Primate Caregiver
Hiring Organization:
Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary
Date Posted:
2007-11-21
Position Description:
Mission: Jungle Friends is a 501-(c)-3 non-profit organization that offers permanent sanctuary care for a variety of new-world primates who have fallen into the wrong hands or are simply no longer wanted. Our program is designed to rehabilitate and socialize primates with their own species. The primates in our care are successfully interacting with members of their own kind, many of which were once species isolated, neglected or abused. Jungle Friends' outreach program teaches children about the depletion of natural habitats, human encroachment, endangered species, conservation efforts and our fragile ecosystem. We are committed to the preservation of the Earth's environment and to teaching others how to be better caretakers of our Earth and all its inhabitants. We are dedicated to animal rights issues and advocacy for primate protection.
CAREGIVER POSITION: You must come out for a trial week to see if you are suitable for the job. If the trial week goes well, we will ask that you return to the sanctuary and successfully complete an internship. Your work will include general husbandry: cleaning, feeding, enrichment and some medical procedures, restraint and capture, grant proposals, fundraising, procuring donations, outreach programs and lectures. It will also include building & repairing habitats, general grounds maintenance, record keeping and will require basic computer skills. The work is labor intensive and the climate is very hot and humid in the summer and temperatures can drop to 20 in the winter. The hours are long, usually sun-up to sundown, which can mean 6 am – 9 pm during the summer months and there will be times when days off are scarce. We do, however, try to give a day off every week or when appropriate long weekends and a one-week paid vacation every year, after the first year. The work is difficult and can be stressful, but the rewards are great!
MONKEY RESIDENTS: Jungle Friends has around 100 new-world primates, including: white-faced or white-throated capuchins cebus capucinus (lower risk), white-fronted capuchins Cebus albifrons (lower risk), tufted, brown or black-capped capuchins Cebus apella (lower risk), weeper or wedge-capped capuchins Cebus olivaceus (lower risk), a bearded capuchin cebus libidinosus (lower risk), common squirrel monkeys Saimiri sciureus (lower risk), black squirrel monkey Saimiri vanzolinii (vulnerable), black-handed spider monkeys Ateles geoffroyi (vulnerable), white-bellied spider monkey Ateles belzebuth (endangered), common marmosets Calithrix jacchus (lower risk), black tufted-eared marmoset Calithrix penicillata (lower risk), golden-handed tamarins Sanguinus midas (vulnerable) and cotton-top tamarins Saguinus oedipus (endangered).
Qualifications/Experience:
We are looking for very special people. You must be friendly and have good communication skills, work well with others and have the ability to lead others as well as follow. You must be even-tempered and down to earth. Your own transportation is not required, but is recommended. We require that you come to Jungle Friends for a one-week trial period to evaluate your suitability for this position. The trial period may be waived for out-of-the-country applicants. Due to insurance and health considerations, we do not accept applicants who smoke. We also ask that you are, or are willing to become, a vegetarian; communal meals are vegetarian/vegan. You cannot store, cook or consume animals at Jungle Friends. You must also be willing to make a permanent commitment and provide your own health insurance.
Salary/funding:
Room and board and a salary of $800 per month, if an internship has been successfully completed. If you have not interned at Jungle Friends, an internship must be completed after the trial period to properly train you.
Term of Appointment:
Permanent
Comments:
Application: The Jungle Friends' Intern Packet (in .pdf format) can be printed from our website at www.junglefriends.org/junglefriends/Intern_Packet.pdf. Note: This packet is intended for interns but serves as an employment application packet too. Be sure to indicate on your application that you are applying for the permanent caregiver position.
Contact
Information:
Kari Bagnall
13915 N State Road 121
GAINESVILLE, FL 32653
USA
Telephone Number:
386-462-7779 or 386-418-0808
Fax Number:
214-292-8630
Website:
http://www.junglefriends.org
E-mail Address:
kari@junglefriends.org
Questions and Comments
Questions about a specific job listing should be directed to the
contact person listed for that job. Questions and comments about using
the Primate-Jobs web site can be directed to Ray Hamel, Special
Collections/Reference Librarian, at
hamel@primate.wisc.edu or (608) 263-3512.
