The Cactus Foundation is looking for a new animal shelter worker.

The foundation works in Lusaka and its surroundings and focuses on animal welfare, children’s education and peaceful animal and human co-habitation. The Cactus Foundation rescues stray, abandoned, injured, ill, or abused dogs and cats and provides them with high-quality medical care and shelter until we can place the animals in their new caring families.

For its large developing shelter for dogs and cats, the foundation is looking for a responsible worker to manage everyday responsibilities at the shelter as well as possible emergencies.

Requirements:

• experience with taking care of animals, especially dogs and cats
• grade 12 certificate
• hardworking and loyal to the organization’s goals
• being able to put the needs of the animals before his/her own needs
• able to become a strong team member
• able to work in a shift system covering different days as the shelter operates 24 hours a day and 7 days a week
• willing to learn and being educated about animals, their behaviour, communication, training and relationship with people
• able to do unpleasant parts of the job such as removing feces and cleaning after animals
• able to connect with the animals, create a relationship with the resident animals and treat them equally with people
• understanding and promoting animal welfare and right

Job description

• to provide full and high-standard care for dogs and cats
• to feed and give water to the resident animals in the shelter and administer medications based on the schedule
• to clean all shelter’s facilities including removing animal feces, washing and disinfecting kennels and other animal’s areas
• to wash blankets and other beddings
• to attend to the animals to make sure they have all their needs taken care of, to supervise them to prevent fights and unwanted behavior
• to be responsible for the well-being of each of every animal and report any important information to the management
• to be able to handle problematic animals such as dogs and cats showing aggressive or stressed behavior
• to provide home-based medical care to sick and vulnerable animals such as providing special feed, administering medication, force-feeding, bottle-feeding, and providing enough heat solutions so the well-being of vulnerable animals is secured
• providing physical and mental stimulation for the animals in form of walks runs, playing with toys, and providing basic obedience training

The working hours of the job are 5 and half days a week from 7:00 to 17:00 (13:00 for the half-day). The working days in a week change according to the monthly shift system.