Animal Technician

You'll need:

• to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• the ability to work well with others
• the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
• the ability to use your initiative
• sensitivity and understanding
• customer service skills
• thinking and reasoning skills
• excellent verbal communication skills
• to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

Your day-to-day duties might include:

• providing exercise, food and water
• carrying out regular observations
• making sure that animals are clean, comfortable and behaving as expected
• controlling heating, lighting and humidity
• monitoring weight and growth
• keeping accurate records

You could work at a research facility.

Your working environment may be outdoors some of the time.

You may need to wear protective clothing.

Career tips

Working with animals or in a lab may help improve your chances of finding a job or training.

You could get work experience:

• on a farm
• in kennels, an animal welfare centre or zoo
• in a laboratory setting

Further information

You'll find out more about careers and training from the Institute of Animal Technology.