Episode 18 Dick 'N' Dom Go Wild

This show features highly trained professionals

working with potentially dangerous and unpredictable animals.

So please do not attempt to do

anything you're about to see yourselves.

Bosh!

Did you know that now,

right now, there are people all around the UK

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's got to do it.

On today's show,

Lucas and Cameron care for a colony of rescued parrots.

DICK SCREAMS

Victoria and Lucy help Honey the cat through delicate surgery.

Can you give a bit of a cuddle there and a bit of reassurance?

-And Dom get out of my jumper so we can catch a bouncer.

-So close.

-Are you OK?

-Yeah. I've just found this little fellah.

He was abandoned, at the bottom of a bin.

Sometimes they're also found on people's plates

at the end of a meal or in the bottom of the fridge,

gone all mouldy and soggy.

Shouldn't you be at the parrot sanctuary right now?

-Not the...?

-No.

Here at the parrot sanctuary, the parrots are not re-homed,

they're given the perfect place to live the rest of their lives.

They can make their own choices of when to eat, sleep or play.

Today, my two helpers have got to help the parrots

and there will be no time to eat, sleep or play.

Maybe just a little bit of time for some food. Let's meet them.

Backing each other up today are Lucas and Cameron.

Lucas thinks most British beasties are boring.

Pigs are just lazy and they don't do anything.

Horses, just eat grass, so do sheep

and insects don't do anything.

Cameron couldn't disagree more if he tried.

He likes the lot.

I don't think it's boring, because there's lots of different animals.

Most of them are quite fascinating.

The only pet that both pals would really love is...

Cockatoos, parrots, cockatiels, budgies.

I like that, they speak.

Yeas, and You can teach them any words.

OK boys, you want to help parrots?

Well then, squawk this way.

All right, fellows. Cameron and Lucas.

He's an animal lover. He's a non animal lover.

-But there is one animal that you've asked your mum for.

-A parrot.

A parrot, yes. Today, on Dick and Dom Go Wild,

you should be the most excited you've have ever been in your life,

because I've brought you to the Carrot Zoo.

-THEY CHEER

-All right, don't be so sarcastic. That's one of my best.

Stick these on and let's get to work.

All of these birds have been rescued from miserable situations

or the owners have realised it's unfair

to keep a social bird alone in a small cage.

So let's get down to bird-based action, chaps.

Steve, these are your parrot lovers, Cameron and Lucas.

Hi, guys, nice to meet you. We've got loads of work today.

-Does everyone want to go and see some parrots?

-Yeah!

Sanctuary founder Steve needs the boy's help

with some new arrivals in the dusty quarantine area.

And there's no masking their joy at the thought of this task.

Loads of parrots. How do you feel?

-Say it with the eyes. They're happy.

-So, Steve where are we now?

This is quarantine. This is like behind the scenes of the sanctuary.

When birds arrive here we have to make sure they're healthy

and haven't got any illnesses they can pass onto any other birds.

-This is where we do all the inspections.

-Hence the old masks.

Yes, parrots are very dusty. You'll be breathing the dust in.

Many of the parrots arrive here after their owners

have passed away or moved home and left them behind.

What we've got to do is we've got to catch some of these noisy parrots,

we have to give them a little microchip

and you guys have got to do the catching.

There's the box and then we need a net. Are we ready for this?

Horace the African Grey Parrot arrived five weeks ago,

after his owner was struggling to care for him properly.

He's now ready to be moved from the quarantine area

to an outside enclosure.

Here we go now.

Steve moves in fast and bags the boisterous bird...

-Look at that.

-..before he has a chance to get too stressed.

And the boys are ready to secure Horace for his move.

-Now!

-Bird from bag to box, no bother.

And later, Cameron and Lucas need to get Horace to his new home, fast.

You hold that box really tight, because I'm going in.

But first, Dom cops for some top animal carers in London.

At the Blue Cross, they believe that owning an animal

is one of the most rewarding experiences that you can have,

which is why they are dedicated to helping out the owners

as much as the pets themselves.

But will today's volunteers be as dedicated to helping out?

Let's go meet them.

Meet best friends, Lucy and Victoria who get on fine, mostly.

But argue like cats and dogs about, cats and dogs.

Victoria thinks dogs are adorable.

But cats make her cringe.

Cats, ugh. They are pukey everywhere.

-No they do not.

-Yes they do.

Lucy is the exact opposite.

She thinks cats are cool and that dogs are downright dirty.

