Animal Care Technician

Magnolia Plantations & Gardens, one of the nation’s oldest and most frequented historical public gardens, is looking for a new Animal Care Technician for their Wildlife Center. This role is primarily responsible for utilizing operant conditioning techniques when caring for animals, providing guest engagement and education to visitors, animal enclosure and environment upkeep, and animal operations process creation.

What you will be doing:

• Interacting with guests and provide interpretation on species specific traits and adaptations in a positive and passionate manner
• Assisting with special events, tours, or animal encounters
• Performing daily husbandry duties for wide range of animal species including but not limited to reptiles such as snakes and alligators, birds of prey, carnivores such as bobcat
• Observing animal behavior to be able to interpret and distinguish signs of unusual behavior which may indicate illness/injury
• Utilizing operant conditioning techniques to maintain and train both husbandry- and education- focused behaviors in a variety of species
• Preparing and feeding appropriate diets to animals ensuring safe and appropriate food supplies are being maintained
• Performing deep cleans, routine maintenance, upkeep, and small-scale repairs of enclosures and holding areas as needed
• Assisting with enclosure re-sets and habitat development; installs and maintains appropriate perching and enclosure accessories essential to species-specific husbandry requirements
• Updating and maintaining animal health, behavior, and training records
• Perform routine maintenance, upkeep, and small-scale repairs on animal enclosures
• Maintain tools and equipment used in daily animal care and exhibit maintenance

Requirements

Who you are:

• You are wildly passionate about animals and educating the public. You’ve got a degree in a relevant field such as but not limited to Biology, Ecology, or Animal & Veterinary Science and 1-2 years of experience (internships and volunteer work included) in a captive wildlife setting. Experience from zoo, aquarium, nature center or comparable facility preferred!
• You’ve got a strong knowledge of the natural history of the southeastern USA, including identification, ecology, and conservation. You have the ability to interpret unique adaptations and behavior for a wide variety of native species found within the region
• You are comfortable connecting with a wide variety of people, and do so by flexing your presentation style to meet the unique needs and backgrounds of the people you’re with
• You’re tech savvy, and utilize technology to not just streamline and automate process, but to collect data to support decisions regarding the care and interactions with animals
• As Magnolia is a tourist attraction, this position may require long-days and/or work on the weekends as needed. We’re mindful that in order for you to be the most effective in your role, it’s important that you balance that work with time to rest, so we offer generous PTO and other benefits to support you

Benefits

Employee Benefits

• Magnolia realizes the importance of a healthy work/life balance and offers a generous amount of PTO, Sick Days & Paid Holidays
• Happy Birthday.. off! If you are scheduled to work on your special day, you can request 8 hours of pay
• Magnolia contributes 80% of medical premiums for employee-only coverage and 40% to all other levels of coverage
• No cost $10,000 life & accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance
• 401K retirement plan matching at 4%
• If enrolled in our medical plan, access to covered MinuteClinic® and Teledoc® services are offered to you free or at a lower cost. Covered medical participants can also enjoy Peerfit (helps you stay active with monthly credits that can be redeemed for group fitness classes), Wellness tools (health assessment and online programs to help you meet your goals), Discount program (helps you save on health products and services), 24/7 Employee Assistance Program (helps in all aspects of life, from emotional well-being, legal and financial help), behavioral telehealth/virtual providers and services, no-cost diabetic meters and enhanced maternity program. Plan participants are also offered free, online will preparation with claimant support services and emergency travel assistance

Employee Discounts

• Experience our history, horticulture and nature with your loved ones! Employees can host their immediate family members (on non-scheduled working days) to Magnolia! This includes free admission to the gardens and to all tours. If immediate family members visit during an employee's scheduled working day, eligible family member