Animal Services Assistant - Variable Hour Not Benefit Eligible

Overview Of Position / Department

The City of Aurora is seeking a skilled Animal Services Assistant to provide humane care and treatment for sheltered animals. This position will be cleaning and maintaining kennel facilities while helping patrons.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

• Provides humane care, treatment and safe handling of animals in the shelter including feeding, cleaning, grooming and enrichment
• De-grease all interior and exterior kennel walls, sweep and mop all floors daily, empty all trash cans each day, wash and sanitize all food containers, water buckets and litter boxes, deep clean and sanitize every kennel once it is empty including bedding, wash, dry, fold and put away all laundry daily, dust and cleans all pipes and vents in kennel area, intakes animals left in the night drop kennels and sanitizes kennel once empty, intakes animals brought in by the public to include photographing, vaccinating, weighing, data entry and kenneling
• Performs an initial physical exam to look for injuries or illness and reports to veterinary services, if found, traces microchips and tags for owner contact information on stray animals, assists with kenneling and movement of animals and updates animal records to reflect movement or change in status, educates prospective adopters in adoption of suitable pet: reviews and completes adoption paperwork and conducts dog-dog meet and greets
• Processes animals for release to their owners including verifying ownership, that the animal is cleared to be released to owner and providing owner with all medical paperwork, contacting an Animal Protection Officer if a summons has been initiated for the owner of the animal, responds to heavy phone call volume and calls back citizens who left messages and documents each phone call in a log, responds to citizen emails, processes all paperwork and data entry for Community Cat Caretakers, Fancier’s Permit applicants, private trappers, guard dog permits
• Performs euthanasia and related tasks
• Absolutely necessary to safely use all shelter equipment efficiently, transports animals and cleans and maintains the transport vehicle, administers microchips and all vaccinations to animals available for adoption, medicates sick and injured animals as needed, spot cleans kennels throughout the day, provides differing enrichment items to the dogs and cats each day and cleans up after or walks dogs, assists in janitorial and light maintenance duties, maintains grounds including picking up trash, organizes donated items and places them in the appropriate area for each use, operates and closes out the cash drawer daily, bathes dogs as needed

Minimum Qualifications & Working Conditions

• An equivalent combination of education, training, and experience that demonstrates required knowledge, skills, and abilities may be considered.
• Education: High School Diploma or GED
• Experience: One year of animal related experience or customer service experience
• Preferred Qualifications: One year of experience working in an animal shelter, Euthanasia Certification within one year
• Knowledge: General knowledge of companion animal welfare, breeds and species
• Skills: Animal handling skills, Providing friendly customer service, Excellent interpersonal communication skills, Strong attention to detail
• Abilities: Establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees and citizens, Handle sensitive situations with tact and diplomacy, Ability to complete work without close supervision, Provide humane care and treatment for a variety of animals, Perform euthanasia, Creatively solve problems, negotiate and handle stressful situations in a positive manner, Operate a city vehicle
• Licenses And Certifications Required: Valid Colorado Driver’s License

Physical Demands

Medium work that involves moving no more than 50 pounds with or without assistance at a time, subject to animal bites and scratches, may require frequent pushing, pulling, bending and stooping, clear vision to read and interpret notes and other written documents, speech communication and hearing to maintain communication with employees and citizens, hand/eye coordination for operation of computer keyboard, foot/eye coordination for operation of a motor vehicle, speech communication and hearing to maintain communication with employees and citizens, works primarily indoors in a shelter setting with exposure to dust, water, noise, animal dander, odors and fumes, but may occasionally work outside assisting at outreach events

Equipment Used

• Uses standard office equipment including personal computer and common office software such as email, internet, Word, Excel and shelter Chameleon database

Working Conditions

• Essential Personnel: When a local announcement of emergency or disaster is declared by the City, all City of Aurora employees may be required to work as essential personnel.
• Work Environment: Works primarily indoors in a shelter setting with exposure to dust, water, noise, animal dander, odors and fumes, but may occasionally work outside assisting at outreach events
• Equipment Used: Uses standard office equipment including personal computer and common office software such as email, internet, Word, Excel and shelter Chameleon database