Rufus the Hawk Animals at Work

Welcome to Animals At Work, the show that brings you...animals at work.

There are millions of animals that have jobs.

Aaaah! Aaaah...!

This is the show that brings you the most extraordinary,

bizarre and unusual animals at work.

Coming up next on Animals At Work -

Rufus the hawk has to make sure

no-one gets pooped on at Wimbledon.

Marty and the madcap mutts raise cash to help homeless pets.

And the latest paintings from Aet, the elephant artist.

What will they think of next?

Hi, and welcome to the show.

Now if you thought that Hawkeye was used on a tennis court

just to annoy John McEnroe, you can't be serious!

Because this unseated bird actually does wing its way onto Wimbledon's

centre court year after year,

but it's only the pesky pigeons who notice its presence.

Animals At Work is serving you an ace

as we champion a newcomer at this year's grand slam.

Our first animal at work is from Brigstock in England.

This is Rufus the Harris hawk.

His job is to scare away pigeons

that have become a nuisance in public spaces.

Rufus has a crack training team behind him,

sisters Jocasta and Freya and their dad, Wayne.

Six month old Rufus is ready for his biggest contract to date...

scaring pigeons off Centre Court at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

All the birds we have here

all work for a living and in particular the case of Rufus.

He's got quite a...

a special job to do this year, and we're off to Wimbledon this weekend.

This will be the first time he's been to a major event.

My daughters are gonna help this year for the first time,

and we're gonna be scaring any pigeons that would cause a problem.

# No, I don't want no pigeon

# No, I don't want none of her time

# No, I don't wanna meet you nowhere

# No Pigeon not a friend of mine... #

The Wimbledon is big business.

There are over six thousand staff and half a million visitors.

So they don't want pigeons making a nuisance of themselves

and pooping on people's heads.

Pigeons can carry diseases and their poop can damage buildings,

so hawks are an eco-friendly way of getting rid of them.

It's a top gig for Rufus, and he's been in training for weeks.

We'll release Rufus and hopefully all the intensive training we've

been engaged in for the past sort of five to six weeks will pay off,

and he's gonna go up onto the top of centre court

and come swooping back down again. Well, done.

The nerve-wracking part is there's gonna be something like

14,000 people there, so hopefully Rufus is gonna perform on the day.

He has never been to a place as busy as that,

and it's quite a prestigious event, the Wimbledon championship.

Wayne started his pigeon-scaring business small scale at airfields

before moving to up airports and Westminster Abbey.

But Wimbledon is the big one.

Whoa, brilliant!

I'll be nervous for Rufus because it will be his first time there.

It'll be exciting for both of us.

It's gonna be my first time as well helping out.

Come on, then. Off we go, girls, we'll just go down and get...

Right, have you got the transmitter? Brilliant.

Time for a pre-flight gear check,

including his electronic tracking device.

This is the transmitter that we clip onto his tail.

There you go. That's it on. Wonderful.

And that enables it, if it all goes wrong and he disappears,

if you turn that on, Freya, and this is a fantastic device

that allows us to track him for up to probably two or three miles

if he ever disappears into the wind.

Right, that's...

Rufus just about free now. If you come around this way, yeah a bit.

Rufus is gonna go onto his perch.

At the top of the bird world,

hawks have worked as pigeon deterrents for over 40 years.

They were first employed at airports

to stop pigeons getting too close to planes.

Harris Hawks are considered easy to train because they're clever.

Rufus will scare away pigeons and fly back to the team on command

in exchange for raw meat.

Just the sight of Rufus swooping across Centre Court

will be enough to scare away any loitering pigeons.

This is all good training.

We've got to make sure he's used to all eventualities.

He's coming off a wall here. Keep still. Brilliant. Look at that. Whoa.

Well done, Rufus. That was fantastic.

We'll pop him on that wall again.

We'll just see where he wants... Let him go.

It's as much about training

Freya and Jocasta as it is about Rufus.

Hey!

But with any animal,

things don't always go to plan.

Oh. Ooh, ooh. I thought he was still up there.

Rufus has been blown off course by a gust of wind and gone the wrong way.

He's gone.

If they don't get Rufus back, he'll never make it to Wimbledon.

His biggest contract will be cancelled

before he even gets to London.

Yo?

Can you see him?

Now we're off to New Jersey in America.

This is Marty, a seven-year-old Airedale terrier mix.

He works with a team of performing dogs

that raise money for animal shelters in America.

Marty's looks and charm make him a natural for the lead madcap mutt.

