Episode 17 Dick 'N' Dom Go Wild

This show features highly skilled professionals,

working with potentially dangerous and unpredictable animals.

-So do not, I repeat, do not try this at home.

-Hmm.

Did you know that now, right now, there's people all around the country

who are working their socks off

to help wounded wildlife and poorly pets?

And we've managed to get VIP passes for some willing helpers

who are going to get stuck in at the busiest vets, wildlife sanctuaries and rescue centres.

On today's show:

Amelia and Crista are on a red fox alert, and get some giddy gulls ready for their return to the wild.

Have you got a hold of it? Whoa, it's having a go at his camera!

Heba and Michelle turn vet assistants and fix an itchy hound,

sort a stinky Staffie

and ogle a giant owl.

-This is Einstein, the European eagle owl.

-Whoa!

That's big.

And Dom does his best to get frantic ferrets flying through his very special assault course.

Bye, Mark. Get in the tube.

In the drain pipe. Go and have some fun.

It's tough and dirty work...

but someone's got to do it.

Today on Dick and Dom Go Wild I'm at The Sanctuary Wildlife Centre in Northumberland.

This is a place where they like to keep animal welfare in the family.

It's owned by Kim Alton, who, with husband Alan, has spent

the last 17 years rescuing and caring for domestic animals and wildlife

in need of helping hands.

That's a long time looking after animals. I bet they can do with extra help - we can fix that.

Amelia and Crista are two chums from Leeds, who, as you can see,

are very, very excited about their chance to work with wildlife.

Amelia would love a pet of her own.

I want a pet, but my mum won't let me have one.

We're so frightened of them, dogs, anything, really, to be honest.

-I don't like big dogs.

-Crista has a house full of pets.

She's got a pet snake, a hamster, and a friendly dog, Biff.

But she's less wowed by wildlife.

I really do like animals,

but some of them I'm just a bit scared of.

I'm pretty certain the animal sanctuary can sort all of that wildlife worry out.

Watch, I'll prove it.

-Amelia.

-Hi.

-How you doing? Crista, you all right?

-Yeah.

-Now, got your wellies?

-Yeah.

-Got your waterproofs?

-Yeah.

-Got your weird rubber gloves?

-Yeah.

-Ha-ha-ha! Let's do it.

We are off to the wildfowl pen, where one of the ducks

seems to be suffering from a real sinking feeling.

He's lost the knack of staying afloat and now isn't keen on having a bath.

Oh, I can see why!

You wouldn't catch me in there. I'd go in it, you just wouldn't catch me!

You see that pond there?

You see it's full of brown, really muddy,

very dirty water, full of poo.

-I need help cleaning it out.

-BOTH: Urgh!

Can you do that?

If the girls can get the bath scrubbed up clean,

-they might be able to convince the dawdling duck to take the plunge again.

-It's a bit smelly.

-I officially don't like these birds!

-I'm stuck, Amelia!

-Careful!

-I have to confess I'm a little surprised to see a duck that can't stay afloat.

-What's that about, then, eh?

-Not all ducks can manage in the water.

So what they do is, in the wild, they've got lots of glands underneath their feathers,

and they preen their feathers and they put all of this waxy oil

on their feathers, and that's what stops them drowning.

We need to put this Eider duck in the water and see if she can actually float.

-Will she sink, though?

-Well, that's the problem.

If we actually release this duck and she's not waterproof, she would sink and she would drown.

So it's sink or swim time later.

Will our girls be able to get that mucky bath all lovely and clean?

But first my old mate Dick is about to enjoy a vet's life just down the road from here.

In this series, we're meeting some amazing animals

and the amazing people who dedicate their lives to looking after them.

And today, is no exception.

Eden Hill vets. This place is always on the go,

patching up pets from in and around the North East and beyond.

Top dog here is Jason Atherton, and he's up for taking on two animal assistants today.

-Jason.

-How you doing?

-Nice to meet you. So, why did you become a vet?

My father bought me some hens when I was eight, and since then that's all I ever wanted to do,

-work with animals.

-Oh, what a lovely story.

Well, today we've got two volunteers that are a bit unsure about animals. Take a look at this.

Meet Heba and Michelle, two canny lasses from Newcastle,

with very different interests.

Michelle loves to break a move or two.

Heba is more into books than boogieing.