Once there was this huge poo stain from a dog

and it went all down my gate and it was really disgusting.

How can a dog get up a gate and poo?

One day she will see the truth that cats are better than dogs.

I will prove to her that dogs are better and then she will go,

"You were right all along, Victoria.

"I shall hail you. You are the best".

Just remind me, what do you want to work with today?

-Dogs.

-Cats.

Got it.

Lucy. Victoria. How are you? All right? Welcome to the show.

What we're going to try and do by the end of the day

is try and get you to appreciate each other's favourite animal.

-Does that make sense?

-Yes.

-Yes.

Well look, you're all dressed up, ready for the occasion.

-Shall we do it?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Come on.

This hospital has been helping the capital's sick

and injured pets for 100 years.

Every week, over 400 animals are treated here.

It's starting to get busy already.

Are you ready for the first job of the day? Got a cat coming in here.

15 month old, Honey is here to be spayed or neutered,

an operation that will prevent more unwanted pets in the future.

-All right, Cathy.

-Hi, how are you?

-All right.

-I'm really well.

-This is Victoria and Lucy. This is Cathy.

-How are you?

This is Honey and she's here to be neutered.

Let's get her out of the cage.

When Honey is spayed does that mean she won't have any more babies?

That's right. We encourage people to spay their cats

because we find there are too many kittens without any homes to go to

so we encourage everyone to spay their animals, dogs and cats

so we can try and reduce the population of animals

that don't have homes.

Let's find out if this feline is feeling fine enough for surgery.

The first thing we do is look inside her mouth

and make sure she's nice and pink.

I think she looks great. Her eyes are nice and bright.

-Her ears are clean.

-Do you think she looks good?

Yes. She's a very fine specimen.

Now, if I hold her would you like to listen to her heart?

-Pop those in your ears. Can you listen?

-Is it beating fast or slow?

-Fast.

-Very fast.

-Why do you think that is?

-Because she's nervous.

-Yep.

Don't be nervous, Honey.

Our team will make sure you don't feel a thing.

Obviously, you are the dog lover aren't you, Vicky?

So why don't you take Honey to the scales?

You ready? You hold her like that and give her a big cuddle.

Now bring her over to the scales.

Now, Lucy, you look at the numbers. Pop her down, Vicky.

Stay! Sit!

-What are the numbers there, Lucy?

-2.45.

2.45. Excellent.

Sweet. Honey is now ready for her op.

And later, our girls walk into some serious veterinary helping.

Who have we got here then?

This is Trooper and he's here for an X-ray.

Back in Lincolnshire, Cameron and Lucas are helping Steve

check on the sanctuaries most recently rescued parrot arrivals.

Horace the African Grey had suffered

a lonely life in a small cage before arriving here.

But he's now ready to enjoy the open space of an outside enclosure.

First, our lads need to help

insert an identity chip into the rescued bird.

-Why do you have to put a microchip in the parrot?

-OK.

What a microchip does is it's got a unique number in it,

so that means that if this little chap has to come back

into hospital at any time,

we can use one of these, so we'll know that that's definitely Horace.

You hold that box really tight, because I'm going in.

Hello, Horace.

Nervy parrots like Horace don't like being handled

and can turn flighty and feisty but this process is for his own good.

This special gadget contains the microchip that will help Horace

to be identified if he ever gets lost or needs help in the future.

That's in.

Press it in.

Just put that scanner there somewhere near his neck.

-That beep means they've found the microchip.

-Can you see that number?

So that means if we ever bring him back in again, we get that scanner,

put it over his neck and we know it's Horace.

There we are. Let's put him on the floor.

After a life living in a cramped space,

Horace is about to really stretch his wings.

Right, guys, are we ready? This is Horace's first day out in the sunshine.

Let's hope he enjoys it. OK?

Come on, Horace, out we come.

Here he comes. There we are.

There he goes!

And when Horace gets used to the great outdoors,

he can make a final move to join the gang in the main parrot enclosure.

When I first met Horace the Parrot it was really cool,

because I like helping animals and especially birds.

And later, Cameron and Lucas collar in injured cockatoo

in need of their help.

You've got his collar. You've got the tape. I'll get the bird.

Back at the animal hospital, cat fan Lucy and dogs' best friend Victoria

are working behind the scenes as vets in training.

Their next patient is Trooper, a bull mastiff cross

who's come in for an X-ray after his owner noticed

the poor pooch was limping.

-Who have we got here then?

-This is Trooper and he's here for an X-ray.

