Feeding Station Attendant Career Profile
- Career Title - Feeding Station Attendant
- Category - Animal Care / Zoos, Aquariums, Museums and Amusement Parks
- Skills Required - Life skills 35% - Career skills 65%
- Basic School Subjects - Biology, Languafe, Business
- Minimum Required Education - Bachelor's Degree
- Species Worked With - Critters, Farm Animals, Mammals, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, Amphibians, Crustaceans, Mollusks
- Kind of Interaction with Animals - Direct
How do I become a Feeding Station Attendant?
READ: This page helps you to read about the career and the info you need to decide on whether this is indeed the career you want to follow.
RESEARCH: Learn about the skills required and minimum subjects to enter this career, as well as the places where you can study further after school.
PREPARE: If you want to plan and prepare for the career, then join the OZT Community! Members have access to tools, while chatting with other students and experts from around the world. Prepare to be amazed!
CAREER MENTORS
UPDATED: 16 June 2023
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What is a Feeding Station Attendant?
A Feeding Station Attendant assists in preparing meals and ensuring feeding points for the various animals are always well-stocked with food for the day
Career Categories
The Feeding Station Attendant falls within the following Career Categories:
- Animal Care
- Zoo, Aquariums, Museums and Amusement Parks
Types of Animal Enrichment?
There are several types, including: Habitat, Physical, Cognitive, Sensory, Food, Toys
Where did they start?
The significance of enrichment was first identified and used in the early 1900's
What does a Feeding Station Attendant do?
Groups of animals a Feeding Station Attendant works with
What is the level of Interaction with the Animals?
- Directly - A person works directly with the animals with some form of physical contact at least once every few days
- Indirectly - The career doesn't require direct or physical contact at all.
With who does a Feeding Station Attendant work with?
Besides working with all of the animals, Feeding Station Attendants will need to interact with other people while doing their daily tasks. The people might include fellow staff members or the public.
Fellow staff might include:
- Management
- Operational staff, such as Human Resources, Finance and Maintenance
- Zoo Keepers, Animal Nutritionists etc
What do Feeding Station Attendants focus on?
A Feeding Station Attendant is a supportive staff member at places such as zoos, aquariums, petting zoos, theme parks and larger animal sanctuaries. Their focus is on assisting in preparing and feeding the captive held animals. This includes keeping the feeding stations well stocked.
A feeding station is the points where animals receive their food during the day.
What are the daily tasks of Feeding Station Attendant?
- Assist in the preparation of meals for the animals
- Provide the meals for the animals by stocking up the feeding points
- Maintain the feeding points to ensure they are safe and clean
- Interact with visitors if and when they ask questions regarding feeding of animals
- Assist in the feeding kiosks where visitors can purchase food to help feed the animals
In which Environment does a Feeding Station Attendant work in?
What are the environment and places of employment like?
Environment –
It all depends on the type of Feeding Station Attendant, but most will perform their duties outdoors where the feeding stations are situated. Some of the animals are housed indoors.
Places of Employment –
Feeding Station Attendants are employed by animal sanctuaries, wild animal farms, zoos, petting zoos, aquariums and theme parks.
What is the Average Salary for a Feeding Station Attendant?
The average annual salary of Feeding Station Attendants is around US$22,000 per year. Those with experience can earn more. The income will differ, depending on the employer, country and currency.
Specific Countries:
Can Feeding Station Attendants be promoted?
Promotions to senior levels are available in all related animal careers. The levels of each promotion might differ from organization to organization, but generally are the following:
Intern > Junior Attendant > Senior Attendant > Manager/Director/Curator
What difficulties do Feeding Station Attendants face?
The most difficult part of this career is understanding the behaviour of each species and that some might be dangerous to handle directly. You may also be required to work irregular hours including evenings, weekends, and holidays.
Future Growth and Possibilities of the Career
The prospects of future growth in this industry is generally slow, mainly due to the limited number of employing facilities.
Which Skills do Feeding Station Attendants need?
The skills required for a career as a Feeding Station Attendant can be divided into two very important groups. The first is the group containing life skills, which are the core skills that are necessary or desirable for full participation in everyday life. The second group is career skills, or the specific skills required to allow a person to enter and operate effectively within a specific career. Some or maybe even all of the life skills can assist in strengthening the career skills, and they might even be the same for specific careers.
