Animal Care Professional - Elephants

Birmingham Zoo Inc. (BZI) is a nonprofit, Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited Zoo and regional tourist attraction serving the greater Birmingham community and beyond. We advance wildlife conservation through responsible animal care, education, and local and global conservation efforts in support of our mission, Inspiring Passion to Conserve the Natural World.

The Animal Care Professional is responsible for performing daily animal husbandry and supporting animal health and wellbeing, including monitoring behavior, maintaining habitats, preparing diets, providing enrichment, maintaining accurate records, and engaging with guests through informal and formal interactions. This role contributes to safe, consistent, and high-quality animal care operations across the assigned department.

This position works with the Birmingham Zoo’s bachelor herd of African elephants, offering the opportunity to be part of a specialized team caring for one of the Zoo’s most iconic and complex species. The role requires strong teamwork, keen observational skills, consistency, and a commitment to maintaining high standards of elephant care and safety.

All employees serve as ambassadors of the Zoo and are expected to act in a professional manner consistent with the Zoo’s mission and its core values of Passion, Excellence, Teamwork, Stewardship, and Inclusion. This expectation applies when interacting with the public or when reasonably perceived as representing the organization.

The Elephant Managers Association (EMA) is an international, 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization.