Zoo Commissary Staff-Seasonal

City of Gainesville; Gainesville (TX); On-site; USD 28,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

City of Gainesville is seeking staff to prepare and portion daily diets for zoo animals in care. You will work with Animal Care and Zoo Admin to inventory, procure, and maintain dietary items, ensuring meals meet USDA standards and area diet sheets.

Responsibilities include updating diet sheets with Lead Animal Care, maintaining commissary, carnivore and fish kitchens, labeling items, rotating stock, and assisting with browse collections as requested. High school diploma or GED required.

Qualifications

• Maturity and professionalism.
• Good time management and organizational skills.
• Ability to follow established practices, protocols and procedures to prepare safe and healthy meals for animals in the zoo collection.
• Ability to provide courteous customer service.
• Ability to perform work in adverse weather conditions.
• Ability to follow written and verbal instructions, and work independently.
• Ability to maintain a safe work environment for yourself and others.
• Ability to communicate effectively with Lead Animal Care and Admin staff.
• Ability to work as a member of a team as needed/requested.

Responsibilities

• Prepare all daily diets according to animal area diet sheets.
• Work with Lead Animal Care staff to ensure area diet sheets are up to date.
• Maintain commissary, Carnivore kitchen and Fish kitchen to USDA standards.
• Clean and maintain all coolers/freezers.
• Rotate all dietary items as they come in. Label/date all dietary items as they come in.
• Maintain mealworm colony.
• Pick items from orchard and berry plants as they become ripe and utilize in diets.
• Wash, dry, store kitchen items.
• Run loads of laundry as requested/needed.
• Assist Animal care staff with browse collection as requested.

Skills

Maturity

Time management

Team player

Customer service

Independent work

Safety awareness

Education

High school diploma or GED

Job description

To provide Animal Care staff with prepared meals for the animals in their care. To work with Zoo Admin to inventory, procure and maintain dietary items necessary to prepare meals for the all the animals in the zoo collection.

EXAMPLES OF DUTIES

Responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Essential Functions:

• Prepare all daily diets according to animal area diet sheets.
• Work with Lead Animal Care staff to ensure area diet sheets are up to date.
• Maintain commissary, Carnivore kitchen and Fish kitchen to USDA standards.
• Clean and maintain all coolers/freezers.
• Rotate all dietary items as they come in. Label/date all dietary items as they come in.
• Maintain mealworm colony.
• Pick items from orchard and berry plants as they become ripe and utilize in diets.
• Wash, dry, store kitchen items.
• Run loads of laundry as requested/needed.
• Assist Animal care staff with browse collection as requested.

Additional Duties:

• Perform related duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Demonstrates maturity and professionalism.
• Exhibit good time management and organizational skills.
• Ability to follow established practices, protocols and procedures to prepare safe and healthy meals for animals in the zoo collection.
• Ability to provide courteous customer service.
• Ability to perform work in adverse weather conditions.
• Ability to follow written and verbal instructions, and work independently.
• Ability to maintain a safe work environment for yourself and others.
• Ability to communicate effectively with Lead Animal Care and Admin staff.
• Ability to work as a member of a team as needed/requested.
• Ability to maintain a safe work environment for yourself and others.

Experience and Training Guidelines:

Any combination of experience and training that would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge and abilities would be:

Experience:

No experience required. Previous experience in working in a zoo environment preferred.

Training:

High school diploma or General Equivalence Diploma (GED) required.

License(s) or Certificate(s):

Possession of a valid driver license.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

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.

• Regularly required to stand; walk; sit; run; reach with hands and arms; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; and talk or hear.
• Frequently required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls.
• Occasionally required to climb or balance.
• Regularly lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Ability to wear and use PPE as required.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be made by an employee to successfully perform essential functions of this job.

• Regularly works in near moving mechanical parts and in outside weather conditions.
• Regularly exposed to wet and/or humid conditions and extreme heat.
• Occasionally exposed to fumes or airborne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals, risk of electrical shock, risk of radiation, vibration, and biological pathogens.
• May be exposed to zoonotic diseases that may be life threatening.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually loud.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.

This job description is not an employment agreement, contact agreement, or contract. Management has exclusive right to alter this job description at any time without notice.