Zoo Jobs: Veterinary Officer

Veterinary Officer

HQ, Slimbridge Wetland Centre

37.5 hours per week, mainly working Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm

£29,351 per annum

WWT’s Conservation Action Team is seeking an energetic and enthusiastic veterinarian with wildlife health experience to provide veterinary support to the WWT’s translocation projects, and for our wider wildlife health work.

WWT is a leader in threatened species recovery. We have recently reintroduced Eurasian cranes to Somerset, and they are now nesting in western Britain for the first time in 400 years. Internationally, we lead the ground-breaking headstarting programme for the Critically Endangered spoon-billed sandpiper, and the reintroduction programme for the world’s rarest duck, the Madagascar pochard. In the UK we are headstarting black-tailed godwits and curlew. We also hold the world’s only ex situ population of spoon-billed sandpipers and manage an ark population of Critically Endangered Baer’s pochard.

WWT also has a reputation for its wildlife health work, both nationally and internationally.

Translocation projects require robust disease risk reduction and management. The post holder will write and manage disease risk analyses for all of WWT’s translocation projects, providing conservation medicine support from inception to delivery on the ground. You will help care for, and be responsible for clinical diagnosis and post mortem examinations of our spoon-billed sandpipers, and you will conduct post mortem examinations of wild birds as part of WWT’s ongoing wildlife health monitoring. You will also provide some veterinary cover for our living collections.

You will have a veterinary degree and experience of working in a busy veterinary environment including clinical work and conducting post mortem examinations ideally with specialist knowledge of avian pathology. Good communication and excellent writing skills are essential.

Based primarily at Slimbridge Wetland Centre, some travel will be necessary especially during the spring and summer for disease testing.

The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) creates and protects wetland habitats for people and wildlife. We save species around the world from extinction; our ten UK Wetland Centres inspire thousands of visitors to enjoy being close to nature. WWT’s rapidly growing Conservation Directorate comprises 40 staff, working nationally and internationally to deliver the Trust’s strategy, from threatened species conservation to wetland ecosystem services.

In return for your hard work and dedication you’ll enjoy a wide range of benefits including:

- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays increasing to 30 days after 5 years’ service

- Contributory pension scheme (conditions apply)

- Life assurance

- Free car parking and secure bike storage areas

- Cycle to work scheme

- Free entry to all our centres

For more information, and to apply for the role, please visit

http://jobs.wwt.org.uk/vacancies/1258/ZooNewsDig/veterinary_officer/

Closing date: Sunday 5 January 2020

Interview date: Friday 17 January 2020

WWT is an equal opportunities employer and all applications will be considered solely on merit.