Life Skills
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Decision making
- Problem Solving
- Effective communication
- Interpersonal relationship
Career Skills
- Animal Care
- Animal Handling
- Handling Equipment
- Basic customer service skills
- Good health and physical fitness
- Basic computer literacy
Which Subjects must I have at School?
If you want to study further (diploma or degree), then a good knowledge and understanding of biology is required. Most animal related courses, such as zoology, do require Biology for admission.
Most jobs will require the a high level of verbal and written communication.
A good understanding of business and how to manage people would be beneficial when you have to enroll in business related subject at University.
The subjects you choose at school are important as they lay the foundation for further studies at college or university. While still at school, it’s also important to learn more about the animals you will work with, as well as gain some experience.
OZT has a list of various tertiary institutions where you can study further, after school. Each of these institutions also have their own Group page on OZT where you will find the exact subjects they require of you to have passed in school. Keep these requirements in mind, and discuss it with your school, guidance counselor and parents to ensure that you are prepared!
What will I need to Study to become a Feeding Station Attendant?
Minimum educational qualification
The minimum educational requirement to become a Feeding Station Attendant is a High School Certificate.
Subject focus
Major –
If you do want to study further and use this career as an interim position, then your major will depend on what you want to do in the future.
Short Courses –
Courses in animal behaviour, animal nutrition, animal first aid.
Study duration
The duration of most Bachelor’s Degrees are between 3 and 4 years full time. The duration of short courses differ, but can range from a few days to a few months.
Possible Career Preparation Paths
If this is your dream career that you want to pursue, then it’s important to plan the way forward.
Why is planning important?
To ensure that you understand the requirements for your career, and that you are always prepared for the next step on the road towards your dream. A Preparation Path is like your road map to where you want to be.
Possible Paths:
Possible Combined career paths
It is possible to sometimes combine two or more related careers. This normally happens when you study and practice a specific main career, but the knowledge and experience gained also help you to have a paying hobby or secondary income career.
Possible Alternative(s):
Stepping Stone Career
Being a Feeding Station Attendant can also be used as a stepping stone career. A stepping stone career is one which is used to help you get to another career, normally because the other career is too difficult to reach (sometimes due to things like high study fees etc).
You can begin as an intern attendant after basic short courses and expert guidance (maybe working under a mentor). The money made can then be used to pay for studies towards a promotion or another career, and the experience helps in gaining knowledge. One paying to help get to the other.
Some of the possible paths:
Training and Apprenticeship
Even though it is important to study to get into some of the animal careers, most of required skills will be acquired through on-the-job training. This means that you will learn how to perform some of the daily tasks by actually doing it a few times and learning the steps.
In some cases entry level positions require training sessions even before you are allowed to actually perform your job duties. These sessions are offered by the place of employment, after you have successfully applied.
Join the Feeding Station Attendants Group in the Community to learn more and even interact with the educational institutions that will help you secure your dream career!
Average level of education of those entering the career:
Licenses, Certifications, Registrations and Professional Associations
Although certain animal caregiver careers do require some form of legal certification to prove that you can indeed do the work, and do it well, it’s not generally required to become a feeding station attendant.
Learn more about these specific requirements by joining the Feeding Station Attendants Group in the One Zoo Tree Community.
Professional Associations
Where can I study further?
All of the above information will help you understand more about the Career, including the fact that there are different paths to take to reach it. But if you are almost done with High School (Grades 11 or 12), you also need to start thinking about further studies, and WHERE you will study.
See the List of Universities, Colleges and Online Training Academies who offer courses towards animal care, nutrition and enrichment
Do you want to Contribute?
Do you have information that you would like to contribute to this career?
Join the OZT Community and our career Group
- Info on the best places where you can study (colleges, universities and online)
- Expertly designed advice to prepare you for the career, and links to places where you can gain valuable experience. For some career experience is necessary, otherwise you wont get the job!
- Top notch info on each of the different species you will work with
- Make friends around the world and share knowledge
- Compete and win points, badges, games, prizes and certificates. Be the best of the best, while you learn and prepare!
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