Hello, Trooper. How are you? He's got very sore knees.

When he walked in you could see he was a bit lame.

Why do you think he's got a limp?

Well, Trooper is a mastiff so they're quite a large breed

and they bound around the park

and they do lots of athletic things and sometimes the ligaments inside

the knee can break and require surgery to fix.

That's what we're checking today.

If the X-ray shows a problem,

Trooper will have to go under the surgeon's knife.

In order to get a clear steady X-ray image,

Trooper will be given a jab to make him sleep.

The team weigh him to find out how much anaesthetic they need to give.

So he's 40 kilos.

That lets us work out the right anaesthetic for him.

We can take him up to the kennels now and find him a nice comfy bed.

Our girls have now helped a moggie and a doggie.

How is Victoria feeling about cats now?

I enjoyed meeting Honey the cat, because she was friendly

and I like cats better than I used to.

Is Lucy starting to dote on dogs?

I don't really like dogs, but when I met Trooper,

I learned that big dogs are really just big softies.

When we X-ray him I hope that we can make him better.

Later the team stick with Honey the cat as her op gets underway.

-You can see right inside his body.

-Ugh.

But first we chase giant bounders around a pen!

Explain to me why I've been carrying you around in my hoodie all day?

MUFFLED VOICE

I can't hear a word you're saying, hang on.

-Stinks in here. Haven't you had a bath?

-Yes!

I had my monthly bath six weeks ago.

-Forget that and start explaining. You're getting heavy.

-Right. Yes.

Well, I wanted you to experience

what it was like to be a wallaby carrying its young'un around.

-You mean a kangaroo.

-No, I mean wallaby. They're related.

They're from the same family. Marsupials.

They both carry their young around in their pouches

for months after it's born.

-You're not two months old, I'm not your mum, so get out now!

-All right.

These two are Bounce and Jump,

but they're not your ordinary wallabies, oh no.

These are special.

They're albinos which gives them their distinctive white fur

and amazing red eyes.

Right, so what's the plan?

We need to go in here with Will over there

and catch one of these wallabies who has had a mouth infection

-and give it a health check.

-Peace of peasy.

-You say that,

but we have to catch it by the base of its tail.

-By its bum?

-Yeah. Ready?

-Ready.

Come on, Daddy. Come on, Daddy!

Big mouse. Fat mouse!

-Go on!

-Go in front! That's it, cornered.

Go! Good lad.

Not hurting them is it?

No, it doesn't hurt them at all when you catch them

at the base of the tail.

Now remember, we are helping Will complete an important health check.

This really is the only way to get hold of a wilful wallaby.

Don't you lot go chasing marsupials around a big,

fenced off enclosure yourselves, right. Will's got it. Got him.

Got him! Got him! Will!

Ssh. OK? We'll do a little health check just around his face.

All right, if you have a look just there,

we've got an old abscess that we drained last week.

It has got a lot better, but we will have to keep an eye on it.

It looks like he's going to be absolutely fine.

-Let go together.

-Go!

-You're like Steve Backshall.

-I am.

-Quick, weren't they?

-They were.

-You know, they can jump twice their own height.

-I'd like to do that.

-You would, would you?

-Yeah.

-(Look.)

-What?

-Wallabies!

Oi, you did it.

Get a ladder.

In Lincolnshire, Cameron and Lucas are working behind the scenes

at a sanctuary for rescued parrots.

You might think they make lovely-looking pets,

but parrots must stretch their wings,

otherwise they end up down in the mouth,

like Rosie here -

the plucky rescued male cockatoo is recovering from painful injuries.

At his previous home,

Rosie was confined to a small cage for long periods

and had started plucking out his own chest feathers in frustration.

Now he needs regular hands-on care.

-Right, shall we get him prepped?

-Mmm.

Lucas, you are in charge of the cream.

If you can take the top off.

If you can put me some cream on that finger.

'The poor chap, but at least our lads soothing cream

'will help with his sore chest.'

Is the parrot going to get better?

Oh, yes, he will get better

and it will take about three or four months for him to be totally healed.

'Now for a protective neck cover to stop him plucking again.'

That is the best thing,

because it makes his neck stretch a little bit like that,

so he can't reach round and bite his neck.

It's like a dog having one of them lampshades on its head?

Yes, very similar to that.

You've got his collar. You've got the tape.

I'll get the bird.

Go on, boys.

All you've got to do is put it round his neck like that.

Brilliant.

Absolutely wonderful. Round with the tape, all the way round.

Keep going.

