Animal Welfare Officer

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of our Animal Control Team as a Senior/Animal Welfare Officer providing an important service in advising residents and other departments on all matters involving animals including welfare, livestock and disease control, stray dogs, and nuisance resolution. As a Senior Animal Welfare Officer you would additionally be involved in inspections of premises that are licensed, or have applied to be licensed, under The Licensing of Activities involving Animals Regulations 2018. You will receive ongoing training to develop your skills in enforcement processes, animal health and welfare standards and requirements and the achievement of the Level 3 qualification that will enable you to progress to a Senior level position. About The Team You'll Be Working In Our Animal Control Team is award winning and holds several RSPCA Pawprints Awards at Gold and Platinum levels for its services to animal welfare. It is widely regarding across the Council having been short-listed for Team of Year several years in a row. The team comprises 3 Animal Welfare Officers and is led by the Principal Animal Control Officer. It is based alongside the Pest Control Team at Bridge Road Depot in Hounslow TW3 where our stray dog kennels are also located. It is part of the Regulatory Services group within the Council. We are currently working on the new Responsible Dog Ownership Public Spaces Protection Order, preparing for further restrictions on keepers of birds for Avian Influenza control and implementing updated licence conditions in our zoos. On a day to day basis you will quickly become involved in stray dog collection, care and kennel maintenance and will work an allocated patch of the Borough dealing with welfare and nuisance concerns about animals.

• Confident with dogs and able to handle dogs of different breeds and sizes in a calm and controlled manner. Able to recognise the signs of stress in dogs and how to react safely.
• A working knowledge of good animal welfare practices and how they are regulated.
• Comfortable using different types of IT with an appetite to learn new systems.
• Ability to work within a team, supporting colleagues where necessary.
To be appointed at the Senior level you will also need:
• A Level 3 Qualification in Animal Activity Licensing or its equivalent that allows you to conduct LAIA inspections.
  
  About us at Hounslow
We'd love you to join us at the London Borough of Hounslow! Our people are deeply committed to providing excellent services to our residents, doing all we can to make lives as good as they can be. We are an outstanding council, serving an outstanding borough. With brilliant, visionary leadership, a dynamic Cabinet and a can-do culture, we've built strong partnerships which have transformed how we serve one of London's most diverse boroughs. Hounslow is the world in one place and full of potential. We are stepping up for our residents like never before. About our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion We live by five core values: Lead with Heart, Do New, Pass on the Power, Harness the Mix and Be a Rock. All our work has equality, diversity and inclusion at its very heart, best articulated in "Harness the Mix". It's about breaking down barriers between our parts and people and unlocking the problem-solving power of our amazing mix of minds. We serve a diverse community, we have a diverse workforce and we are committed to being an inclusive employer. We work hard to create representation across our workforce and leadership community, we have thriving employee network groups and our learning and development programmes help us lead, model and breathe ways of working that eliminate inequality, inequity, injustice and bias.