One thing they both have in common, they're not too fussed about animals. Dogs definitely don't move them.

I've always wanted to, like, stroke them, but when I get close,

kind of close to them I get really scared.

-I just don't like them.

-THEY SCREAM

I don't like them.

They bite, and if they don't have an owner start chasing you.

So two girls who'd rather pass on pets, but I reckon

we could be on a winner if we drop in at a busy vets' practice.

Girls, all kitted out, certainly looking the part.

Jason, please, tell them what they'll be doing today.

We've got a very busy ops list today.

-The first case is a dog with an itch, and we aim to try and find out why.

-Enjoy your day. Off you go.

Rocco, the big pup with a mystery itch, is patient number one.

Right, girls, here we are. Here's Rocco.

He is a big dog, but he's really soft.

Remember, they're not doggie lovers so not doing a runner from big Rocco is a great start!

Who's a lovely dog?

Rocco is a Dogue de Bordeaux, and believe it or not, he's not even fully grown yet.

-He's only nine months old.

-How big will he be when he's fully grown?

He'll be a bit bigger than this, maybe couple of stone heavier.

I think he's going to be really big.

In fact, when he grows up Rocco could easily weigh over eight stone,

which is roughly the equivalent of 18 fully grown chihuahuas.

It seems the girls appear to have forgotten their dog doubting ways,

and are more than happy to stroke Rocco.

Do you feel a bit more at ease with him now you've stroked him?

-Yeah.

-ROCCO BARKS

Now they're comfortable in Rocco's company,

they can help Jason get to the bottom of what's making this dog so itchy.

That's if we can get his bottom on top of this examination area.

-So you've got to try and get that up there?

-We're going to try.

-OK!

Looks like a tall order to me.

And the tasks get tougher later - will our girls scrub up to be top vet volunteers?

At the sanctuary, Amelia and Crista are "quacking" on with the job

of filling a pond for a poorly duck that's having a bit of a wobble.

This one's struggling to stay afloat, and the girls have been preparing

a safe place for her to try and swim again.

We hope she stays in the pond, and we hope she preens herself, and we hope she floats.

If she doesn't, it means we can't release her back to the wild.

If a duck's feathers get waterlogged, they can get that sinking feeling.

-Well, actually they just sink, to be honest.

-Will she sink, though?

Well, she could, so it's really, really important that we make sure she's waterproofed.

This one's been springing a few leaks and it's time for the girls to find out where.

Gently, drip some water on her back, and let's see if they form into droplets.

-There. Did you see that?

-Yeah!

Just perfect droplets. Look at that.

Do you see how the water is literally off a duck's back?

You see, she can't get wet now because the water's just falling off, isn't it?

The problem is it's not just the back that's got to be waterproofed, it's the chest, too.

Try and put some drops of water on its chest and see what happens.

Put lots of water on her chest. What's happening now?

-It's soaking in.

-It's soaking in. Exactly.

If I put her in the water, she would get soaked on her chest

and the feathers would get heavier and heavier, and they would pull her drown and she would drown.

Thanks to Amelia and Crista,

this duck has somewhere safe to practise swimming again,

without fear of drowning, and hopefully she'll soon have waterproofed her feathers all over.

And there's more ducking and diving later, as Sasha the cagey fox needs her toilet cleaning.

It's stuck!

Urgh, there's white worms!

-It's maybe maggots.

-Urgh!

Heba and Michelle are doting on dogs at this North East vet's practice.

First up is Rocco, the big pup with a mystery itch, and

vet Jason thinks he's might know what's wrong with the big lad.

I suspect he's probably got a mite that young puppies get,

that make him very itchy.

Because these mites live in burrows in the skin,

we have to scrape the skin until we get blood.

What would help me is if you could just talk to him and stroke him,

-and that'll put him at ease and make it a lot less stressful for him.

-They're handling this job like pros.

Jason takes some tiny skin samples to study under the microscope.

-And Rocco's free to go and have a lie down, and dream about chasing cats.

-Good boy.

There's no time to rest for Heba and Michelle, though.

They've got to see if they can spot the mites that are causing the itchiness.

And Professor Heba soon sees the culprits.

It looks like a sausage with legs.

-That's it. Well done. See the little legs?

-Yeah.

So we have a diagnosis, but what's next for Rocco the dog?

We're going to give him a medicated shampoo.

-So rinse and a shine. Ready, girls?

