Animal Care Assistant

Are you looking to work on the frontline of an organisation that ends cruelty, promotes kindness and alleviates suffering to animals?

We're recruiting an Animal Care Assistant to join us at our Blackberry Farm Animal Centre in Aylesbury on a part time basis to provide care for all animals in the centre, establish good customer relations and maintain administration and health and safety procedures.

At Blackberry Farm most of our animals have been rescued from neglect and bad treatment by their previous owners. We look after dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, farm animals and many other types of small domestic animals - at any one time we could be caring for over 200 animals.

Our vision is a society where no animal suffers unnecessarily.  Some animals that come to us have been mistreated, kept in awful conditions or left without free access to food or water. They may arrive terrified and it's up to us to try and work out why and bring them round to trusting people again. We do this on a daily basis with a dedicated team that we're extremely proud of. The work can be tough, both physically and emotionally but very rewarding.

• Cleaning animal accommodation for cats and dogs to the required standard set by the RSPCA
• Preparing and providing food and water for all animals in the establishment
• Performing regular health checks on all animals and giving medical treatments as prescribed by the centres consulting Veterinary Surgeon
• Attending to the needs of the individual animals including providing exercise/socialisation and grooming for all animals within the care of the centre
• Communicating with members of the public, representing the RSPCA positively and professionally at all times.
• Working as part of a team with staff and volunteers
• Completing all relevant animal paperwork and updating the Centres computer data base for all animals held on site

We think this is a great role and to add value we are seeking a match of these skills, but don't worry if you don't tick every box, we'd still love to hear from you.

• Experience working with domestic animals - good animal handling skills are essential
• Communication skills and enjoy working as part of a team
• Customer care skills
• Animal Care qualifications are desirable

So if you've worked with animals and are passionate about animal welfare and want to embark on a mission to end the suffering of animals, we'd love to hear from you!

You'll have an opportunity to work for the largest animal welfare charity in England and Wales.

We value and recognise our employees' contribution and are proud to offer an extensive benefits package that includes:

35 hour working week on a roster basis working every other weekend, 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays increasing to 31 days with service; a generous pension scheme with associated life assurance and group income protection scheme; access to private healthcare scheme; support for professional development after qualifying period and access to our employee assistance programme. We also offer free parking on-site.

How to apply & further information

For more information and to make an application, please see the job description, person specification and advert on our website:

https://jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/vacancy/animal-care-assistant-0353-blackberry-farm-animal-centre/371/description/

Please note we do not accept CVs or applications via Indeed. Any applications received in this way will not be considered.

Early applications are encouraged as we reserve the right to close this advert once sufficient applications have been received.

All online information and documents are available in alternative formats, including Braille and large font, upon request from the Resourcing team.

We strongly believe in being an innovative, diverse, and inclusive organisation and recognise that diversity in all of our people will help achieve that purpose and our mission more effectively. We strongly encourage and seek applications from a wide diversity of candidates and in particular welcome applications from minority ethnic, black, and candidates with disabilities, who are currently under-represented at the RSPCA.

Ending cruelty, promoting kindness and alleviating suffering to animals.