Episode 17 Dick 'N' Dom Go Wild

Listen up. This show features highly trained professionals working with

potentially dangerous and unpredictable animals.

So please do not try anything you are about to see yourselves. Got it?

Did you know that now,

right now there are people all around the UK who are working

their socks off to help wounded wildlife and poorly pets.

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

in at the busiest vets, wildlife sanctuaries and rescue centres.

Rats!

It's tough and dirty work but somebody has got to do it.

On today's show Georgia

and Tenisha organise a cliff top getaway for Janet the Gannet.

Zeeshan and Sercan get to the heart of a horse's troublesome ticker.

Oh, look at that.

And Dom has to handle the inside of a rattlesnake's rest room.

Come on.

Come on, come on, aren't you going to be late for work?

Are you sure this is safe?

Yes, this is a magic door.

It can transport you to wherever you need to go.

How does it know where I want to go?

It can read your mind.

I've just been. Shall we try again.

Better.

Here at Secret World they have a team of dedicated staff who

make it their mission to take in poorly,

unwanted and sick animals, nurse them back to health

and then eventually release them back to the wild.

And today's dedicated helpers are Georgia and Tenisha.

Georgia likes all things wild.

But she's down on dreary doggies and mundane moggies.

It's quite boring as well, it's like seeing dogs every single day

and like seeing cats every single day.

I'd like to see a badger.

I would like the experience to like maybe stroke one or hold one

or something.

Tenisha is not a fan of flappy things.

In fact, most pesky pets get right up her nose.

I don't know why, but they like to do all their droppings

in our front garden. It's not very nice and believe me it smells.

Go away. You are annoying.

Just go!

Unfortunately, it could be a bit of a stinky one today, because you are

heading down to one of the biggest wildlife rescue centres in the UK.

Georgia. Tenisha, welcome to Dick and Dom Go Wild.

-You are all right. Pleased to be here?

-Yeah.

Fabulous. We have got two containers here.

One's got my breakfast and the other one has got breakfast for an animal.

Whichever one you choose you have to feed that to the relevant party.

This one. So if you take that one.

See which one you have got. You've got my lunch. Only joking.

That is most certainly meal worms for an animal.

We will do all this later.

You guys go and get your togs on and go and get all scrubbed up

because you are going to get messy. Go on. Go and get changed.

Why so messy? Well this place takes in

4,000 needy wild animals every year.

It's going to be a busy one.

Sara. Good to be back at Secret World.

Now Tenisha has got a big box of meal worms.

What are they doing to do with them?

You are going to help me feed some very hungry little mouths

and that's feeding baby birds.

-You think you can handle that?

-Yeah.

I know you are scared of all things flappy, which covers bats and birds.

You should be OK. You are in very safe hands.

-They are only little.

-Off you go.

Tenisha might not be big on birds, but just maybe these little

rescued orphans might help change all of that.

-They are so small.

-So cute.

These tiny swallow chicks were found abandoned on the ground after

-falling from their nest.

-This the biggest one.

He's about three weeks. This is a little swallow.

They can't be returned to their nests,

but they are getting well looked after here.

So they come here just for a few days

and as soon as he's flying we will let him go.

-Before that they need plenty of food.

-OK.

Now you need to start with the ones that are opening their mouths

and just keep going until they stop.

They will probably take quite a few. There we go. Lovely.

I think they are really really cute.

They are aren't they. They are quite cheeky.

Do you want to give them a little bit of water as well.

What we do to give them

water is gently pop a little paint brush into your bowl

and then exactly the same and just let them suck the water off there.

A flying start girls.

Your brush with the baby birds have given them

a real chance of reaching for the skies very soon.

And later, the lightest of touches if needed when Georgia

and Tenisha help a blonde hedgehog.

He feels nice.

But first, Dick and his team nurse nags in Norfolk.

Here at Redwings they give the horses,

donkeys and ponies plenty of much-needed care and attention.

Their mission is to get as many of them re-homed as possible.

If not, they will spend the rest of their lives here at the sanctuary.

Today, I've got two helpers who will hopefully be chomping at the bit

and won't fall at the first fence.

Let's meet them.

Meet Sercan and Zeeshan who find animals a bit hit and miss.

Sercan is an animal lover, mostly.

Huge, hairy spiders freak him..

Really big spiders like tarantulas and...

I feel them crawling up my sleeve and I was like screaming.

Zeeshan is not crazy about cats and kittens.

But this lad loves easy-to-handle scaly things.

