Wildlife Rehabilitator

Progressive Animal Welfare Society • Snohomish, PA

5d • Onsite

About The Position

The Wildlife Rehabilitator will coordinate daily animal care at the PAWS Wildlife Center. They provide the daily care, cleaning, and enrichment needs of wild animals at PAWS, running daily care shifts consisting of volunteers, interns and seasonals under the direct supervision of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager. Headquartered in Lynnwood, WA, PAWS is a nationally recognized leader in rehabilitating injured and orphaned wildlife, sheltering, adopting homeless cats and dogs, and educating people to make a better world for animals and people. PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center is located Snohomish, WA, near Lowell Larimer Rd. on Hwy 9, and work will be from this facility.

Requirements

• Baccalaureate degree from an accredited university.
• The equivalent of four years’ full-time work in wildlife rehabilitation may be considered in place of a college degree.
• Minimum of three months experience working full time in a wildlife rehabilitation center or at least one year experience working as a veterinary technician, zookeeper, field biologist or other related field.
• Must have supervisory experience.
• Knowledge of natural history and behavior of native wild species is essential.
• Pre-exposure rabies prophylaxis will be mandatory to gain after hire and within the first 6 months of employment.
• Must be skilled in wildlife care at a veterinary assistant or veterinary technician level and be able to learn skills quickly on the job.
• Capacity to make euthanasia decisions and perform euthanasia.
• Certified euthanasia technician certificate
• Awareness to act decisively regarding dynamic animal cases and situations for which there may be no existing protocols.
• Must be willing to perform injection euthanasia using sodium pentobarbital and must have or can obtain a Washington State Certificate for the Administration of Legend Drugs and complete PAWS Euthanasia procedures training.
• Must have or be able to obtain a valid Washington driver’s license with no major or repeated minor traffic offenses and auto-insurance with required coverage limits.
• Able to work cooperatively with people and to communicate clearly about PAWS’ mission, the care and treatment of animals, and the safety of the public and other employees.
• Must be able to always represent PAWS professionally.
• Must be fluent and comfortable with computer systems used in our operations (Microsoft Office and Outlook) and have basic computer skills, including database skills.
• Ability to lead a team, and work as part of a team, and work independently.
• Ability to work quickly, efficiently, and calmly under stressful conditions.
• Organized, flexible, and able to balance concurrent projects and adjust to rapid, changing needs.
• Possess excellent interpersonal, organizational, written, and verbal communication skills and the ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse groups of people.
• Effectively manage people and promote a positive, respectful, and collaborative working environment built on team concepts.
• Ideal candidates embrace and embody the five core values of the organization: commitment, compassion, respect, kindness, and trust.

Nice To Haves

• Previous experience working with native wildlife in a rehabilitation setting is preferred.
• Preference will be given to candidates with degrees in biology or wildlife sciences.

Responsibilities

• Performing examinations and basic rehabilitation intake assessments on incoming patients.
• Maintaining current animal care records and accurate data entry of records into PAWS wildlife database.
• Fulfilling daily care plans of wildlife patients including but not limited to nutritional, caging, and basic medical needs.
• Assists with the administration of daily medications and supportive treatments or procedures.
• Supports the animals through the administration of medications, fluids, force-feeding and other care for injuries or illness as prescribed by the WL veterinary staff and Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager.
• Assists management with the evaluations of medical and behavioral needs of wild animals by maintaining accurate records and status changes.
• May provide input into care, euthanasia or transfer decisions as needed.
• Closely monitors animals in our care and alerts the Veterinary team and Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager when an animal needs to be assessed for further care and treatment.
• Ensuring that cages, facilities, and areas around enclosures are cleaned and maintained daily, feeding schedules are adhered to and other animal husbandry needs are met.
• Supervising, training, and mentoring volunteers, interns, and seasonal staff in a positive and educational manner to provide the best quality of care to our wild patients as a team.
• Delegating and ensuring satisfactory completion of tasks.
• Ensuring that animals are being handled in a manner that maximizes human and animal safety.
• Greet customers; provide accurate information and courteous service to the public, both in person and via phone and electronic communications, about PAWS and all aspects of wildlife operations.
• Handle all transactions with customers and animal care procedures safely and accurately while processing wild animals into or out of the center supporting the wildlife admissions staff.
• Gathers information from finders, accurately completes paperwork and enters information into wildlife databases.
• Solicit and process over-the-counter donations from the public and accept donations of goods or products from the public, completing in-kind paperwork.
• Actively respond to public enquiries and concerns about wildlife.
• Ensure that accurate and humane information is given out, promoting co-existence with wildlife.
• Ensuring that protocols to minimize risk of contraction of zoonotic disease are being adhered to.
• Participating and collaborating in daily patient rounds.
• Administering basic medical care according to the PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Manual and PAWS Wildlife standard operating procedures.
• Assisting the veterinarians and licensed veterinary technicians with treatments, bandaging, vaccines, imaging procedures, and monitoring vital signs of an anesthetized patient as needed.
• Lab sample collection and test preparation
• Intramuscular and subcutaneous injection
• Making triage decisions and euthanizing or assisting in euthanizing animals per written policies and procedures.
• Performs other health care procedures for animals as provided in written policies and procedures.
• Driving your own vehicle or a PAWS vehicle as needed to transport wildlife as directed.
• Organizing, leading, and completing winter projects to ensure they are done well before spring season (March 1).
• Assisting the PAWS Naturalist in the release of animals as time allows.
• Provides support to the medical team or may fill in for the wildlife clinic staff in areas where properly trained.
• Assisting the Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager in revising species protocols and rehabilitation care research as needed.
• May perform other related duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Generous benefits available including health/vision/dental/long-term disability/life insurance for employees and their families, enrollment in 403(b) plan with employer contribution and match, paid time off (PTO) starting with accrual of up to 15 days annually, sick leave accrued on all hours worked, 10 paid holidays per year, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), pet supply discounts, and discounts for veterinary services at select veterinary clinics.
• PAWS is a Public Service Loan Forgiveness qualified employer.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees