Animal Packing Duties 100.docx

Animal Packing Duties 100% Performs specialized animal packing duties, such as packing, securing, and transporting explosives and other sensitive cargo into backcountry wilderness areas by strings of horses and mules.

Follows special safety procedures and regulatory requirements that apply to all aspects of hazardous material handling, storing, and packing when working with cargo such as chemicals, acids, pesticides, combustibles, explosives, munitions, or poisons.

Loads animals into various types of equipment and motorized vehicles for transport. Packs, loads, and transports the full range of cargo, such as bulky equipment, food stuffs, water, salt, hand tools, long timber, pipe, lookout or camp stoves, long lengths of heavy cable, furniture and other items. Loads and hitches packaged cargo onto pack animals, balances and adjusts side packs, and ensures that packing materials do not cause injuries to the animals or damage the cargo.

May lead pack animals over rugged mountainous terrain to reach a desired destination, choosing the best route to arrive without injury to the pack animals or cargo.

Maintains pack equipment in good repair and makes repairs as needed to animal packing equipment, such as ropes, halters, pack and riding saddles, cargo boxes, harnesses, pig-tails, and bridles.

Provides the full variety of needs in the handling and care of stock which includes the normal functions of grooming, i.e. shoeing, feeding and watering, and in addition cares for the medical needs of assigned stock which involves the "doctoring" of sick and injured animals for such things as bruises, cuts, sores and/or any other medical needs.