If I was going to have an animal and it would be a fish, because

they are easy to look after and it doesn't actually scare anyone.

-Right lads, giddy up.

-we've got some animals to work with.

Ah, Sercan and Zeeshan the city boys. Welcome to the countryside.

I bet living in the city you don't see many animals.

You don't see any animals there.

You once got kicked by a horse?

Yes, I was in Turkey and I tried to stroke the horse,

but it kicked me on the back.

-Did it hurt?

-Yeah.

-Are you OK with horses now?

-Yeah.

-That is a good thing, because today

you are at the Redwings Horse Sanctuary,

so we'll be meeting many of them. Right. Put these on and let's do it.

The staff here look after more than 1,000 mistreated or homeless horses.

Arriving here is often a life changing experience

and the team work hard to make lovely for them again.

First up for our new team members

it's a busy round of check ups with vet nurse, Ray.

-So who is this?

-This is Snow White.

-Why is she here?

Snow White was part of a big rescue that we done in January 2008.

She came in as a part of that rescue with a hundred other horses.

So we took in an awful lot in the one go.

-What is wrong with her?

-She's got a really, really poorly eye.

We are going to get you guys

-to help us treat her this morning if that's OK.

-OK.

Sad Snow White and her pals were rescued from terrible conditions

all were underweight and unwell.

Life's improving for the Shetland pony,

but she still needs a lot of medical care.

OK, guys, so we are going to take her sunglasses off...

if you want to pull the visor off just so that it comes over her ears.

Do you fancy just taking that off.

-Brilliant. Brilliant work. Well done.

-How did the horse get poorly eyes?

They can get it for all sorts of reasons,

but she's probably banged it on something really badly.

It looks a little bit horrible doesn't it. It's all red and nasty.

That's because she had what we call an ulcer

and it was a really really bad nasty ulcer.

-Can you see this funny tube that we've got going on here.

-Yeah.

It actually pumps the medication straight into her eye all day long

so that her eye is getting better all the time.

You fancy shining that light in the eye. If you come close to her,

get you to shine that light in the eye.

Can you see how it makes it look a little lighter.

Can you see how it looks a little bit dimply in the middle there.

Yes, it's like a little lump.

That's exactly right. That is where the ulcer actually was.

That is the really sore bit.

Now, looking at it this morning it looks like it's doing quite well.

It's a little bit sore,

but that's why we've got the medication going in to help it out.

With the eye checked, the protective visor goes back on.

There you go. Good girl.

And with more TLC and a bit of luck,

Snow White should make a complete recovery.

And later, Sercan and Zeeshan

work to make Bobby look like a dazzler again.

He's a very good boy in taking his medicines again isn't he?

He really likes them.

Back at the rescue centre,

Georgia and Tenisha are working hard with rescued animals.

The next job I've got lined up for you is to clean out

some baby hedgehogs.

Er, right, there could be a bit of an issue here.

I don't really like hedgehogs, because you go up to them

and start smoothing them and you are trying to be friendly

and then out from nowhere comes like these spikes.

Five week old Blondie was brought in a week ago after being found

wandering in a garden in the daytime, a worrying sight

because healthy hedgehogs are normally only up and about at night.

So you can see he's really unusual and all his spines are very light.

He's not what we call an Albino,

because he's got proper normal black eyes.

He's just like a normal hedgehog that's been born with blonde hair.

Do you think he will be living in the wild again or...

With this little hedgehog we are probably going to actually

end up having to keep him, because it just makes him

much more vulnerable, because he's really obvious.

Looks like Tenisha is softening her stance on spiny hogs.

It feels nice.

He's not prickly really is he.

You feel how soft their tummy is.

They haven't got spines on their tummy and it's all soft and furry.

You must be making Blondie feel all relaxed, Tenisha, because hedgehogs

roll into a ball and become spiky when they feel threatened.

Do they eat a lot?

They eat a lot and they also poo a lot.

The next thing we've got to do, we are going to clean out the poo

and give them some breakfast.

Just when hedgehogs were starting to feel so appealing,

there is hard graft to do.

Might be a bit pongy, but our new hedgehog helpers get stuck in.

-Stinks, doesn't it.

-Yeah.

Then they serve up a breaky of meaty cat food which hedgehogs love.

Nice new home. You should like this.

That's one nice and full hedgehog in a spotless home.

Good work, girls.

The poo was really disgusting. I would hate to clean that out.

We had to really, because we want the hedgehogs to be living

in a happy clean environment.

