Animal Keeper

Edinburgh Zoo

ANIMAL KEEPER (FTC, part time, 21 hours per week)

We have an exciting, temporary recruitment opportunity for an Animal Keeper on a fixed term basis, to assist us with our penguin breeding season.

This role is expected to last for 20 weeks and will be part time, 21 hours per week.

The role
Perform all duties to ensure the smooth running of the allocated animal section within Living Collections, aiming to optimise the quality of animal welfare and visitor experience in support of RZSS’ vision and mission.

Some of the things you’ll do:

· Help to ensure animal welfare, husbandry and management is of the highest standard, taking into account relevant legislation and best practice animal management.

· Contribute to the display of the animal collection to ensure suitable for animal’s needs and presentable to the public, e.g. positive visitor engagement and suggest ideas for development to relevant departments, e.g. Property & Estates and Interpretation.

· Engage with and support visitors, ensuring your message is consistent with team objectives and in line with RZSS’ mission and vision whilst providing first-class customer care and service, e.g. answering visitor queries and undertaking public talks, tours and Keeper for a Day experiences.

· Collate and record detailed and accurate animal records via daily record sheets in relation to the good management of the animal collection and animal training, and to ensure accurate data (e.g. weights, behaviours, births, deaths and treatments received) can be input to the Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS).

· Proactively ensure your knowledge of RZSS, our conservation work and species within the collection is thorough and up to date, e.g. attending team meetings, accessing team brief.

· May drive or work off site, e.g. getting browse from off-site locations and assisting with external animal transfers.

What we’re looking for:

· You’ll have a good level of education at standard grade or equivalent qualifications (including English, Mathematics and Sciences)

· First-class customer service, e.g. interpersonal skills and ability to engage with the public

· Competent in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook)

· Can demonstrate an interest in animals with some practical experience in a zoo or animal-related environment.

Closing Date: Midnight on Friday 26 February 2021.

Please visit the RZSS Job Opportunities Page https://www.rzss.org.uk/hr-vacancy-single/?Category=Animals%2520%2F%2520Living%2520Collections&Advert=tJiZYlpxeKtDpRd4ztOoBg%3D%3D for further information on what the role involves and essential/desirable criteria and details on how to apply.

FYI

This vacancy has been posted out to the many thousands who read the popular Zoo Jobs Blog Page and then on to the 129,400 plus followers of the ZooNews Digest Facebook Page. It is then immediately forwarded on to Twitter and then to Pinterest and Linkedin (8,000+ connections). Many vacancies are shared to individuals and groups. In short your vacancy will have the potential of reaching something in the region of some 80,000 plus people within 24 hours. Most of these people are working in a zoo environment, Keepers, Curators, Vets, Zoo Directors, Trainers, Aquarists and more.

ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 1200 Zoos in 150+ countries. Zoo professionals are International.

The number of people who will actually read the posted vacancy will actually be considerably less. Usually this will be between two hundred and three thousand. This will depend on the type of post, the time of the year and where it is located…of course not all will apply. I wish you the very best of luck in finding the right candidate for your post.

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