Just rip it off now. That's absolutely brilliant.

'It might look a little daft,

'but at least Rosie won't be able to pick at his wounds any more

'and he is one step away from joining the rest of the parrots

'in the main colony.

'Here, look! Rosie's neighbours look like they are keen to say hello

'to their new arrival.'

-Hello.

-'Told you.'

-Off we go.

-Look at that.

-There we are.

-He's looking a lot better now, isn't he, boys?

-Yes.

Good one, Rosie.

I think it's a sad story for Rosie,

because Rosie is a really lovely calm parrot

and hopefully he will get better soon,

because I'm really worried about him.

'And later, it gets fruity

'when we are faced with feeding an entire parrot colony.'

Three, two, one, go.

Back in London, Lucy and Victoria have been busy helping vet, Cathy.

Now they have got to assist with Honey's neutering.

That's an operation to stop the cat having unwanted kittens.

Just make sure it's all covered up. That's a good look, isn't it?

These shoe covers are important.

They stop horrible germs from entering the clean hospital.

Let's go.

First job for the kitted-out girls is to calm the cat.

You give her a bit of a cuddle there, a bit of reassurance.

Now the jab that will send Honey into a nice deep sleep.

Very, very good little pussy cat.

Next, the team get the tummy area free of fur.

A quick vac.

There you go.

Finally, the girls scrub Honey's tummy so it's super clean

and germ free.

Perfect prepping and now it's time to operate.

All of that is sterile so don't touch that. We are ready to go.

What do you want us to do?

You guys can actually watch her breathing going up and down

and we'll have a machine showing her heartbeat.

'Who's this dashing helper arriving? He's gorgeous.'

-Did someone call for a professional?

-They did and all you got was me.

-Make a tiny little incision there.

-Is that the bit that makes babies?

-Yes. That's right.

-You can see right inside the body.

-Yes, you can.

'The girls keep a careful eye on Honey's breathing.'

What we're doing here is tying all the blood vessels off.

'While I just get in the way really.'

Don't lean on the thing, Dom. The girls have been very well behaved.

They've been better than me, haven't they?

I think you need a few lessons.

'Last year alone, this organisation dealt with

'nearly 1,000 unwanted kittens.

'Rehoming them all is almost impossible.'

So dumping off kittens isn't the solution. This is a solution.

Absolutely. Neutering is THE solution. So all done there.

-There's our little friend underneath there.

-Still breathing fine?

-Yes.

Nice little heart rate and breathing and everything

and her tongue is lovely and pink.

-That means she is well.

-She is very well.

'Well done, girls.

'Honey is now ready to go home

'and I bet Darren can't wait to hear the great news.'

-There he is. Hi, Darren.

-All right, mate?

-Here's Honey back.

-She's lovely.

-She's absolutely fine.

She's been a princess, hasn't she? She's all good to go.

'And later we discover if there's a ray of hope for Trooper's lame leg.'

Moment of truth. Let's see what's wrong with Trooper's leg.

'But first, clever pigs confuse Dick.'

You know pigs, right? They're meant to be really intelligent animals.

They don't look it.

-I know that for a fact.

-Went to school with one, did you?

No, read it in a book, a good one, actually.

There was these pigs and they were building their own houses.

I've never seen a cow do that.

I've never seen a sheep anywhere near a cement mixer.

-These houses, were they built out of straw, wood, bricks?

-Yes.

-Was there a, er, Big Bad Wolf?

-There was a Big Bad Wolf.

He was huffing and puffing and blowing the houses down.

Now you're talking about it, it might have been a made up story.

Yeah, they are actually very intelligent. Brighter than a dog

and as clever as a three-year-old child.

I've never seen a three-year-old that could build a house.

Also fantastic swimmers. Their eyesight is not great,

but they have their amazing sense of smell and their hearing is good too.

A three-year-old builder would be against the law.

They can also run a mile in about seven minutes -

something I'm about to attempt right now. See you.

'Cameron and Lucas are spending the day at a sanctuary

'for rescued exotic birds in Lincolnshire.'

-How's things?

-Hello.

'Next up is a group of parrots that arrived here over the last year.

'Many were rescued from miserable, lonely conditions.

'This lot is now ready to move into a larger home

'where they can stretch those wings and make new friends.'

-What kind of parrots are they?

-These are African grey parrots.

The clue is in the name, really. They're African and they're grey.

We've got about 10 or 11 in here. There will be a bit of racing about.

Right, guys, in we come.