-Yeah.

-Come on, this way.

Rocco!

Does the dog enjoy being shampooed?

Every dog's different. I suspect this dog will be a bit of a fidget.

It's a big dog, and he's still a puppy, so I don't think he'll let us shampoo him.

There's only one way to find out. Time to give Rocco a rub down and a rinse.

If you just talk to him that'll put him at ease.

With Heba and Michelle on hand to keep him calm,

he's quite pleased to have a poochy pampering.

Ooh, er, you have got a little something on your chin there, Rocco.

-It's a bit of... Never mind.

-Good boy.

Hopefully after a few more canine cleansing sessions like this, Rocco's itching will be a thing of the past.

-Do you think you like dogs more now?

-Yeah.

-You think you have helped him out?

-Yeah.

-You've been a great help. Thank you.

Iit's to the operating theatre later, when the girls attempt to remove the stink from

a pongy pooch's whiffy ear, but will the keyhole surgery get them bolting for the door?

I don't want to see the blood, but except from that, I'm excited.

Before all of that, Dom lifts the lid on rescued ferrets - and regrets it.

Where have you been? It's your turn to help the animals.

I've just been to collect the mustard lid that you told me to get.

I said mustelids. Mustelids, as in weasels, pole cats, ferrets, otters.

-Right.

-Mustelids.

Now these poor fellows were dumped by a river bank,

so they've not had much human contact.

So today it is your challenge to get them to socialise with each other, have a bit of exercise, bit of fun.

-So you could build them an obstacle course.

-You mean like the one I've already built over there?

-Yes!

-Good.

-Important job, this, believe it or not.

Ferrets love nothing more than adventure and exploration - they get all miserable without it.

This is Mark. That's Mark.

Hello, Mark. All right? Do you want to go in this tube?

It's OK. It's all to do with socialising. Bye!

Get in the tube. In the drain pipe. That's it, go and have some fun.

There he is, there's Mark.

Quick, let's put the rest in before he comes out the other end.

Here's Jason. Get in.

Here's Gary. Come on, Gary.

And there's Howard.

Go on, Howard, in you get.

Ferrets aren't wild animals, they were domesticated by humans thousands of years ago.

The Romans used them to catch rats and rabbits, and you can see why.

They're usually crepuscular, which means they're only busy at dawn and dusk.

They sleep the rest of the time - up to 18 hours a day.

Talking of which, Dom looks shattered.

Right then, I think I've completed this challenge.

I think I've socialised all these ferrets.

Very good. Let's go. Bye-bye.

We're off for tea and cake at Auntie Maureen's.

Heba and Michelle have been helping out hounds at a seriously busy County Durham vet's.

Hello, girls.

They're now with vet Nick, who has a Staffordshire bull terrier with a right pongy problem.

This is Tammy and she's had a sore ear for quite a number of months.

Tammy's ear is badly infected and to be blunt, it stinks.

So she's going to need an operation to get rid of the problem.

First Tammy is given a sedative and within minutes she's out for the count.

Heba prepares the dozing dog by carefully shaving the side of her head with clippers.

Then Michelle removes some of the yucky pus-like substance that's been making Tammy such a pongy pooch.

Please don't go poking around in pets' ears or using hair clippers yourselves. We're with experts here.

Over to the operating theatre now to fix that awful ear for good.

How smelly can the ear get?

It's quite common that people come in with their dogs

and say, "I don't know what's wrong with the dog, but it smells."

You just lift the ear up and you can see all the horrible stuff you were cleaning out of the ear.

It smells absolutely horrible.

Nick must remove the infected section inside Tammy's ear canal and carefully seal up the wound.

I don't want to see the blood, but except for that, I'm excited.

As the op kicks off,

Heba and Michelle watch from the observation room.

But there's no stopping these two. Within minutes they're up close and keen to get nearer to the action.

I think you two are brilliant.

You weren't even going to come in and look at you now, having a good look.

Proper access all areas, this.

Tammy needs intricate keyhole surgery

to remove the infected part of the ear canal.

Nick has to make sure he does this without damaging the nerves which can cause more serious problems.

So, having been in our vet's, do you think you'd like to come and work with animals when you're older?

I would like to,

but I wouldn't like to be doing the surgeries.

Nearly there.

-So this is the last stitch going in and then we're done. That's going to make a lot of difference.

