Animal Technician
Class Specifications – I.10
Principal Animal Technician – 9523
Senior Animal Technician – 9524
Animal Technician – 9525
Assistant Animal Technician – 9526
September, 1977
Series Concept
Incumbents in the Animal Technician series perform, supervise, or manage the routine health care and/or environmental maintenance work directly related to the collection receiving, housing and handling, evaluation, breeding, nutrition, treatment, and disposition of a wide variety of animals. Incumbents function in such areas as husbandry, livestock production, herd management, disease recognition and control routine animal nursing, and surgical assistance. They work with normal experimental and/or large farm animals, as well as those receiving hospital care, carrying infectious diseases, undergoing surgery, receiving postoperative care, or receiving irradiation.
The Animal Technician Series is differentiated from the Animal Health Technician Series in that emphasis is on the management, supervision, and/or direct environmental and routine care of a specific group of animals rather than on the performance of technical paraveterinary health care and diagnostic procedures on a colony-, campus-, or hospital-wide basis.
Class Concepts
Principal Animal Technician
Under general supervision, incumbents are assigned responsibility for supervising limited technical and environmental control activities in physically separate or organizationally distinct animal care areas within the largest animal facilities, or in smaller facilities that are independently operated. Incumbents typically make work assignments to, and adjust the workload of three or more full time animal care personnel; train these staff members; evaluate employee performance; make or effectively recommend employment and termination decisions; estimate and initiate orders for animals, supplies and equipment; ensure compliance with health and safety regulations; review all area operations and records; and perform other related duties as required. In addition to these supervisory duties, incumbents may perform a number of high level paraveterinary procedures including anesthetizing, bleeding, administering medications and injections, euthanizing animals and de- vocalizing dogs. Performance of these technical duties in the absence of full supervisory responsibility will not warrant classification at this level.
Without being absolutely limiting, examples of assignments allocated to this level of difficulty and responsibility are:
- Head technician in an animal surgery and/or reaching clinic, with responsibility for animal preparation, scrub techniques for students, surgical supplies, and the recovery room with a staff of three or more Senior Animal Technicians and/or other technical staff personnel.
- Supervisor of an experimental animal resource facility for medical research in the life sciences, housing 500 or more animals, of five or more species, serviced by a technical staff of three or more employees, providing animal resources to 10 or more investigators.
- Supervisor of a domestic animal production facility with 30-200 animals, serving 5 or more investigators, performing all the duties associated with such a facility, such as proper record keeping, feeding, and nutrition for all stages of the life cycle, including breeding, parturition, maintenance, herd health, etc. Works with students in husbandry associated with large domestic animal production. Assistant to an Animal Resources Manager or Supervisor, in experimental animal resources facilities of such size and complexity, that a full-time alternate supervisor is required in the management and coordination of the technical staff.
This class is differentiated from Senior Animal Technician in that incumbents are assigned full supervisory rather than lead responsibility.
Senior Animal Technician
Under general supervision, incumbents act as section or area leaders with responsibility for a small group (1-4) of animal care personnel. This class identifies the lead worker who has day-to-day responsibility for environmental maintenance, basic animal care, employee safety, and the proper discharge of semi-technical procedures as requested by supervisors, principal investigators, or veterinarians. In addition to performing the Animal Technician task, incumbents may train, assign work, and review the performance of subordinates; review record keeping procedures; recommend design or modification of animal facilities and devices for feeding, watering, and restraining animals; plan breeding programs for production colonies; screen new animals prior to introduction into the colony; ensure that safety standards are being maintained; isolate infected animals; and perform other duties as assigned.
Examples of assignments allocated to this level of difficulty are:
- Section or area leader, for a designated portion of an experimental animal facility, usually housing primarily a collection of animals of one species, for example, dogs, or of one group, such as rats and/or mice, with responsibility for screening new animals, recognizing disease symptoms, isolating infected animals, giving prescribed treatments, and requiring safety procedures for all staff members in the areas.
- Leader in an experimental animal resources facility, during regular weekend assignments, with responsibility for inspection, observation, and treatment of unusual or unexpected conditions that arise, requiring immediate action and notification to higher level supervisors and investigators, as well as responsibility for repetitive activities that must occur daily.
Although the typical assignment is that of a leader, non-supervisory positions may be allocated to this level where the performance of a limited number of technical tasks is of primary importance. Examples of non-supervisory assignments are:
- Technician responsible for performing one or two specialized paraveterinary procedures such as preparing surgical rooms including preparing instruments, supplies, and the animal; anesthetizing; assisting during operations; performing postoperative care; bleeding; detecting equine estrus; independently assisting with large animal parturition; giving medications and injections; euthanizing animals; and performing minor operations such as devocalizing dogs.
- Technician responsible for a collection of animals involved in long term experiments, with complete control of breeding and record keeping on successive generations over many years, where the investment is so great that the most meticulous controls on animal environment and health are essential.
Animal Technician
Under supervision, incumbents have proximate responsibility for a small group of animals. In addition to performing the duties of Assistant Animal Technician, typical duties include observing animal-appearance and behavior, reporting subtle differences to appropriate personnel, maintaining specified records on assigned animals; detecting bovine estrus; giving intramuscular injections; performing artificial insemination; restraining animals for various technical procedures; collecting blood, urine, and fecal samples; shipping and receiving animals; and performing other duties as required.
The Animal Technician class identifies the operational position within a vivarium, animal hospital, or similar facility. The incumbent has proximate responsibility for the physical environment for a group of assigned animals and performs duties related to the care of these charges.
Assistant Animal Technician
Under close supervision, incumbents perform routine animal husbandry tasks. Typical duties include the cleaning, grooming, feeding, and watering of common animals; the cleaning and repair of cages/enclosures and related ancillary equipment; and the maintenance of animal care areas.
Assistant Animal Technician is the entry level class in the series. Incumbents are selected with the prospect of participating in on-the-job training programs in preparation for promotion to Animal Technician. Incumbents who successfully complete such training programs and who are assigned appropriate duties may be promoted to Animal Technician. Other incumbents, however, may continue to serve as Assistant Animal Technicians performing the routine duties of cleaning, feeding and watering.
Minimum Qualifications
Principal Animal Technician
Graduation from high school, completion of training equivalent to the Laboratory Animal Technologist certification of the AALAS, and three years of related animal care experience with demonstrated supervisory ability; or an equivalent combination of education and experience; and knowledges and abilities essential to the successful performance of the duties assigned to the position.
Senior Animal Technician
Graduation from high school, completion of training equivalent to the Laboratory Animal Technician certification of the AALAS, and two years of animal care experience; or high school graduation and three years of animal care experience in the care of animal species appropriate to the particular job; or an equivalent combination of education and experience; and knowledges and abilities essential to the successful performance of the duties assigned to the position.
Animal Technician
Graduation from high school, completion of training equivalent to the Assistant Laboratory Animal Technician certification of the AALAS, and one year of animal care experience; or high school graduation and two years of animal care experience in the care of an animal species appropriate to the particular job; or an equivalent combination of education and experience; and knowledges and abilities essential to the successful performance of the duties assigned to the position.
Assistant Animal Technician
Graduation from high school; or an equivalent combination of education and experience and knowledges and abilities essential to the successful performance of the duties assigned to the position. In all of the above Minimum Qualifications, work experience evidencing reliability and the capacity to learn and assume responsibility for the routine animal caretaking functions may be substituted for high school education, on the basis of one year of work experience for one year of education.