And later, Georgia and Tenisha help tattoo a rescued badger!

This is so cool, isn't it, Georgia?

Yeah.

Sercan and Zeeshan are proving they have an eye for helping

horses at a sanctuary in Norfolk.

It's all go here and a new patient needs their attention now.

This is Bobby. Can you see how different

Bobby looks to the last horse that we saw.

You see how he has a really bald looking head?

He has no hair on him does he?

That is because Bobby had a really nasty reaction

to a medication that he had.

19-year-old, Bobby came here 10 years ago

because he got panicky whenever anybody tried to ride him.

Now what we're going to do is give Bobby some medicine

and that is going to help his skin

and it's going to stop him itching.

-So you guys up for that?

-Yeah.

The antibiotics and steroids

are carefully hidden in amongst his nosh.

If you hold your hands really closely together,

that's perfect and we will do the same to you.

And then what we are going to do,

we are just going to hold it under Bobby's nose, so if you keep

your hands nice and flat and Bobby is just going to nibble on that.

He's a very good boy at taking his medicines, isn't he?

He really likes them.

What we will do is we will get you to do that as well.

He really tickles.

Yeah.

How long to do you think it will take for Bobby's hair to grow back.

It's going to take a little bit of time.

Probably in sort of two or three weeks he's going to be

looking an awful lot more like a much more normal horse again

with his coat back a bit more.

That's impressive work, lads.

Not a sign of Sercan's horse hesitancy either.

When I was younger, I got kicked by a horse.

But now I feel I'm really confident with horses,

because they are really friendly and Bobby was a really nice horse.

I've never seen a hairless horse. I've only seen a hairless cat.

It was really funny when we had to feed Bobby

because it was like ticklish, because he was like munching away.

And later, Sercan and Zeeshan get to the heart of horse Tracy's

health issue.

Lub-dub, lub-dub.

But first, Dom is rattled by killer critters.

It's raining cats and pigs out there.

Forget the rain. This is the door of death.

CRACK OF THUNDER

Behind there are one hundred beasties

that could blind, maim and kill you.

And Dom's job today is to enter this room

and help clean up the home of one of these snakes.

The Western Diamond Back Rattlesnake.

A bite from this venomous critter would feel like hot needles

entering your skin

and the highly toxic venom could rot your flesh and even kill you.

Hang on a minute.

How come I get to go in there and get killed to death?

You just stay here doing nowt.

Nowt? I'm going to be holding the blooming thing.

-That is cheating.

-Only a bit.

Dom needs to enter the room of death

and clean out the rattlesnake's enclosure.

So, Mark, what are the creatures we've got in here?

We've got cobras. They can kill you.

We've got things like death stalker scorpions.

So what kind of scorpions?

-Death Stalker scorpions.

-Right.

I would focus on the cleaning task

and getting out of there as soon as you can, old mate.

OK. Let's glove up and get on.

Yes.

I wonder what rattlesnake poo looks like.

It's not like dog poo, is it?

Nope, no-one in there.

There you go. How bizarre.

It's snake poo actually, Dom

Looks like it's got fur in it or something.

It's exactly what it is.

Is it? Why, what does it eat?

It eats rodents such as mice.

Nothing for me to do now. Maybe I'll have a sandwich.

Not sandwiches!

No, no, not in there!

What? The snake is over there.

At the rescue centre in Somerset,

Georgia and Tenisha are taking a walk on the wild side.

As animal care manager, Sara needs some help with another patient.

-Wow. That is quite a strong smell. What is in the box?

-I will show you.

I've never seen a badger before.

I've never seen a badger before.

I would like to touch one and hold one.

Well them, meet Lush, a very tough badger cub.

She's been a little miracle.

The four year old was found on a roadside two weeks ago,

disorientated and very ill.

She was totally collapsed and she looked as if she was dead, really.

Miraculously, last week she took her first steps and actually stood

and she's now ready to actually go back to the wild.

Before that, the team are going to put an identity tattoo on her.

You on there and you on there.

A permanent marking will make it easier to identify her

if ever she's in need of human help again in the future.

First the team must give Lush an anaesthetic jab

so she can snooze through the delicate process.

She's completely asleep now.

You can have a really good look at her, because you'll probably never

ever get the opportunity to come near a badger again.

You can have a look and see just how long her claws are.

She uses those for digging

to make great big places to live underground.

What is the tattoo?

It's a series of different numbers.

