Animal Control, a division of the St. Charles Police Department, is always seeking willing volunteers to help run the City's Animal Shelter located at 2835 West Randolph Street, St. Charles, MO 63301. If, after reading the program information below, you are interested in volunteering, please contact our office for an application.

General Duties
Volunteers will assist when the Animal Shelter is open to the public. Volunteers will report to the Lead Animal Control Officer.

Hours of Service
Volunteers will schedule their hours of service with the Lead Animal Control Officer. A written copy of the agreed upon schedule will be furnished to the volunteer. Actual hours of voluntary service will be recorded on sign-in/sign-out maintained at the shelter. If a volunteer cannot report on a scheduled day they need to contact the Lead Animal Control Officer as soon as possible.

Essential Functions

• Show animals available for adoption
• Answer telephones and provide information and route non-routine calls
• Provide visitors with general information
• Clean animal cages
• Clean animal dishes
• Sweep and mop floors
• Bathe and groom approved animals
• General cleaning of shelter
• Other similar duties as assigned

Work Standards

• Regular attendance as scheduled
• Ability and willingness to follow oral and written instructions
• Ability to establish effective working relationship with staff and public
• Ability to safely and efficiently operate assigned equipment after appropriate instruction
• Ability to perform moderate manual labor or common office duties
• Ability to perform while being exposed to the shelter environment (i.e. constant noise/ barking, animal hair and dander, cleaning chemical odors, etc.

Minimum Requirements

• Must be 18 years old
• Must enjoy working with animals and people
• Must be gentle and compassionate with animals
• Must be able to accept that not all animals at the shelter will be adopted and may be humanely euthanized

Equipment Used (Depending on Assignment)

• Telephone
• Computer
• Broom, mop, water hose, high pressure washer, etc.
• Pooper Scooper
• Disinfectant

Work Guidelines
Volunteering at the shelter can be extremely rewarding. However, there are inherant dangers including the risk of injury from slips and falls and the possibility of an animal bite or scratch. For this reason, the guidelines below must be followed.

• Volunteers will be allowed to handle only certain designated animals. Volunteers will never handle animals involved in bite cases.
• Volunteers shall dress appropriately in long pants, slip resistant shoes/ boots.
• Volunteers should immediately report any injury to the Lead Animal Control Officer or Animal Control Officer on duty.
• Volunteers shall wash their hands before coming on duty and between handling of each animal because dirty hands spread disease and viruses which can be cross transmitted from animal to man and man to animal. There is a hand sink, soap, and paper towels in each room.
• Volunteers will be provided proper safety equipment for some tasks. When this is the case the volunteer is required to utilize said equipment.
• Volunteers should report any abnormal behavior seen in the animals to staff.
• Volunteers should immediately report any suspicious behavior observed in visitors to staff.