Animal Attendant-Associate

Job Summary:

Responsible for providing species appropriate husbandry services, to include operating and maintaining the associated facilities and equipment, in support of research animals maintained at the institution.

Job Duties:

1. With limited supervision, provide daily husbandry services for multiple laboratory animal species to include daily health checks/observations, provision of food and water to individual cages, adhering to biosecurity procedures, animal handling/restraint, transport of animals, bulk feed, bedding, and caging within a vivarium, and changing large numbers of cages/cage racks.
2. Provide animal room services to include maintaining daily room logs (records of animal inventory, room environment and consumable supplies), adhering to expiration dates for consumables, equipment maintenance schedules, special husbandry instructions related to research needs, sanitizing animal rooms and equipment with disinfectants and detergents in compliance with species specific regulations and policies.
3. Adhere to complex and numerous regulations enforced by federal, state and local agencies (USDA, CDC, AAALAC, IACUC, Environmental Health and Safety).
4. Process requests for cages and ensures detailed information is transcribed to cage identification cards for various species.
5. Works closely with diverse research staff to ensure proper coordination between husbandry duties and research activities.
6. Operate various types of cage and rack washer equipment, conventional and pass- through autoclaves and other equipment associated with the animal facility; performs maintenance and repair of existing equipment.
7. Perform all other duties as assigned.

Education:

High school diploma or GED is required.

Experience:

No experience is required.

Preferred:

One (1) to two (2) years experience performing husbandry and handling of animals at an accredited research institution or veterinary practice is preferred.

College or technical training hours from an accredited institution is preferred.

Preferred Additional Licenses and Certifications:

Assistant Laboratory Animal Technician Certification (ALAT) through American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) is preferred.