The first two numbers are the number of badger that has come

into the centre, so that's the 26th badger we've had so far this year.

The second two numbers are the years and then a 'W'

at the end which means that she came from Secret World.

What we do is, if you put a little blob of that jelly

and just rub it neatly over the top of the numbers it just keeps

it nice and soft as it heals.

This is so cool isn't it, Georgia?

Yeah.

And our loyal badger lovers stay at Lush's side

until she comes round from her deep sleep.

Are you going to wake up now?

Are you going to stand up.

She's going to feel a little bit woozy for a while.

There we go. Lifting her head up now.

Doing the tattoo in the room I thought was like really amazing

and really good and cool.

I'm really proud of what I've done,

because I know I've just helped an animal that's almost lost its life.

And later, Georgia and Tenisha get ready to release Janet the gannet.

What do you think, girls? Ready for release?

I think we'd best get her in the box before she gets really angry.

Sercan and Zeeshan are helping horses

at a huge sanctuary in the UK.

Vet Nicky is concerned for one of the poorly residents.

This is Tracy. She's only five years old.

She's got a bit of a heart problem and it's something we need to

investigate further, so we know whether or not we can rehome her.

How big are horse's hearts?

In a horse of this size, her heart is going to be about this big.

As big as your head.

It's pretty pretty huge.

That heart has to work really hard and has to be very efficient.

If there is something wrong with it probably means she's not

suitable to go to a new home.

A heart acts just like a pump

and Nicky suspects Tracy may have a bit of a blockage.

Using a stethoscope,

our vets in training need to help check Tracy's ticker.

Sercan has a listen first.

lub dub, lub dub, lub dub.

So am I right in thinking,

some of those gaps sounded a bit too long didn't they.

Now Zeeshan steps in to give a second opinion.

Did you notice some longer gaps in there?

-Yeah.

-It might be a good idea to go and do some further tests.

Today's tests will help Nicky decide on horse Tracy's future.

If her heart condition is serious, she will live out

the rest of her life here under the close supervision of the team.

Zeeshan has got his hands on a hi-tech scanner

that uses ultrasound.

This cool kit will help us see inside Tracy.

If you press onto the horse, that's lovely. She won't mind.

As firm as you can. Oh, look at that.

Do we think the heart looks like it's stopping for quite

a long time doesn't it.

Do you think Tracy can be rehomed?

I think what we've seen today is that her heart does stop for

quite long periods of time and that would worry me I think with a rider

sitting on her back just in case Tracy did feel faint at any time.

I think she gets early retirement

and she will probably quite enjoy it too.

So no new home for Tracy.

She is going to enjoy five star treatment

here for the rest of her life.

It's really a shame for her, because she won't get rehomed.

But I think she's got a nice home here.

Tracy time to put your hoofs up and relax

and enjoy your early retirement.

And later, Sercan and Zeeshan square up to Ben the foal with

the fierce thirst.

-Wouldn't like to have a drinking contest with him, would you?

-No.

And there he is,

a tiny little seahorse floating around not doing much at all.

He's definitely not doing much at all.

-Quite boring aren't they seahorses?

-Boring? Seahorses are some of the

ocean's most beautiful creatures.

Beautiful. Have you seen the gut on that.

That's a pot bellied seahorse. That's just the way they look.

Just the way they look.

Right. The thing is, sorry Mr Seahorse but he looks pregnant.

It's weird you should say that, because in the mysterious

world of the seahorses, it's actually the male that gives birth.

Are you telling me a fellow has a baby?

Yes. He can give birth to over seven hundred at one time.

No wonder it's belly looks so big.

It might not be pregnant, because that's just how they look.

Do they eat a lot?

Oh yes, they do. They are greedy little fellow seahorses.

But that is not the reason their tummies look so big.

Don't tell me, it's just how they look!

He's getting it now. I've brought you a little present.

Have you?

It's a saddle. Are you getting on?

Course I am. Hat.

SPLASH!

Back at the horse sanctuary Sercan

and Zeeshan are working with horses of courses.

Up for their help next is young foal, Ben.

He came to the sanctuary after his mum died

when he was just one day old.

The little lad has been missing out on mum's natural milk.

Ray needs our boys to feed him instead.

Give it a good shake so it's nice and level. That's perfect.

What kind of powder is this?

This is a milk replacement powder. This is about as close as we can get

to what he would have been getting from his mum.

You want try and make it so that there is no lumps in there at all.

It looks pretty good, doesn't it. I think that's us all ready.

