Has your daily grind worn you down? Are you tired of staring at a computer all day or serving customers who give no fucks about you or your colorful inner life? Are you wary of the downward spiral this country appears to be in? Do you need some spiritual fulfillment other than Netflix and smoking pot? Do you enjoy wearing cat ears and cuddling with cats?
Well, Samantha Martin and the Acro-cats might have just the job for you! This amazing traveling cat circus is currently looking for someone to join their team, assisting felines and their No. 1 trainer, Samantha Martin.
Has your dream always been to run away with a cat circus? Then here’s the job for you! Samantha Martin and the Acro-Cats are looking for a tour assistant to travel cross-country with a troupe of trained cats (plus a groundhog, a chicken and a few rats) as they purr-form at venues in cities across the United States.
Job Requirements:
1. Animal care experience – Daily, weekly and monthly cat care duties – including but not limited to general and advanced cleaning and care/welfare of animals and their living environment.2. Out-going personality, a keen sense of humor, the ability to roll with the punches, a flexible schedule, a high comfort level engaging with crowds of cat lovers, open to new experiences, lots of fun and craziness. We travel in a tour bus and share RV/hotel rooms.
3. Physically fit – able to lift and transport up to 50 lbs of show props and animal carriers from tour bus to stage and back.4. Theater experience a plus – purr-form front and back of house duties, stage management, operate the light and sound, and help on stage with animals and prop placement.
5. Work with volunteers – wrangle and train volunteers who help with the shows.Pay varies by show and includes per diem. No cat allergies. MUST LOVE CATS!
Serious applicants only. This job is a LOT of work and time on the road, but also the opportunity of a lifetime.
Polly Smith
I am here to vouch for this cat circus (five-year-old proof provided below), as I have twice attended this performance. Yes, these cats are trained to do tricks, and it is really something you have to see to believe. They jump through hoops and run obstacle courses, all for the positive reinforcement of a tasty treat. An all-feline rock band—the Rock Cats—is also part of the show, their instruments modified for the comfort and accessibility of small paws. ALSO A CHICKEN RINGS A BELL AND A GROUNDHOG PLAYS A GONG.
Jené Gutierrez
The Daily Dot reached out to tour manager Polly Smith, who was kind enough to take some time out of her busy day of culling through the hundreds of applications they’ve already received to answer a couple of questions:
What’s the biggest challenge of the job?
For me, the biggest challenge is making sure everything gets done that needs to in the 24 hours a day we have. Sometimes I don’t shower for days.
Can you bring your own cats on the tour?
We have had a policy where you can bring one companion animal on tour with you before, but it really depends on if the animal is comfortable and gets along with the other animals or not.
Do you feel like this is truly is a cat dream job?
Yes. I really feel like I am living a dream—even after four years.
How much of this job is cleaning litter boxes?
It is a daily function, every single day—twice a day—we prefer it. And it’s not one box or two, its nine or ten…
What’s Samantha like?
She has an absent-minded professor type personality sometimes—she’s an animal trainer first, and such a good one at that—that sometimes she forgets to do things like eat or take an umbrella. But she’s easy to talk to, funny, and she’s worked very hard to get to where she is, so she’s pretty understanding in matters relating to that.
Anything you’d like to add?
Even though life on the road seems glamorous and rock-star, it very rarely actually is. The most wonderful and fulfilling part for me is that we are doing amazing work to educate people on the relationship they can have with their pets, and the cats are really what it’s all about—it’s a relief sometimes that no one is actually really looking at me on stage.
So apply away, fellow cat lovers! Your feline future awaits.
Photo via BuzzFeedYellow/YouTube