Auxiliary Animal Care Technician

Staff - Union

Job Category

CUPE 116

Job Profile

CUPE 116 Hourly - Research Assistant /Technician 2

Job Title

Auxiliary Animal Care Technician

Department

Operations | Centre for Disease Modelling | Animal Care Services

Compensation Range

$27.24 - $29.82 CAD Hourly

Posting End Date

May 2, 2025

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

Full-time during training (6-8 weeks). Casual, on-call ongoing based on seniority, operational needs and availability of employee. Employee must provide a minimum of 1 shift per week availability. Shifts are not guaranteed.

Job Description Summary

This individual will play a major role in providing for animal health, welfare, and other animal care and use duties in the Centre for Disease Modeling.

Animal Care Technicians in the Centre for Disease Modeling (CDM) are responsible for the daily maintenance and care of small laboratory animals. These positions ensure the cleanliness of the facility and the maintenance of adequate supplies of food and bedding materials. The successful incumbent ensures the highest quality of laboratory animal care and research support by pursuing and improving methods of animal husbandry and resource utilization.

The Animal Care Technician will work together with other technicians and veterinarians in a time-sensitive, regulated environment governed by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) and UBC Animal Care Committee (ACC). This position requires strict adherence to protocols and standard operating procedures that prevent accidental introduction of disease or confounding research variables.

Work may involve the use of potentially hazardous material or may be located in areas where such materials are used. Work will require the use of personal protective equipment. The work is very repetitious and physical, including lifting up to 25 kgs. Work schedule will include evenings, weekends and statutory holidays. This position will be expected to work independently with supervisory support available. Orientation and training will be provided on the job.

This position offers a unique working environment within the University of British Columbia.

Equity and Diversity Statement

Organizational Status

The Animal Care Technician receives direction and reports to Operations Manager. Works closely with the Zone Supervisor, other animal care technicians, veterinary technicians and Clinical Veterinarians. Liaises with researchers and their teams.

CDM is a 90,000 sq. ft. animal facility capable of holding 27,000 rodent cages. CDM is a main barrier facility and operations include Breeding, Containment Level 2, procedural and surgical space, information technology, and material management.

CDM is part of Animal Care Services (ACS), the largest animal care program in Western Canada and the second largest in Canada, is responsible for providing research support to the animal-based research community associated with the University of British Columbia and its affiliates through its veterinary services team, the compliance team, the procurement team and its facilities. ACS is committed to providing excellence in research support to all UBC researchers with accountability, communication, cooperation, customer service and integrity. ACS reports to the Associate Vice President Research & Innovation.

Work Performed

Provides consistent, high quality, compassionate care to all animals.

Responsible for daily providing basic husbandry, handling, restraint, and health, behavior and welfare surveillance of laboratory animals, small animal species, along with continuous awareness of current species-specific welfare issues in accordance with Canadian Council of Animal Care guidelines. This includes animal handling; inventories and record keeping for each animal; maintaining breeding colonies of various animals which include breeding, feeding, weaning, and keeping records of activities; performing rounds to observe and check the physical health and well-being of laboratory animals; preparing health reports; isolates infected or ill animals and reports to veterinarian; general housekeeping and maintenance of facility and equipment.

Performs minor surgeries and techniques, including blood, tissue and organ collection as necessary under the supervision of the Operations Manager or Veterinarian.

Receives and packs live animal shipments.

Packages, labels, processes biological, biochemical, radioactive and hazardous materials out of the facility.

Performs duties in the cage wash area.

Be responsible for the maintenance, cleanliness and organization of cages, equipment, surgical and storage facilities. Be responsible for the maintenance storeroom supplies. Performs routine cleaning of animal lodging facilities.

Follows all safety standards, standard operating procedures and policies.

Assists CDM research staff and users with animal care procedures and techniques.

Recommends revisions to existing policies a