-Shall we go and feed Ben, boys?

-Yeah.

-Brilliant.

Lads, you shouldn't have.

Milk, I like a nice bit of milk of an afternoon.

No, no. This is milk for the horse.

What?

Not bad, actually.

Right, let's find a hungry foal to feed

or maybe the hungry foal can find us.

Ben has clocked the milk.

He is gently coming over and so now it's really

important that we are really really quiet while he comes over boys.

If you guys have your milk out in front of you, hopefully he's

going to come and have a little look at the milk in a second.

A bit of a stand off at first.

Here he comes.

Just hold the milk out and be nice and quiet.

Watch how quick he drinks it. Remember, no noises.

See how quick he drinks that. Really fast, isn't he?

He's really fast isn't he?

I wouldn't like to have a drinking contest with him, would you?

Down in one, son.

Our boys are doing a top job keeping Ben calm.

If you tip it ever so slightly. Perfect. Well done.

He can get all the last little bits. Is that yummy mate?

Now he's got milky chops. Milky chops on my hand.

How often do you have to feed, Ben.

At the moment, Ben is getting four feeds through the day

and through the night he gets another five.

He's getting nine feeds a day at the moment.

He likes your red boiler suit!

Ben is not bashful.

He even poses for a close up before heading off to play

out with his surrogate mum.

Well done, buddy boy!

-So who is this one here?

-This is actually called, Fergie.

This is a horse that we put with Ben and is Ben's adoptive mum.

She is the one who is sort of looking after Ben and

teaching him how to be a young horse and teaching him all his manners.

Good luck in the future, Ben.

Let's hope you find yourself a new home with people who will

care for you just like our top lads have here today.

That's it, chaps. Do you feel more confident around horses now?

-Yes.

-What was your best bit Zeeshan?

My best bit was the heart scan.

Sercan?

My favourite bit today was when we fed Bobby.

Good old, Bobby.

I must say, lads, cracking work and you have done my proud.

At the wildlife rescue centre, Georgia

and Tenisha have one final furiously flappy job to finish.

Have a look behind you. This is your next customer.

-Is it a sparrow, a robin or a gannet?

-A gannet.

Ten points, well done.

Janet the Gannet was found

grounded in a garden far away from her seaside home.

We had some fairly stormy high windy weather a few days before,

so we think he's just been blown inland and then can't get back out.

Janet was dangerously under weight,

but has spent the last two weeks here filling her face with fish.

Now it's time for her to taste freedom once again.

Let me get this right.

We are going to take this bird to a cliff and throw it into the air.

Pretty much that, yes.

Now remember this, our team aren't big on birds.

But this is the task that could completely win them over,

because they have been asked to help get Janet home.

These are sensational seabirds.

Gannets dive at lightening speeds of over 60 miles per hour

to pluck out fish which they neck in one gulp.

They are feisty and stabby.

So how come it's me who has to grapple with a gannet?

Are you going to scream like a girl.

I'm not going to scream like a girl! OK. All right, Janet.

-So what do you think, girls? Ready for release?

-Yeah.

I think we best get her in the box before she gets really angry.

Ready, one, two, three.

So here we are at the top of a cliff with a bird in a box about to

release a gannet back to its habitat.

Now, what is the likelihood that the bird is not going to fly?

We are hoping that there isn't and it is going to fly.

We've got really nice wind.

The conditions are right

and you can see that he's desperate to get out of that box.

Janet the Gannet is ready to go. Let's do it.

The big moment.

Reach for the sky, Janet!

You ready, girls?

One, two, three!

Cheers, Janet. I've just told everyone you are a fantastic flyer.

Come on.

-Yeah!

-That's more like it.

Watching the gannet be released

was really, really amazing.

It made me feel really happy and excited.

A bit of a floppy start wasn't it? Going straight up and straight down.

But I've got my theory. I reckon you fed that bird so much mackerel

and it had such a fat gut and couldn't get up off the floor.

Probably, but at least we got the bird up

and that's what we set out to do.

So Janet is back home and the girl's work is done.

I've enjoyed everything.

But I have to say,

feeding and holding the chicks were really really good.

Round my way there isn't much wildlife at all.

What I've done today has made me realise that I really like wildlife.

And that is what Go Wild is all about. Love it.

RATTLING

Did you just hear a rattlesnake?

I think I did. Keep moving.

RATTLING

There it is again.

It's stalking us. Let's get out of here.

I think I need a poo.

I'll call for help.

Hello?

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