-Yes.

It will get rid of the horrible smell and hopefully

she'll be as right as rain.

When I first heard she was going to get surgery, I thought it would be

really bad, but it's actually not as bad.

It's interesting to watch, but I still wouldn't want to be a vet.

Fair play. You can't knock a bit of honesty.

And 1.5 hours later, Tammy's wide awake.

There she is, looking just fine and she no longer pongs.

-It's good to see her back, isn't it?

-Yes, definitely.

As for Heba and Michelle, when it comes to getting closer to canines, they're doing brilliantly.

You'd have to be barking to disagree with that.

TAMMY BARKS

And the close-up experiences get bigger and better later as a giant of a problem arrives at the vet's.

Urgh! That stinks, and that is a lot.

Amelia and Crista have been making a big splash at the Sanctuary Wildlife Centre in Northumberland.

Now it's time to help out a red fox that's kicked up a bit of a stink.

-Do you see where the fox was lying?

-Yeah.

Do you see that big mound on top of that shelf? Do you know what it is?

What?

-Poo. It's poo.

-We've got to go up there?

That's right, girls, you're on poop patrol!

-You need the right tools for this job.

-She's having a look now. Can you see her?

Straight over there. See her?

Four-year-old Sasha has been here since

she was two weeks old after being found trapped under a railway line.

She's one of nine resident foxes here who have become too tame or too unwell to survive in the wild.

The girls have to lure Sacha out before they can start spring-cleaning.

Those tasty morsels should work.

Sasha doesn't seem too keen on shifting.

But the meaty morsels eventually do the trick and while Sasha

is distracted, time to slip in and sort out her messy living area.

There you go. Plastic bag for you. Plastic bag for you. Ready, girls?

Going in there? Poo patrol.

-And when it comes to bathroom business, foxes go about things in a highly unusual way.

-It's stuck.

You're probably wondering, girls, why all the poo is in one place.

It's because foxes always do their business high up.

Foxes find the highest place they can get and that's where they do their toilet.

-It's called marking its territory.

-Not as bad as I thought.

-Poo fell on me!

-LAUGHTER

Urgh, there's white worms!

Oh, it's maybe maggots.

Urgh!

Nice. Now it's time to feed the big fella next door.

-This one's not too shy, is he?

-Good girl.

-Never been that close to a fox, have you?

-No.

Ten-year-old Sam's jaw was smashed after being hit by a car and he can't hunt for himself.

He gets well looked after here, as you can see.

Sam?

He was operated on, but the vet said he can't be released back to the wild

because he's not strong enough to kill rabbits. You see his jaw? It's actually quite squint, isn't it?

Sam wouldn't survive without help like this, but feeding wild foxes is a definite no-no.

The more you feed wild foxes, the tamer they get.

The tamer they get, the less frightened they are of people.

That's when you get problems with foxes going into people's houses.

The girls have a go at gull getting later. But can they box them up and get them flapping to freedom?

Don't let it fly away!

Before all of that, Dick homes in on a wiggly and rather batty snack.

Are you OK?

OK, Steve the long-eared bat, I'll tell him to shut up.

-We are listening out for his din-dins.

-Oh.

Anyway, how can anything HEAR dinner?

Well, he uses his echo location.

-Echo location?

-Echo location.

Yes, bats send out sonar squeaks which are high-pitched little noises to find their way round

-and to find their din-dins.

-How does that work?

The sonar squeaks bounce off things and the bat

hears the returning of the bouncy-off-things sound.

Oh, so that's how he can HEAR for his din-dins and he doesn't bang into walls in the dark.

-Exactly.

-Eek, eek, eek!

Rubbish bat impression, Dick, deserving of a fitting reward.

Do not try this at home.

Heba and Michelle have been doing up dogs at the vet practice in County Durham.

You'd never have thought these two didn't care for dogs before today.

So dog's done. Now how's about this for an animal assignment?

This is definitely not your run-of-the-mill vet job, is it?

Hi, girls.

-Whoa.

-This is Einstein.

He's a European eagle owl.

Whoa, that's big.

You can say that again, Heba. With its huge beak and enormous talons,

the European eagle owl is considered the largest on the planet.

They're usually found living in rocky and mountainous parts

of mainland Europe, but amazingly a small number of them do live wild in Britain.

Right, what we do now is micro-chip him.