But life wasn't always full of fame and fortune for Marty.

Like all the other dogs in the show,

Tom, their trainer, rescued Marty from a shelter.

He's just a great animal. He's nice looking.

He has the ability to be very, very calm

and yet very energetic on command. Huh, Marty?

Airedale terriers are known for their intelligence

and sense of humour, and Marty is no exception.

It's the perfect mix

for a star performer!

You haven't done this in a long time. Hit your mark.

Marty is a big, playful kid.

He's not real serious a lot of times.

If he can make a funny game out of it

in the midst of doing his tricks, he will do that.

Come here! Ah, good boy. You were heading for your mark.

Easy.

Being on stage, you have to be in the right place at the right time,

and Marty has a knack for it.

Good one!

All right, Marty. Good job. Very good.

Marty and the Madcap Mutts travel thousands of kilometres

touring America with their stage show.

Over the last two years, they've raised more than 40,000

for animal shelters.

Today, they're off

to their next booking.

The audience is arriving

and the theatre is filling up.

While Marty waits in the wings,

his mates storm the stage.

What's on top of a house?

DOG BARKS

A roof, that's right.

Do you smoke?

Good girl.

This is a little more difficult. What does a NASCAR race car sound like?

DOG GROWLS

Oh, that was a backfiring race car.

Good boy, Stormy. All right.

The next dog is what we consider our big star.

Hey, Marty, come on out, buddy.

It's Marty's big moment.

Hey, Marty, where's your brain?

Good boy. All right.

Marty's favourite trick is up next.

Hey, Marty, isn't it also true you auditioned for a western one time?

But unfortunately he didn't get the part,

cos he doesn't play dead very well.

Bang!

Oh, no.

Did you get hurt?

Good boy.

Very good, Marty.

Marty has the crowd completely won over.

Time for the big finale!

He loves all the attention he gets on stage,

but the best part is meeting his fans after the show.

This time Marty and the Mutts raise close to 10,000

for homeless pets.

But the hugs are for free!

We've been surfing the net

to find out what animals get up to on their days off.

Check out four-year-old Oscar,

who has a passion for singing to security alarms.

Cover your ears.

SIRENS BLARE AND DOG HOWLS

The burglars may not be smiling,

cos Oscar's got the last laugh.

Now, let's go back to Brigstock, England.

Rufus the Harris hawk has a top job as a pigeon deterrent.

Brilliant. Well done.

Tomorrow, he faces his biggest challenge yet.

He'll be starting work

at the Wimbledon tennis championships,

scaring off pigeons so they don't poop on people.

But in his last training session, he managed to get lost.

If they don't find him, Rufus isn't going anywhere.

This is why we put the transmitter and the bells on.

Rufus has a radio transmitter fitted to his tail,

so Wayne should be able to get a rough idea

of where he is with the receiver.

Oh, he's out over there somewhere. I just heard him.

The worst thing that could happen would be

Rufus gets scared by something, he could possibly take off.

If he flies over into the park or some of the trees and he sulks there,

or he gets scared,

it can be quite difficult to get him back anyway.

But at Wimbledon, we've got another part of the equation,

which is 14,000 people, which is gonna be quite interesting.

But I've spent so much time with him that I know he'll be fine.

Rufus!

Famous last words.

If Rufus pulls a disappearing act at Wimbledon,

his new job will turn into a shambles.

Once he's lost, he can't see his training team trying find him.

Can we call out to him?

Things can go wrong. We're dealing with essentially wild creatures.

If it does go wrong, it can go wrong for quite a while really.

I think he's down the hedge line.

The signal from the tracking device gets louder

as they get closer to Rufus,

but it's down to the team to spot his exact location.

The signal strength is really strong here,

so I would estimate he's just the other side of the hedge.

We'll have to make our way around.

There's no way through just there, cos it's full of jaggies and stuff.

The question is,

will Rufus stay put as they take the long way around the hedge?

Well done. Where was he?

I jumped up and waved my hand up really high,

so he could see it, then he must have spotted my hand.

Then he jumped up onto a pole

and, erm, he flew to me.

-Well done.

-Cos he was really good and he liked me.

You've done really well. Your training's paying off.

We'll try to get him to go to you now.

Brilliant. Well done.

Gosh. I'll be out of a job soon.

Fortunately, Rufus didn't get lost far from home.

But if he doesn't understand

his commands, it'll be a big worry for Jocasta, Freya and Wayne.

We'll have to wait and see.

John?

John?

John!

What?

Time for set.

I'm not doing it.

