Dudley Zoo & Castle
West Midlands Closing date for applications is: 20th Jan 2025
Job type: Full-time / maternity cover, 12 month contract
Shift and schedule: five day week including weekends and Bank Holidays. Winter hours 36.5 pw Summer hours 41.5 pw
About us
The zoo first opened in May 1937, it covers an area of approximately 40 acres. This unique site includes two scheduled monuments – an 11th century castle and limestone caverns – and 12 Grade 2 listed Tecton buildings (four Grade 2*). The original owner, the Third Earl of Dudley, converted Dudley Castle’s grounds into zoological gardens. A team of Modernist architects designed the zoo using reinforced concrete, creating a revolutionary new design of building: Tectons. The structures have stood the test of time, and eight decades on, Dudley Zoo has the world’s largest single collection of Tectons, which in 2009 received World Monument Status. Dudley Zoo now has a variety of animal housing, paddocks, and enclosures which are home to our wide variety of 200 species. We are proud that the animal collection is linked to international conservation and breeding programmes, and several of our global projects have received awards. Endangered species include Asiatic lions, Sumatran tigers, Bornean orangutans, Tibetan red pandas, Rothschild giraffes, Madagascan lemurs, and Humboldt penguins.
The Ungulate department is a mixed taxa section responsible for our Giraffe, Tapirs, Capybara, Barbary sheep, short clawed Asiatic otters, Red Panda, Parma wallabies, Bennetts’s wallaby, and Meerkats. The department also covers the Reptile house and castle creatures.
Minimum Requirements:
Candidates should have demonstrable previous experience of working in a zoo environment and ideally in-depth experience of working with a variety of ungulate species.
Duties include but are not limited to:
1. Animal nutrition across a range of species
2. Enclosure cleaning and maintenance
3. Assisting with professional visits, such as vets
4. Medication and rehabilitation of animals when required
5. Visitor experiences such as meet and greets and keeper for the day
Skills and Qualities:
* Excellent observational skills
* Forward thinking
* Good forward planner
* Self-motivated and proactive
Desired Qualifications:
* The zoo animal management qualification (DMZAA) or equivalent
* A current driving licence will be an added advantage.
Shared accommodation may be available if required.
BIAZA's office hours are 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday. Contact outside of those times will get a response when we are next in the office.
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