Animal Caretaker; NIH​/NICHD, Bethesda, MD

OVERVIEW

Responsibilities of this position are that of an Animal Caretaker I for the NIH, Animal Care Project. These responsibilities include all activities required for the proper care and maintenance of on-site animals

* All employees are expected to perform their duties as assigned, arrive to work at 7:00am and depart at 3:30pm M-F. You will be required to work on the weekends as scheduled. The weekend/ holiday hours are from 7am to 3:30pm (no more than 8 hours per day). In addition you may be expected to work extra hours during an emergency situation or if any unexpected situation arise until work is completed

Primary duties may include the following:

• Must have a high school diploma or equivalent.
• Responsible for all activities required for the proper care and maintenance of the animals, including routine animal husbandry.
• Perform twice daily animal health surveillance checks and report any abnormal conditions of the animals to the technical staff.
• Receive, examine, transfer, identify, and properly house incoming animal shipments according to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Provide food and water to animals following SOPs or approved protocols.
• Sanitize and decontaminate all areas of the facility, as scheduled.
• Dispose of waste from the facility following appropriate SOPs.
• Ensure the integrity of equipment used while performing husbandry duties as well as maintain animal caging and / or support equipment.
• Dispose of animal carcasses following SOPs.
• Assist with the restraint and manipulation of various rodents.
• Understand and follow SOPs, safety procedures, and quality assurance guidelines for animal care at all levels of biohazard containment.
• Maintain a daily animal census in assigned animal rooms.
• Maintain appropriate logs, forms and cage card information.
• Maintain clean and organized work areas.
• Report any abnormal conditions of the animal rooms, animal facility or immediate vicinity to supervisory staff.
• Perform other duties, as assigned.

* There is an expectation of obtaining the ALAT level AALAS certification upon eligibility.