Wildlife Rehabilitator & Educator

RWS seeks an experienced animal care and outreach professional to join our growing team. This new position will straddle two important parts of our mission at RWS: rehabilitation and public education. This employee will report to the Rehabilitation Program Manager and help execute daily care for injured and orphaned wildlife. In addition, this employee will be responsible for leading husbandry for our education ambassador collection and organizing and executing high-quality wildlife education programs on‑and off‑site.

We envision a 60% wildlife rehabilitation/40% education and outreach task breakdown.

The position’s responsibilities will shift depending on the season as well. During the spring and summer, this person will largely be hands‑on with our wildlife rehabilitation program as a staff rehabilitator when not providing daily care to our ambassador animal collection. The Sanctuary operates from 7 AM – 7 PM during our busy spring and summer seasons, and rehabilitation shifts are typically either 7AM‑3PM or 11AM‑7 PM.

During the fall and winter, this employee will be able to focus more time on education and outreach: organizing and designing programs, leading tours, planning ambassador care initiatives and collection, assisting with digital communications, and serving as a public face for the organization when needed through news appearances and public events.

Due to the nature of wildlife rehabilitation and outreach, remote or hybrid work is not an option for this position. However, employees receive dedicated focus time or may work from home during the winter to accomplish continuing education goals or other administrative tasks for the Sanctuary.start date for this position would be by early July.Job Responsibilities and Duties Rehabilitation (Animal Care): 60%
• Provide excellent rehabilitative care to all animals at the Sanctuary.
• Perform daily cleaning and feeding of all animals housed at the Sanctuary, including our rehabilitation patients and our education ambassador animals. We have two indoor nurseries and over fifty outdoor enclosures, so we are quite busy during baby season!
• Monitor each animal’s health, attitude, weight, appetite, etc., and maintain written records of each animal’s progress.
• Assist with restraint, examination, diagnostic procedures and treatment of animals, as needed.
• Admit patients and complete associated records. Examine and initiate first aid to patients and new arrivals.
• Arrange transport of incoming animals to the Sanctuary and the transport of severely injured animals to the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
• Maintain high standards of cleanliness in our nurseries, kitchen, laundry room, and outdoor enclosures.
• Prepare specialized meals for a variety of species, including making “bird batter” for feeding baby birds; baby birds are fed every thirty minutes, sunrise to sunset!
• Assist with observations of patients to provide information for release considerations.
• Assist with data collection for ongoing research projects, as needed.
• Train, supervise, and mentor rehabilitation interns and animal care volunteers.
• Set a positive example of clear communication and good attitude for interns, volunteers, and general public.
• Enter patients into WILD-One, our online patient database, and disposition patients from WILD-ONe as appropriate.
• Answer the phone and respond to rehabilitation‑related questions from the public. Help manage general inquiry email accounts and provide information to the public.
Education & Outreach (40%)
• Manage daily husbandry for education ambassador collection, including nutrition, behavioral training, enclosure cleanliness, and enrichment. Our current collection of 13 ambassadors includes a variety of herptiles, one Black Vulture, and two Virginia Opossums. We have a legacy Red‑tailed Hawk as well.
• Train volunteers on education ambassador husbandry. Ensure staff are updated on any husbandry changes or requirements necessary to execute care when this employee is off.
• Alert Rehabilitation Program Manager to any changes in ambassador condition that would necessitate medical or husbandry‑based intervention.
• Coordinate and schedule education outreach programs depending…

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