variety of on-site and virtual educational programs that feature live animal ambassadors. Interpretive duties include providing encounters, impromptu and scheduled chats, and other programs for all ages; participating in a variety of outreach and appearances; providing general support to daily education and interpretive programs and engaging with Zoo guests daily.Ambassador animals include birds of prey (barn owl, red-tailed hawk), a green winged macaw, invertebrates (scorpion, millipedes, and Madagascan hissing cockroaches), reptiles (pancake tortoise, box turtle, Indian star tortoise, blue tongue skink, prehensile-tailed skink, scheltopusik, red-tailed boa, ball python, and gray rat snake), amphibians (smooth-sided toads), and small mammals (rabbit, tenrec, rats).

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 ideal candidate would be proficient in all aspects of zoo animal care including husbandry, enrichment, training, exhibit maintenance, record keeping, keeper chats, and conservation as well as engaging guests to connect with the animals. Candidates for this position should be self-motivated, hard-working, positive, dependable, who can work independently, but also thrive in 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.Previous experience in the education field or with animal presentations.

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 as well as occasional after-hours 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.

Other Requirements:

• Clear drug screening, TB, background check.

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