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Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?
AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Animal Control Workers?
Task-level automation exposure for Animal Control Workers: 16 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
27%
weighted task index
16 of 16 tasks scored
Median Salary
$45,660 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
12,070 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+4.0%
employment change
1,500 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 44 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$34,410 – $66,440
Highest medians
Washington $66,440
Oregon $66,130
Alaska $63,340
California $62,630
Massachusetts $60,930
Lowest medians
Arkansas $34,410
Mississippi $34,890
West Virginia $35,120
Kentucky $35,360
Alabama $37,340
State figures come from the 33-9011 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 27%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 13%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 39%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 21%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 46/100
Moderate
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
16 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 8%
1 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 23%
4 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 69%
11 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- New 08/2025 · Occupational Expert
Deliver educational presentations on wildlife topics, such as animal safety, at schools and community events.
- New 08/2025 · Occupational Expert
Pick up deceased animals from roadways and dispose of the animal carcasses.
- New 08/2025 · Occupational Expert
Testify at court hearings when citations are contested.
- New 08/2025 · Occupational Expert
Transport injured or ill wildlife to rescues.
Constituent Tasks
#7968 · Core · 79% automatable
Write reports of activities, and maintain files of impoundments and dispositions of animals.
data analysis — Maintain operational records in structured systems
Maintain operational records. Write operational reports.
#7958 · Core · 19% automatable
Investigate reports of animal attacks or animal cruelty, interviewing witnesses, collecting evidence, and writing reports.
decision support — Investigation is human fieldwork with judgment
Examine crime scenes to obtain evidence. Investigate illegal or suspicious activities. Interview people to gather information about criminal activities.
#7960 · Core · 15% automatable
Examine animals for injuries or malnutrition, and arrange for any necessary medical treatment.
visual inspection — Physical exam of bodies requires hands-on presence
Check physical condition of people or animals.
#7967 · Core · 30% automatable
Contact animal owners to inform them that their pets are at animal holding facilities.
decision support — Citations require on-scene judgment and legal authority
Issue warnings or citations.
#7966 · Core · 55% automatable
Educate the public about animal welfare, and animal control laws and regulations.
interpersonal — Public communication needs accountability and audience trust
Inform the public about policies, services or procedures.
#7961 · Core · 5% automatable
Remove captured animals from animal-control service vehicles and place animals in shelter cages or other enclosures.
physical manipulation — Providing animal care is hands-on physical work
Provide care for animals.
#7970 · Core · 55% automatable
Answer inquiries from the public concerning animal control operations.
interpersonal — Public communication needs accountability and audience trust
Inform the public about policies, services or procedures.
#7959 · Core · 4% automatable
Capture and remove stray, uncontrolled, or abused animals from undesirable conditions, using nets, nooses, or tranquilizer darts as necessary.
physical manipulation — Providing animal care is hands-on physical work
Use weapons or physical force to maintain security. Provide care for animals.
#7965 · Core · 15% automatable
Prepare for prosecutions related to animal treatment, and give evidence in court.
interpersonal — Testimony carries legal accountability and live presence
Testify at legal or legislative proceedings.
#7963 · Core · 5% automatable
Supply animals with food, water, and personal care.
physical manipulation — Providing animal care is hands-on physical work
Provide care for animals.
#7969 · Core · 30% automatable
Issue warnings or citations in connection with animal-related offenses, or contact police to report violations and request arrests.
interpersonal — Live incident response with agencies is human-led
Collaborate with law enforcement or security agencies to respond to incidents. Issue warnings or citations.
#7962 · Core · 5% automatable
Euthanize rabid, unclaimed, or severely injured animals.
physical manipulation — Providing animal care is hands-on physical work
Provide care for animals.
#7964 · Core · 5% automatable
Clean facilities and equipment such as dog pens and animal control trucks.
physical manipulation — Physical cleaning of facilities and equipment
Clean facilities or equipment.
#7972 · Core · 5% automatable
Organize the adoption of unclaimed animals.
physical manipulation — Providing animal care is hands-on physical work
Provide care for animals.
#7971 · Core · 47% automatable
Examine animal licenses, and inspect establishments housing animals for compliance with laws.
visual inspection — Document validity check aided, human verifies authenticity
Inspect facilities to ensure compliance with security or safety regulations. Examine personal documentation to ensure that it is valid.
#7973 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Train police officers in dog handling and training techniques for tracking, crowd control, and narcotics and bomb detection.
interpersonal — Job-skill training content AI-assisted; coaching human
Train personnel to enhance job skills. Train personnel.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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