Volunteer Animal Care Assistant (Wednesday Animal Care)

RSPCA Pension Scheme Limited; Highbridge; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading animal welfare charity in the UK seeks passionate volunteers as Animal Care Assistants to help care for animals at their center. Responsibilities include preparing food, cleaning accommodations, and monitoring animal well-being. Ideal candidates should be comfortable around animals and have a strong commitment to animal welfare. This volunteer opportunity allows you to gain experience and contribute significantly to animal care.

Benefits

Meet new people and make friends

Great induction and training

Make a difference to animal welfare

Qualifications

• Volunteers must be aged 18 or over.
• Able to carry out physical tasks, with some moderate lifting involved.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and provide food, medication, and water for all the animals.
• Clean, disinfect, and maintain animal accommodation.
• Monitor animal behavior and report concerns.

Skills

Passion for animal welfare

Experience with animals

Ability to read animal behavior

Patient and understanding nature

Teamwork capability

Physical task capability

Job description

Overview

We are the RSPCA and it\'s our vision to live in a world where all animals are respected and treated with compassion. Our volunteers are incredible, they play an essential role in helping us carry out our important animal welfare work every day. Much of our direct animal welfare work is carried out through our branches. These separately registered charities across England and Wales are run by volunteers who are unstinting in their work for animal welfare. This volunteer opportunity is provided by an RSPCA branch, which is a separate registered charity to the RSPCA National Society. Please visit theBranch’s website North Somerset for more info and to view a copy of the branch\'s privacy policy. As a Animal Care Assistant you\'ll be helping us to prepare and provide food, water, medication and clean accommodation for all the animals in the centre. Volunteering with us is a great opportunity to put existing skills to great use and to learn new ones whilst helping us to improve animal welfare.

Volunteer role

Volunteer Animal Care Assistant

Volunteer manager

Animal Centre Manager

Where you will be based

Community

Why we want you

We are the RSPCA and it\'s our vision to live in a world where all animals are respected and treated with compassion. Our volunteers are incredible, they play an essential role in helping us carry out our important animal welfare work every day. As a Animal Care Assistant you\'ll be helping us to prepare and provide food, water, medication and clean accommodation for all the animals in the centre. Volunteering with us is a great opportunity to put existing skills to great use and to learn new ones whilst helping us to improve animal welfare.

What you will be doing

• Prepare and provide food, medication and water for all the animals in the centre as directed by the rehoming team.
• Clean, disinfect and maintain the animal accommodation, including the animal kitchen area as and when required.
• Set up pens for new admissions.
• Report any animal welfare concerns to staff immediately.
• Monitor the individual animal\'s physical condition and patterns of behaviour and report any concerns to staff as soon as possible.
• Follow the advice of the rehoming team in regards to meeting the individual needs of each species, including medication, coat care/grooming, flea and worm treatment and claw clipping.
• Read information on display for each animal before seeing to each animal, paying special attention to medication and dietary requirements
• Adhere to any other guidelines and notices about the welfare of the animals in the rehoming centre.
• Work together with other volunteers (e.g. care assistants, cat and rabbit socialisers) and pass on relevant information to each other and to the rehoming team (e.g. changes in behaviour or diet).
• Volunteer on the agreed weekly day and time, and to notify staff as soon as possible if unable to attend.
• Undertake appropriate training when and as required.
• Use all equipment as directed by staff and ensure this equipment is returned as directed at the end of the volunteering session, and to report any damaged equipment as soon as possible.
• Undertake online Health and Safety courses and be familiar and comply with Health and Safety policies and procedures.
• Seek advice from staff before uploading pictures/videos of the animals on social media. (NB some animal\'s owners may be subject to further investigation).

The skills you need

• A passion for animal welfare.
• Experience of animals and the ability to read their behaviour.
• Must feel comfortable around animals and have a patient and understanding nature.
• Able to work within a team but also capable of working with minimal supervision.
• Able to carry out physical tasks. Some moderate lifting will be involved but full Health and Safety training will be given.
• Volunteers must be aged 18 or over.

What\'s in it for you

• Meet new people and make new friends.
• Learn great new skills to add to your CV.
• A great induction and training relevant to your role.
• You\’ll be making a huge difference to the welfare of animals.

Disclaimer

Before you can start volunteering you\’ll need to complete our simple online Health & Safety course and any associated training required for your role.Tetanus is a life threatening bacterial disease caused by an infection in an open wound. All volunteers must be suitably protected. We recommend that volunteers check their vaccination history with their GP. If a volunteer has not had the required doses, the GP should offer them free of charge as part of the UK vaccination schedule.