Elephant Specialist

Job Title: Elephant Specialist
Department: White Oak Conservation
Reports To: Elephant Collection Manager 
FLSA Status: Non-exempt
Effective Date: July 2024

White Oak conserves and sustains some of the earth's rarest wild animals through innovative training, research, education, and conservation breeding programs that contribute to the survival of wildlife in nature.  The conservation programs span 600 acres along the St. Mary’s River in northeast Florida, surrounded by 17,000 acres of mixed forest and wetlands that make up the beautiful White Oak property.  Founded in 1982, White Oak leads professional efforts to improve veterinary care, develop holistic animal management techniques, and better understand the biology of critically endangered species by providing excellent care and managing conservation programs for over 30 species of imperiled wildlife in large, naturalistic habitats.      

Position Purpose: 
The elephant specialist delivers exceptional, safe elephant care to advance White Oak’s elephant conservation programs. This position contributes directly to the White Oak Conservation mission by supporting the elephant husbandry program. 

Responsibilities and Tasks: 
The essential duties and responsibilities of this position include the following. Other duties may be assigned.
•    Participate in the daily care of the animals in designated areas, to include feeding, cleaning, medicating, training, enrichment, and record keeping activities. 
•    Participate with hand rearing, animal transfers, introductions, operant conditioning, and area research projects.
•    Train new behaviors with elephants in protected contact system.
•    Participate in advanced elephant husbandry practices such as footcare, blood collections, and semen collections.
•    Foster regular department delivery of public education programs featuring the wildlife collection.
•    Participate with the elephant health team to conduct elephant medical procedures and treatments.
•    Notify supervisor of supplies, tools and equipment needed in the elephant area.
•    Perform animal care facilities maintenance to include mowing, weed-eating, pressure washing, dirt and substrate work, gate adjustments, lock lubrication, limb pick up, and other minor repairs.
•    Maintain records and reports related to the elephant collection.
•    Maintain, clean, and organize work and break areas, food storage, food prep, vehicles, and equipment.
•    Perform grounds maintenance in and around animal areas, work to include mowing, weed eating, tree trimming, pressure washing, and limb pick up.
•    Participate with intern training including animal husbandry and management, record keeping, research, conservation, and education projects.
•    Responsible for maintaining the highest level of safety in the workplace through staff training and implementation of safety protocols and procedures.
•    Possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills necessary to establish and maintain effective working relationships with staff, professional colleagues, and the public, both in person and through phone, e-mail, and written correspondence.
•    Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously; skill in working in an environment subject to constant interruptions and quickly changing priorities; ability to prioritize responsibilities when necessary; effective time-management skills.
•    Perform other duties that are not specifically identified above but are required to care for White Oak’s wildlife collection.

Qualifications:
•    High School Diploma/GED required, associate or bachelor’s degree in animal science, wildlife management, biology, or a related field is preferred. 
•    At least 2-3 years of husbandry experience with large ungulates, elephant husbandry experience preferred.  
•    Experience operating small equipment and farm machinery desired – mowers, weed-eaters, pressure washer, tractor or skid steer loader, utility/stock trailers.

Character Competencies:
•    Engagement and genuine alignment with the mission, values, and vision of White Oak
•    Personal interest in, and strong commitment to, conservation, animal care and animal health
•    Capacity to work effectively with, and collaborate across, multiple organizational teams
•    Ability to lead and influence without authority
•    Self-motivated and self-directed
•    Inspiring and positive  
•    Effective communicator
•    Motivational and encouraging
•    Welcoming, personable
•    Capable and knowledgeable decision making, shows good judgement – with level of independence
•    Sets positive example, good conduct – safety, animal care, communications
•    Flexibility and adaptability – new assignments & projects, area change
•    High attention to detail and superior quality of work
•    Superior organizational skills
•    Sensitive to individual differences and supportive of a diverse workplace
•    The ideal team player will:
o    be resilient, show initiative, and demonstrate a healthy commitment to going above and beyond,
o    focus on team success and define success collaboratively versus individually,
o    work with colleagues in mind, be a good listener, and be willing to seek information and assistance when necessary.

Special Working Conditions:
•    Must have a valid drivers’ license.
•    The physical demands 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.
•    Must be able to exert up to 50 pounds of force to lift, push, pull, carry, or otherwise move objects, climb a 5-foot ladder, and work outdoors in all conditions.
•    Exposure to fumes, odors, dust, moving mechanical parts and vehicles.
•    Ability to work a flexible schedule which may include evenings, weekends, and holidays as well as unforeseen emergency situations.