Animal Care Assistant - Okehampton Devon

The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2024 – Medium Organisation

MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB:

The sanctuary offers a home-from-home environment for all our residents.  Under direction you will be required to always provide and maintain a high standard of care and quality of life for all sanctuary residents in a safe and happy environment.  To offer love, comfort, stimulation, compassion, stability and security to all residents including the wildlife, ensuring their environment is the perfect sanctuary.

Under direction, you will be responsible for the welfare and happiness of each resident, ensuring the physical and emotional wellbeing of all residents in your charge, through constant interaction, whilst still maintaining consistently high standards of hygiene for each resident and throughout the sanctuary with daily cleaning duties.

There are many physical elements including cleaning, grooming, lifting residents, bending and working outdoors, so the capability to carry out all such tasks is essential. 

A love of animals together with the commitment and dedication needed to enrich their time at the sanctuary, during their latter years of life, and for those pets undergoing palliative care is also essential.  Full training will be given.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under direction you will be required to:-

i.          Care for each resident like your own family, to build bonds with each resident in your charge, to understand each individual character, their likes, dislikes, personality and needs, to be receptive and understanding and have the ability to spot when things are not quite right.

ii.         Minimise the trauma to any resident at a time of illness with compassionate care and, if needed, staying with them to reassure and “not clock off” when the shift ends.

iii.        Provide stability by way of a routine with regard to meal times, exercise, grooming and cleaning, so all residents feel safe and secure. 

iv.        Provide meals, ie breakfast, lunch and evening meals as well as any extra meals required for residents’ needs.                                       

v.         Ensure bedding, towels and coats are washed, bowls, toys, grooming implements and curtains are cleaned.  The living quarters for all residents to be spotlessly clean, utensils washed, floors hoovered and mopped.  To be able to add the extra little touches to further enhance their living quarters and surroundings. 

vi.        Pick up animal waste from rooms, patio areas and whilst out walking and dispose of in a safe and hygienic fashion.

vii.      Daily cleaning duties to include outside areas of the sanctuary ie stables, aviaries, paddocks, yards and cat gardens having regard for the general tidiness and cleanliness of the entire sanctuary.

viii.     Communicate with all residents throughout your shift, be compassionate, patient, gentle and fun.

ix.        Prioritise own workload as well as work within a team, communicate effectively with other team members, give and receive emotional support at difficult times when a resident dies. 

x.         Meet and greet visitors to the sanctuary as and when required.

xi.        Liaise with all other staff of the Trust in a flexible manner.

xii.      Be familiar with and adhere to The Trust’s procedures, disciplinary and applicable rules and ensure compliance with legislation (Health and Safety, Data Protection, especially the privacy of members, petitioners and volunteers alike).

xiii.     At all times to ensure and maintain a compassionate, professional and efficient public image for the Trust.

Together with such additional general duties as the Employer shall reasonably require, having regard to the needs of the Employer’s business as a Charitable Trust.