Animal Care Technician

Description

The Humane Society for Southwest Washington is currently seeking an Animal Care Technician to join our team. This is a part-time (25 hours per week), FLSA nonexempt opportunity.

Since 1897, the Humane Society for Southwest Washington (HSSW) has been caring for the animals of Southwest Washington. Today, we are the largest animal welfare agency in Southwest Washington with campuses in Vancouver and Longview, where we help thousands of adoptable pets find shelter, TLC, and loving homes. And through programs like free pet food, emergency shelter, financial assistance, and medical care, we provide critical support that helps pets in need stay home with the families they love.

Thanks to our hardworking staff and volunteers, we serve more than 10,000 pets each year. At our Community Veterinary Clinic (CVC), we provide high-quality, subsidized care to the pets of income-qualified families in our community. The CVC expands access to preventative care and spay/neuter, provides care for treatable conditions, and offers essential support to keep pets happy and healthy. And at ReTails Thrift Store, our team of staff and volunteers help hundreds of thousands of items find a second life, providing vital funding for our work with animals.

Our mission is to rescue, return, restore, rehome, and reconnect one animal at a time. That work is possible thanks to the dedicated teams of staff and volunteers who are here for the animals every day. We are committed to a diverse, healthy, and engaged team of employees and volunteers who strive for excellence, treat one another with kindness, and provide quality and compassionate care for the pets and people we serve.

The Animal Care Technicians are the primary caretakers of the animals in shelter, responsible for their daily husbandry, health monitoring and preventative care. Animal Care staff provide high-quality experiences for the animals, and the people who come through our facility. The ACT position is designed with a career path of three distinct levels with escalating skill sets and responsibilities. All three levels take accountability for animal care, patron interactions, and facility cleanliness.

The Animal Care Technicians report to the Animal Care supervisor and work collaboratively with all shelter departments in addition to regularly engaging with volunteers and workforce partners.

• Provide daily husbandry to all animals in shelter including feeding, health monitoring and cleaning of all animal areas.
• Perform daily cleaning of designated areas including but not limited to kennels, crates, supplies, laundry and associated public areas.
• Follow disease control protocol to ensure a safe, healthy environment.
• Follow safety guidelines to ensure a safe work environment for staff and living environments for all animals.
• Take immediate action to address any safety concerns or noncompliance of safety rules that could put an employee, volunteer, client, animal, or the organization at risk.
• Stock areas and maintain cleanliness of kennels and public areas throughout the day.
• Keep supervisor informed of animal behavior or health concerns.
• Perform other duties as related to above tasks.

• Public interaction & customer service including adoption socials and leading lost animal walk throughs.
• Assist with preventative medicine as directed by team leadership.
• Assist with moving animals throughout the facility.
• Data entry into shelter-based software
• Support and assist Animal Care volunteers.
• Perform closing duties as they pertain to designated areas.
• Cat Team specific:
• Daily management of Cattery areas
• Support preparation for offsite cat programs
• Dog Team specific:
• Participate in dog-to-dog socials.
• Support daily walks per outlined protocols.
• Small Animal Team specific:
• Small animal intake and processing
• Support Small Animal behavior plans.

• Must be fully trained & willing to work on both Dog Team, Cat Team & with small animals as needed.
• Independent decision maker…