Animal Care Special Events Keeper

The Nashville Zoo is seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual to join our Animal Care Events Team (ACE). This keeper role is ideal for someone who brings a strong foundation of animal care experience, creativity, and a passion for connecting guests with wildlife.

As part of a dedicated team of animal care professionals, the ACE team member will help care for a variety of animals featured during evening events and special programs, while also providing valuable support to other animal care teams across the Zoo. This position plays a key role in enhancing the guest experience and creating memorable, engaging interactions for visitors.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate a strong work ethic, self-motivation, excellent presentation and communication skills, and the ability to collaborate effectively with a wide range of teams to achieve shared goals.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Perform husbandry of assigned species (this may change daily) as well as maintain animal exhibits, yards, night enclosures, and contiguous areas.

• Have a good base knowledge of operant conditioning and positive reinforcement training.

• Assist with training for husbandry behaviors, provide enrichment, and perform other husbandry related tasks.

• Maintain detailed daily records on assigned animals (ZIMS/Daily Supervisor Report).

• May need to perform light exhibit construction, operate zoo vehicles, and maintain integrity of the existing landscape.

• Educate the public through keeper talks, animal encounters, meet and greets, and other impromptu educational programs as well as provide a clean and safe atmosphere for families to enjoy the Nashville Zoo.

• Feel comfortable working with a wide variety of animals across multiple departments. Including but not limited to bears, tigers, leopards, gibbons, lemurs, domesticated hoofstock, flamingos, giraffes, rhinos, okapi, etc.

• Maintain professional conduct at all times and consistently model the organization’s values in all interactions with colleagues, guests, and stakeholders.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills:

• Ability to self-direct work tasks while ensuring safety and productivity.

• Ability to enhance guest experience through engaging interactions and confident public speaking.

• Demonstrate understanding of basic animal training through operant conditioning.

• Understand basic capture, restraint, and handling techniques.

• Understand animal behavior and group dynamics in diverse species to note changes in behavior, health, diet consumption, and other animal related activities.

• Knowledge of animal diet preparation, general biology, and natural history.

Education/ Experience:

• Applicants must have a minimum of 1 year of full-time, paid experience with either birds, ectotherms, carnivores, primates, hoofstock, domestic species, and/or ambassador animals.

• Applicants are preferred to have a college degree (Associate’s or Bachelor’s) in an applicable field: Animal Science, Biology, Zoology, etc.

• Applicants must possess a valid driver’s license.

Physical Requirements:

• The role requires frequent standing and walking for most of an 8–10-hour shift and regularly bend, kneel, reach, and perform repetitive motions while cleaning habitats, training behaviors, preparing diets, and providing enrichment.

• The role requires frequent lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling up to 50 lbs. and occasionally up to 75 lbs. with assistance, as well as navigating ladders, stairs, uneven terrain, and wet or slippery surfaces.

• Strong hand dexterity, clear verbal communication, and adequate vision and hearing are essential to safely observe animals, operate tools and gates, and use radios.

• Work occurs indoors and outdoors year-round in all weather, with routine exposure to animal dander, hay, dust, insects, loud noises, strong odors, and cleaning agents.

• Employees may encounter biological hazards, zoonotic diseases, and potentially dangerous animals and must follow established protocols for shifting, feeding, and emergency response.

• The role may require wearing PPE such as gloves, protective footwear, eye and hearing protection, and respirators as assigned.

• Schedules often include late nights, early mornings, weekends, holidays, and occasional overtime based on animal needs.

• Vaccinations, TB testing, or respirator fit testing may be necessary per policy.

• The role must learn new tasks, remember processes, maintain focus, complete tasks independently, and make timely decisions in the context of a workflow.

Work Schedule:

• Full-time position, averaging 40 hours per week.

• This position requires flexibility to work varied schedules, including weekdays, weekends, early mornings, and late nights, with hours subject to change based on seasonal operations, special events, emergencies, and animal care needs.

Pre-employment requirements:

• All candidates are required to successfully complete a criminal background check and drug screening prior to hire.

• Pre-employment and annual tuberculosis (TB) screenings are a condition of continued employment.