I heard the crew say the artsy dumbo can't do it.

The crew were not talking about you.

The crew weren't talking about you.

They were talking about an elephant that can paint? Yeah, right.

Yes.

-Really?

-Yes.

I'll see you in five, John.

All right!

Elephants that can paint.

What will they think of next?

Now we're heading to Thailand.

This is the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre.

It's home to more than 50 elephants, including Aet, the artist.

TRANSLATION: I've been with him for ten years.

We really love each other.

Aet has an extraordinary talent.

He's been earning a good living as a full-time artist

for the last six years, since being rescued from the streets of Bangkok.

I think Aet is very happy,

because when I release him, he paints by himself.

Some of the first elephant paintings

were done in the 1940s by elephants trained in a zoo in New York.

But in Thailand,

it was these elephants that were the first to be encouraged to paint,

and it didn't take long for them to wrap their trunks around it!

It took Aet about a month to learn how to paint.

It wasn't hard at all.

In fact, it was really easy.

The first time we painted

was interesting because we were wondering

how many weeks will it take

to teach them how to paint?

With a week's practice,

they were about as good as they were ever gonna get.

Only about one in ten elephants are interested in painting,

which makes their work all the more sought after.

An experienced elephant can finish a painting in about ten minutes.

The art world is an unusual one for this kind of animal

as all elephants are colour blind.

But elephants do have great control over their trunks,

which means they're a natural handling a paintbrush!

I much prefer the abstracts, because then it's entirely

what the elephant wants to do.

The elephant is given no orders whatsoever.

Aet's artwork is exhibited here in the conservation centre's gallery

and commands a pretty price.

As much as a trumpet-blowing £500 a piece!

Money from the sales helps the institute

to care for elephants all over Thailand.

I love the paintings. I love how they're really abstract.

They have so much colour and you can really see the strokes.

This one looks almost like modern art,

but it's still very impressive.

I think that if these were hung in a gallery in the States,

and no-one knew that they were elephants,

they'd sell for like 1,000, cos that's, like modern art.

Part of the attraction

is that visitors can have their own work of art created

and watch while an elephant paints it.

Each piece really is unique, and everyone can take home the art...

And a good story!

I don't think you'd know it was an elephant that had painted it.

It's very stylish. It is incredible how well they've been trained.

They can do all those fine motor movements

and, erm, they're so gentle.

Our daughters thought this looked like a volcano.

No, I thought it looked like a sandstorm.

We really like it.

And that painting could be a clever investment.

In America, elephant art has been known to change hands

for more than £20,000!

It'd be perfect in our lounge room.

We've been looking out for your home videos

of what animals get up to in their spare time.

Turns out, in Wales, this border collie named Tim

is quackers for herding ducks.

Top job, Tim!

Time to head off to New Denver in Canada.

This is the heart of Canada's wilderness and prime bear country.

It's also where Lucy, the bear detective, works.

Lucy's got a big assignment.

It's her job to sniff out bears

to protect us from the furry predators

and to protect them from us!

Since the year 2000, more than 20 people

have been attacked by bears in North America.

A Newfoundland/Border Collie cross, Lucy is the perfect bear detective.

Fearless and intelligent, with a nose for forensics.

I wouldn't trade her nose for any computer

or any smell synthesizer in the world.

Oh, you found some grizzly hair on a rubbing tree. What a good dog.

Today, Lucy and her boss Wayne are doing a bear survey.

If they find evidence of bears,

it's their job to recommend that hiking trails and camp grounds

are moved out of the danger zone.

By doing that, we sort of separate bears and people more

and make parks safer for people and better for bears.

She works ahead of me

through the real dense bear habitat or on the trail.

She'll go around bends and make sure there's no grizzly bears.

She's like my early warning system.

I just watch Lucy and she watches me.

It's an almost telepathic way of working together.

Lucy's picked up on the scent of another clue, a fresh bear track.

The evidence is mounting.

One of the more powerful commands that Lucy is trained to respond to

that just totally activates her is,

"Go get the bear!"

and she instantly reacts to that and starts looking around and stops...

Like pushing all of her buttons, all at once.

Get the bear over there.

Lucy and Wayne are often in the forest for weeks at a time.

Lucy's never really off duty. She's always alert to the scent of bears.

I sleep very well at night because, when Lucy comes in the tent with me,

she's monitoring.

When a bear does come by, which has happened,

she will wake me up by barking and stuff.

The next morning, Wayne sets up an infra-red camera,

based on Lucy's evidence of bear activity the previous day.