'Cameron stands by with the box and Lucas is on net duty.'

There you go, boys.

-Come on, boys.

-Get that one.

'We need to move fast.

'Parrots are sensitive creatures and are easily stressed.

'Most of these birds would probably be stuck in tiny cages,

'bored to death if Steve and his team hadn't taken them in.'

SQUAWKING

'The birds have no idea we are helping them

'and aren't too keen on getting boxed up.'

That's brilliant. Real experts now.

'All are safely contained and now it's time to get them

'into their new home...

'with the rest of the colony stood by to receive their new room-mates.'

Go on. Out you go. Out you come.

'The first bold bird bolts from its box.'

There is another one.

Off he goes. That's two.

'Then the coolest new kid in the colony casually strolls out

'into his new pad - that's the way to do it.

'These parrots need lots of company,

'that's why keeping one alone in a small cage isn't a good idea.

'They also need to stretch those wings,

'so this place fits the bill perfectly.'

Is this their permanent home now?

Yes, once they are here, they live here for life.

It'd be difficult to take them out of a big long aviary like this

and rehome them into a small cage.

'Ad they wouldn't survive in the wild, either.

'More work for the lads -

'there's more than 200 hungry macaws that need a feed.'

I've been busy, chaps. I tell you, I've been busy.

Do you want to know what I've been busy doing?

-I've been making the fruit, just a little bit. Is that enough?

-Wow.

'These demanding birds want their nosh,

'so we don't mess around getting it to them.'

Three, two, one, go!

-Me ring! I've lost me ring!

-It's there.

-I've got it, I've got it!

How much fruit do you have to feed them each day?

Every single day we get through 1,000 bananas,

500 apples, 200 oranges, about 50 bags of celery.

Wow!

'And the macaws have certainly got their five-a-day today.

'Good work, boys.

I don't know about you, boys, but that was up there

with one of the nuttiest things I've ever done.

-How was your day?

-Brilliant.

-Yeah?

-Fantastic.

Lucas, today when you got here,

you said you'd always wanted to work with parrots.

-You finally have lived your dream. How was it?

-It was great.

-I've never been up close to a parrot before.

-Good lad.

Well, it's myself, Richard Macaw and the boys saying, "Bye-bye."

'Lucy and Victoria have been helping out at an animal hospital in London.

'Earlier, Trooper, the bull mastiff cross,

'arrived with a mysterious lame leg.

'The team need to get to the bottom of the troublesome limp

'and are about to take a closer look at his legs.'

We need to take X-ray pictures of his two knees.

'To get the X-rays done, Trooper will need to take a quick nap.'

Good boy.

He's just going to have his anaesthetic. What a good dog he is.

'Lucy keeps tabs on Trooper's ticker to make sure it's beating properly.

'Yes, it is, so it's time for the X-ray.'

How long does the X-ray take?

It takes about 15-20 minutes to take all the pictures.

We don't just take one picture,

we take about three or four pictures on each knee.

-I'm good to go.

-Good to go. Excellent.

'OK, lights out.

'Legs in position. Say woof, cheese, whatever.'

Moment of truth.

Let's see what's wrong with Trooper's leg, then, shall we?

Right, up here we've got the right knee and the left knee.

Yes, there's definitely an injury, but it's very mild.

Does that mean he doesn't have to have an operation?

That means he will live very nicely with a bit of a sore knee

and sometimes he will have to take some painkillers,

but really he is not a dog that needs surgery.

We are really pleased about that.

'So it's a top end to a hard day's graft for our girls.

'Trooper isn't seriously ill - time to tell his owner the good news.'

We looked at Trooper's X-rays and decided he didn't need surgery.

-That is brilliant. Thank you.

-You can take Trooper home tonight.

That's good. Thank you very much.

'Home-time Trooper and home-time team.'

So it's the end of the day

and this is where we started off with a mission.

Did we succeed? What do you think of cats now?

-After holding Honey I like cats better than I did before.

-Really?

Fantastic. So we've done that one. Mission accomplished.

What about you? Dogs. You liked cats and you weren't bothered about dogs.

-What do you think now?

-I didn't realise dogs could be so nice.

-Are you like him now?

-Yeah.

-Good job. We did it. High five at home.

Come on, Dom. You've taken this wallaby pouch thing too far now.

-You've had your free ride.

-Who are you talking to?

-Hang on a minute.

If you're here, who is in there?

Can you take me to 15 High Street, please?

All right then, but it will cost you a fiver.

Come on, Dom.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd