This is highly specialized clerical work organizing and managing the animal collection at the Miami-Dade Metro Zoo.

The employee in this class is responsible for the organization and management of the registry of zoo animals. The incumbent maintains necessary records and documentation required for all acquisitions and dispositions, animal breeding, transports, permits, licenses and special agreements. The incumbent exercises independent judgment and initiative to provide for adequate record keeping of all animal occurrences and wild life regulation adherence. Supervision is received from the administrative supervisor who reviews work through personal conferences and reports for satisfactory completion of assigned responsibilities.

Illustrative Tasks

Maintains records of daily transactions and collection changes including purchases, sales, dispositions, donations and loans, and documents behavior on individual animals.

Maintains operating permits and licenses required by federal, state or local wild life legislation.

Serves as the liaison between the Zoo and the International Species Information

System (ISIS) and the Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) for updated information and reports.

Develops procedures and systems for inventory control of the animal collection and reviews record-keeping and transactions procedures, recommends changes and implements to improve standards of management.

Prepares documenting papers, forms and records for necessary shipping and

quarantine, animal and breeding loans, and records animal status, including births and

deaths.

Prepares a publishable, annual inventory of all animal acquisitions, removals and

loans and provides curatorial and administrative staff with statistical analyses and

reports.

Prepares institutionalized data for studbook reports, questionnaires, surveys and Species Survival Plan updates and researches collection records to answer inquiries about specimen historical data used

for animal management decisions.

Performs other related duties as assigned or requested.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Knowledge of inventory accession and record keeping; sufficient mathematics to be able to perform a variety of calculations.

Knowledge of zoological taxonomy in order to be able to sufficiently organize and

maintain necessary records.

Knowledge of zoological nomenclature.

Knowledge of the laws regulating animal acquisition, disposition, exhibition, husbandry standards, and transportation within the US and abroad.

Ability to independently adapt, interpret and apply written guidelines, precedents and standardized work practices to a variety of unprecedented or problematic situations.

Ability to utilize the principles and practices of effective and persuasive communications to elicit and/or present explanatory or interpretive information.

Ability to researching and analyzing information.