Animal Intake/Care Technician

GENERAL STATEMENT OF DUTIES

The Animal Intake/Care Technician processes all incoming animals to the shelter.  An employee in this role will answer the phone and refer calls to appropriate personnel for services, performs physical and behavioral examinations and assists with medical procedures of animals admitted to the animal shelter, and determines proper housing arrangements for all incoming animals. 

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CLASS
Animal Intake/Care Technicians perform intake activities including performing vaccinations, conducting preliminary health examinations and assessments, researching for owner information and possible reunification, entering information into the departments animal management systems along with a high level of public interaction at the shelter facility.   Incumbents are required to provide daily care of the animals and maintain the intake area of the shelter to provide a clean and safe environment for impounding animals, staff and the public. Incumbents also must be able to deal with the stress of an often times emotion-charged public and carry a fast paced and changing workload. Incumbents must be available and willing to work weekends, holidays and to attend any mandatory training or meetings the employer determines are necessary to meet business needs.  Reports to the Animal Care Supervisor.DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Essential duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Identifies and addresses ill animals in accordance with established guidelines; coordinates with veterinary health technicians as needed.
• Work closely with Animal Control and dispatch to collect information for investigations and bite reports.
• Performs skilled work in the intake and providing care for animals in the shelter. Comes in contact with sick, injured unruly and/or vicious animals and impounds them safely and humanely.
• Responsible for the daily care of animals by providing medication, cleaning cages and kennels, and feeding the animals. Identifies and tags animals.
• Responsible for monitoring the health care of animals for any changes; monitoring animals for signs of illness, stress, or lethargy; washing and disinfecting dishes and equipment daily; and customer service. 
• Assists the medical team with medical procedures including but not limited to euthanasia, obtaining x-rays and with gathering samples needed for laboratory testing.
• Conducts daily animal inventory checklists.
• Other related duties as assigned.

RECRUITMENT STANDARDS
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Knowledge of local animal ordinances.
• Knowledge of proper use of animal safety equipment.
• Knowledge of proper vaccination procedures for dogs, cats and ferrets and ability to draw blood from cats and dogs for heartworm and FIV/FELV testing.
• General knowledge of office practices and procedures.
• Knowledge of disease management/recognition, general animal care and safe, humane handling skills
• Knowledge and ability to perform general diagnostic testing to assist with determining health of animal.
• Knowledge of various breeds of dogs, cats and other animals.  
• Knowledge of animal shelter policies and procedures. 
• Knowledge of and ability to assist in performing physical exams and identifying and addressing medical problems/diseases. 
• Ability to work as part of a team to accomplish tasks 
• Ability to keep accurate, detailed records and enter them into computerized animal management system
• Ability to perform math. 
• Ability to communicate effectively in potentially high stress and emotionally driven environment.
• Ability to identify animal behavior and read body language for both cats and dogs.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

High School Diploma or its equivalent AND one year of direct animal handling/care experience in veterinary hospital, humane society or other animal facility. Previous animal intake/care experience in an animal shelter is preferred. 

NOTE: Experience with personal pets is not considered qualifying.  Experience on a ranch, farm, boarding facility, veterinary hospital or with a humane society performing animal care and kennel work is considered qualifying.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands of Work
The following physical activities described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions and expectations. While performing the functions of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear; frequently required to stand, walk, sit, and use hands to finger, handle, or feel, and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds; frequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds; frequently push and/or pull up to 100 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision.
 
Working conditions are in a kennel environment with frequent exposure to laboratory conditions including hazardous materials, unfavorable fumes and odors, and working with animal body fluids and infectious diseases, and loud noises. 

May Require Driving
This position may require driving for this position whether driving a County owned or personal vehicle to conduct county business such as but not limited to attending conferences, meetings, or any other county related functions.   Motor Vehicle Reports may be verified for valid driver's license and that the driving record is compatible with the county's driving criteria.
If a personal vehicle is operated for county business proper insurance is maintained as per Guilford County's vehicle use policy.


Special Note:  This generic class description gives an overview of the job class, its essential job functions, and recommended job requirements.  However, for each individual position assigned to this class, there is available a completed job questionnaire with a physical abilities checklist, which can give further details about that one specific position.  Those documents should be reviewed before initiating a selection process.  They can provide additional detailed information on which to base various personnel actions and can assist management in making legal and defensible personnel decisions.

Salary : $31,901 - $36,686