Animal Protection Officer - Denver Animal Protection
About Our Job With competitive pay, great benefits, and endless opportunities, working for the City and County of Denver means seeing yourself working with purpose — for you, and those who benefit from your passion, skills and expertise. Join our diverse, inclusive and talented workforce of more than 11,000 team members who are at the heart of what makes Denver, Denver. What We Offer The City and County of Denver offers a competitive salary commensurate with education and experience. The salary range for this position is $32.44 - $50.28. We also offer generous benefits for full-time employees which include but are not limited to: • A guaranteed life-long monthly pension, once vested after 5 years of service • 457B Retirement Plan • 140 hours of PTO earned within first year + 12 paid holidays, 1 personal holiday, 1 Wellness Day and 1 volunteer day per year • Competitive medical, dental and vision plans effective within 1 month of start date The City and County of Denver has announced furlough days, or unpaid days off, for most employees to meet a budget shortfall in 2025. There are two fixed furlough days for all limited (temporary positions with an end date) and unlimited (permanent) employees on August 29th, the Friday before Labor Day, and November 28th, the day after Thanksgiving. If you receive an offer for this position, your annual pay will determine whether you are required to take additional furlough days. Details will be discussed during the offer process for selected candidate(s). Location In this position you can expect to work on site at the Denver Animal Shelter, located at 1241 W. Bayaud Ave., Denver, CO 80223. What You’ll Do Within the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment (DDPHE), Denver Animal Protection (DAP) protects the safety and welfare of Denver’s animals and residents by fostering the human animal bond. DAP emphasizes public and animal safety and health, encourages responsible pet ownership through education and enforcing compliance with animal-related municipal code requirements, and cares for animals at the Denver Animal Shelter (DAS). More information can be found at: DDPHE: Denver Animal Protection. We foster an inclusive culture by respecting the values, customs, and authenticity of everyone and by implementing equitable public health strategies so Denver communities can thrive. DAP has an opening for an Animal Protection Officer. This position will enforce local and regional laws concerning the care and treatment of animals, investigate complaints of non-compliance with animal ordinances and laws, investigate animal bites to people and animal attacks, serve a public health function by inspecting animal related facilities and managing zoonotic disease control, act as a court liaison on violations pertaining to the issuance of legal summonses, and provide education to the public regarding animal care, safety, and welfare. Additionally, this position will handle domestic and wild animals on a routine basis in situations where situational awareness, personal safety, and community safety is paramount. Specifically, the Animal Protection Officer: • Investigates animal related crimes • Responds to complaints about inappropriate animal behavior, enforces rabies vaccination and licensing requirements and dog leash laws, and collects, impounds, and cares for animals. Issues legal summonses to leash law violators, owners of unvaccinated and unlicensed dogs, and other violations. Writes legal affidavits for search warrants and court orders, executes search warrants, and enforces court orders related to animals. • Chases, confines, and impounds loose animals. • Acts as a court liaison and works with the City Attorney's Office and the District Attorney's Office concerning cases of aggressive or dangerous animals, animal cruelty, neglect, abuse, and/or abandonment. • Testifies in court on violations related to the issuance of legal summonses to animal law violations including neglect cases, cruelty cases, bite cases, and other legal violations. • Investigates reported dog bite incidents and quarantines animals when necessary. • Promotes Public Health and a One Health mindset related to domestic and wild animals • Performs inspections of animal-related establishments and ensures compliance with municipal ordinances, laws, regulations and contracts. • Provides education and outreach to community groups, schools, and the public regarding responsible pet ownership, proper pet care, safe human-animal interactions, and answers questions and explains rules, policies, and regulations pertaining to public health and animal control ordinances. • Respond to calls concerning injured animals, identifies sick or diseased animals, and takes precautions to prevent the spread of disease to other animals or humans. • Providing public resources • Returns animals to owners when the owner can be identified using city issued tags, micro-chips, or information from neighbors before an animal is taken to the shelter. • Administers vaccinations to animals and performs humane