The camera is triggered by movement,

and they hope to collect photographic evidence of bears.

And there it is!

Proof that bears are in the area.

Because of Lucy's ongoing detective work,

hiking trails in more than 15 parks have been moved.

Both bears and humans can enjoy this natural wilderness together.

Now it's off to England.

It's the big day for Rufus, the pigeon-scaring hawk.

In London, thousands of people are arriving for Wimbledon,

the world-famous lawn tennis championship.

The organizers want to make sure no-one gets pooped on by pigeons.

And that's where Rufus comes in.

But Rufus got lost in training yesterday.

If he goes missing in London it'll be a disaster for the team.

This is gonna be great.

What a fantastic stadium. Look at that, girls. What do you reckon?

I'm really excited. I can't remember it being this big.

What I'm gonna do is we'll put him on the...

Probably this bit here, look.

There he goes!

He's off onto them seats and we need to let him settle down.

Uh oh.

Perfect(!)

Oops. Clean-up on aisle five!

Right, Rufus. We'll have less of that, please!

Right.

HE LAUGHS

We have to keep a careful eye on him cos we've only got...

We've only got a certain amount of time before the public come in

and we have to be out of here by then, along with Rufus,

cos if he gets left in here we're in big trouble, OK?

All right. Here we go.

HE WHISTLES

His job is to fly up to the roof and then swoop across centre court

where his very presence will scare pigeons away.

Ooh, gone the wrong way...

Come on, Rufus, any time today!

There's no time to waste, so Wayne resorts to bribery -

a chunk of raw meat to get Rufus back.

Come on. Hey.

All right what we'll do, we'll probably go a bit lower down

and try calling him down there a bit further.

That's lovely, there.

Rufus finally gets to work and flies off to a great spot

where he has a bird's eye view of the whole stadium.

He's patrolling the whole stadium here at the moment, girls.

He's gone up onto the roof. We need to get him to come back down

so we can get him up underneath all these girders over there.

He's having a good look around up there.

We need to move over there a little bit, and see if we can try the lure.

We'll see if we can attract his attention.

But there's a problem.

Rufus may have a bird's eye view of the stadium but

he's got confused about the command to come back. So he's staying put.

In half an hour, thousands of tennis fans will come into the stadium

so the team don't have time for any messing around.

20 minutes to go.

Rufus needs to check under the roof for any pigeons.

But there's no shifting him.

The clock is ticking but Wayne and the team are trying to stay cool.

He hasn't done anything wrong.

He's gone up onto the top, which is what we want him to do.

It would just be pretty useful if he flew down to us at the present time!

He knows what he needs to do.

I think he's just getting used to his surroundings.

He should come down sometime cos he's still learning,

and it's the first time he's been here.

He's not coming down at the moment, so we have to be patient.

Ten minutes to go, and the stadium will start filling up.

Rufus finally takes flight...

to another part of the roof.

With minutes to go,

Wayne's been forced to climb up onto the roof to get Rufus.

He's just moving over to the bird

because he decided not to come down to us,

so he's probably just gonna try and call the bird up.

WAYNE WHISTLES

Rufus finally remembers his command and flies back to Wayne.

No pigeons overhead, so Rufus has done his job.

But he just needs to fly back when the team asks him to.

Well, not the best debut ever,

but at least we've got him back, girls, that's the main thing.

I think he's done OK, but it's a really big place for him

and it's a new experience and it's all different for him

so he was probably a bit nervous around everything,

and hopefully next time when he comes back it'll be a bit better,

and he'll improve each time.

Well, Rufus, that wasn't too bad, really,

but we could have done with a little bit less of the stubbornness

but, saying that, you know, he wasn't going anywhere,

so we can't fault the hawk. It's a hawk at the end of it.

It's his first debut so, yeah, just have to try a bit better next time.

Probably spend a little bit more time when it's a bit quieter. Pardon?

Well done, Rufus!

Job done, and Rufus gets to keep his contract for next year.

Rufus has got the flying up part right,

it's the flying back that still needs a little work!

-What do you get when you cross a duck and a firework?

-Squawk!

A fire quacker! It's good!

-When's the best time to buy a bird?

-Squawk!

When they're going cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap!

Get it? Cheap, cheap, cheap.

Birds, you know? Cheap.

They say "cheap", right? Don't look at me like that!

Inexpensive... Birds say "Cheep".

Cluck-cluck!

Ah, shut up, chicken.

Squawk!

OK, thank you very much(!)

You're no fun!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]