So if he was ever lost or stolen, it's got his ID on.

It's something we do on cats and dogs all the time, but more so now in eagles and large animals.

Having a micro chip fitted will mean if Einstein does go astray,

any vet anywhere in the world can find out who his owner is, assuming they can catch him first.

Inserting the chip is a straightforward enough job

for Jason, and for Einstein it's a bit like having an injection.

-Good lad.

-There we go. Job done.

-So, girls, would you like to touch Einstein?

-Yes.

-What do you think of that?

-It's nice and soft.

You feel like hugging her all the time.

Owl touching is something you should never do yourself. Want to know why?

In the wild, Einstein could use those massive talons to catch

and crush hedgehogs, rabbits and even small deer. Painful.

But remember, ladies, what goes in must come out

any time...now.

Urgh!

It stinks, and that is a lot.

Girls, if you only learn one thing from today's experience, please make it this.

Never stand behind a bird of prey. Either stand to the left or the right.

They can fire their poo up to six feet and it's not pleasant.

You're not wrong there! I can smell that from here.

An amazing animal.

Michelle, when you got here this morning you liked hip-hop dancing and weren't into animals. Heba, likewise.

-But do you like animals now?

-Yes.

-Do you want to be vets' assistants?

-Yes!

-We have done it.

And there's just one last thing these two wannabe vets need to do.

Remember Rocco from earlier?

We've now ditched his itch and he's ready to go home.

-Thank you.

-'Before I came I didn't like dogs at all,'

but now I really like dogs.

My favourite thing of the day was probably meeting the owl because he was just fabulous.

-I had a really great day today.

-It's been great.

-Nice one, girls. Job done and dusted!

Friends Amelia and Crista have been flying through their day at the animal sanctuary in Northumberland.

Now it's time to sort out two herring gull orphans

who have recovered from injuries and are game for a return to the wild.

But first the catchy bit.

The two that you need to catch are the ones on the top of that green house.

-Watch out for the heron.

-OK.

I know, I know. At the seaside these birds can behave like chip-guzzling bullies,

but some types of seagulls are under threat in the wild

-and it's important any healthy ones are set free.

-Don't let it fly away!

That's it, Crista. Nice netting.

1-0 to us.

-Get it!

-That's it. Well done. OK.

Now it's my go!

You must keep its wings really, really tightly together.

Keep it away from your face.

-Have you got hold of it? It's having a go at his camera.

-Make that 1-1.

Not camera shy, this one.

Keep his wings together. Well done.

-OK.

-Shut the door!

Excellent. Well done. One down.

-Now mine's go.

-You did really well.

Quick as a flashy thing, Amelia strikes with gull number two.

-They're all over this job.

-I've got it.

-OK.

It's quite hard because it tries to fly away.

If you corner it, it's easy because all you do is put the net on it.

We've netted a youngster.

When they're adults, all their brown speckles grow out.

He's pretty strong and he's not going to let go of the net.

Oh, dear. This toddler seems to be having a tantrum!

-Better get him in the box before he does any harm to himself.

-All right, all right.

So with the gull safely shut in, it's time to start thinking about setting them free.

And there's a huge lake a few miles away where our gulls will be safe to soar.

Are you going to have a look?

-They look OK, don't they?

-They look fine.

They survived the journey here.

Shall we set them on the journey back to the big wide world?

-Ever done anything like this before?

-No.

-It's cool, hey?

Obviously, they're really trying to get out.

How long have they been in captivity?

Probably six months. It's definitely time for them to go.

It can go either way - they will either shoot off or be nervous because this is a big step for them.

-It must be the best bit about the job.

-Absolutely. It's all about getting animals back to the wild.

Fingers crossed that they'll go.

OK, open it.

Wow, freedom at last!

The big man looks chuffed to be strutting his stuff. Then the youngster decides to wing it, too.

Here we go.

Straight off. Look at that.

-Look at the other ones in the water.

-Mine went straight in and had a bath. Woo!

Bye-bye.

Mine keeps putting its head under like that.

We dabbled with ducks, fed foxes and finally allowed feathered friends to fly free.

-Does it feel good?

-Yes.

You've been fantastic today.

What's been the best bit?

-Releasing them.

-Yeah, it's been nice, hasn't it?

Do you think they'll stay together?

-Yeah.

-Like best mates?

-Yeah.

-Good.

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