euthanasia. • Maintains accurate and complete daily log of all related activities such as calls received for each shift, impoundment, and the disposition of animals, and prepares reports. • Operates vehicle and two-way radio in the performance of duties. • Cleans and makes minor repairs to facilities and equipment as assigned. • Along with all department staff, this position will actively participate on an emergency preparedness and response team to support DDPHE’s responsibilities outlined in the City’s Emergency Operations Plan. This may require being ‘on-call’ from time to time to help respond to emergencies. Additional training commensurate with assigned duties will be provided. • Other duties as assigned. This position requires availability to work shifts in the morning, evening, overnight, on-call, on weekends, and on holidays. This shiftwork is a core function of the officer job role. Officers, including leads, work a 4 day per week, 10 hours per shift schedule. This position is physically demanding, requiring intermittent periods of intense physical activity broken up by periods of driving or administrative work. Physical demands include lifting large animals into trucks or vans, running both short and longer distances, climbing, pulling, pushing, biking, and sometimes awkward physical movements. Each employee in this position is required to take a Health Performance Evaluation (HPE) on an annual basis regarding this type of work. What You’ll Bring We value diversity of ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, sexual identity, gender, religion, language, ability, and experience and exemplify this through the makeup of our team at all levels. You'll be right at home here if you cultivate strong relationships and push yourself, your work, the people around you and Denver to the next level. Our ideal candidate has some or all the following experience, skills, and characteristics: • A Bachelor's Degree in Animal Science, Criminal Justice, Public Health, Environmental Health, or related field. • Superior customer service skills. • Experience in responding to complaints related to public health, public safety, or animal related nuisances. • The ability to be comfortable collecting, impounding, and caring for animals. • Bilingual in Spanish/English • This position requires the employee to be available to work morning shifts, evening shifts, overnight on-call shifts, weekends, and holidays. This shiftwork is a core function of the officer job role. To be moved forward in the application process, you must obtain the following: • Animal Welfare Association of Colorado (AWAC) State Certification for Animal Control Officers • Expandable Baton Certification • OC Spray Certification • Euthanasia by Injection Certification NOTE: AWAC Certification must be obtained within 12 months and Baton, OC Spray, and Euthanasia Certifications must be obtained within 6 months. Required Minimum Qualifications • Education requirement: Bachelor's Degree. • Experience Requirement: Two (2) years of experience conducting environmental/public health inspections, investigations or environmental/public health management activities. • Education/Experience Equivalency: One (1) year of the appropriate type and level of experience may be substituted for each required year of post-high school education. • Additional appropriate education may be substituted for the minimum experience requirements. • License/Certifications: Requires a valid Driver's License at the time of application. • Licenses and certifications must be kept current as a condition of employment. Application Deadline This position is expected to stay open until Sunday, November 9, 2025. Please submit your application as soon as possible and no later than that date at 11:59 p.m. to ensure consideration. About Everything Else Job Profile CE2265 Environmental Public Health Investigator II To view the full job profile including position specifications, physical demands, and probationary period, click here. Position Type Unlimited Position Salary Range $32.44 - $50.28 Target Pay $32.44 - $50.28 Agency Dept of Public Health & Environment Redeployment during Citywide Emergencies City and County of Denver employees may be re-deployed to work in other capacities in their own agencies or in other city agencies to support core functions of the city during a citywide emergency declared by the Mayor. The City and County of Denver provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, or any other status protected under federal, state, and/or local law. It is your right to access oral or written language assistance, sign language interpretation, real-time captioning via CART, or disability-related accommodations. To request any of these services at no cost to you, please contact [email protected] with three business days’ notice. Applicants for employment with the City and County of Denver must have valid work authorization that does not require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the U.S. For information about right to work, click here for English or here for Spanish. Apply tot his job