Episode 3 Junior Vets on Call

Pets, wildlife and all sorts of other creatures are in trouble.

The nation's vets and animal carers need assistance.

And now, thanks to you lot...

-BOTH:

-They've got it.

When we yelled help, you didn't let us down.

And we've built a network of volunteer junior vets,

-on call and standing by...

-Ready to jump in

and fix up ill and injured animals.

Whatever they are.

Wherever they are.

Coming up today,

-we've got a baby antelope...

-A tiny fox cub...

-And a singing cat?!

-# Twinkle, twinkle, little... #

-Meow...

Now, it's all right wanting to become a vet

so you can fix up the cutesy little kittens and the puppy dogs and that,

but vet work can be a whole lot tougher - trust me!

Junior vets, today is going to be quite the challenge.

Who's up for it?

-BOTH:

-Junior vets standing by.

I want to help animals that are in pain.

-Unless...

-SHE GASPS

..it's a crocodile!

I really want to be a vet. I don't mind blood or anything.

Boom! I'm here with my two junior vets.

-What's happening? Hey, hey.

-Hello.

Now, Jess, why is it you don't like crocodiles?

I don't like them, and they're so...

-scary!

-SHE YELLS

Well, good thing we're not dealing with any today.

Now, Keita, what is this I'm hearing about you and supermarkets?

-Sometimes I just check out the pigs' hearts.

-Whoa, whoa, whoa,

you go to the supermarket to check out the pigs' hearts?

-Sometimes.

-Why?

Just the fascination, even though it's disgusting.

Well, you never know, we might see some disgusting things today.

-Right, girls, are you ready to help out some animals?

-Yes!

-Whoo!

Well, let's go, then. Come on!

Go, go, go!

There might not be any crocs here at Knowsley Safari in Merseyside,

but there are some whoppers, including lions.

Argh!

And a few funny-looking fellas as well.

No offence, mate.

Apparently, one of these lechwe antelopes

is having some surgery today.

OK. Vet Jen, what can we do for you?

You see all these gingery antelope down there?

-Yeah.

-We're looking for one of those.

When an antelope herd is too big,

the males get well grumpy with each other, so they have

to have an operation that stops them from having more young 'uns,

and everyone stays chilled.

But how are we going to find our patient

in the middle of this lot, Jen?

Oh, and, er, I think Jess has an important question for you too?

Why do you have a gun?

In the gun, there's a dart that's full of anaesthetic.

And when that hits him, that's going to inject him automatically

and he should go to sleep after about ten minutes or so.

But the problem we've got and the reason I need you two to help me

is that we've got quite a lot of space round here,

so we need to find the right animal,

we need to make sure that we hit the right animal with the dart.

Oh, OK.

That's what I call a lot of antelope

and it's pouring down with rain, so this job isn't going to be easy.

Come on, ante. Ante! Where are you?

It was exciting, but it was really difficult to spot it

because there was, like, 50 of them or something.

The good news is most male antelope have an ID tag in their ears,

and ours doesn't.

That should make things easier - right?

-What about this one here, guys? Has he got a tag?

-Erm...

-Yes?

-Nah.

He's not our patient then, Keita.

We just really couldn't spot him.

-There?

-Nope.

Definitely not that one.

OK, this job might be a bit... No, a lot harder than we thought.

The birds and beasts that live around the UK have a tough old time of it.

They have to avoid speeding vehicles,

find new homes when clumsy humans stomp around and ruin them...

It's time to give something back.

So, junior vets, where are you?

-BOTH:

-Junior vets, standing by.

I love feeding my pet iguana

his favourite insect snacks.

My sister loves him too...I think.

SCREAMING

I'd love to be a vet and I love all animals,

even the horrible, ugly ones.

So, welcome, junior vets.

Now, Elliott, what's this I hear about you licking a worm?

-Well, basically, I was with my mates at rugby and I just did it.

-I see...

Right, OK. Well, I have to say - don't try this at home.

Of course, you wouldn't. Why would you?

Brandon, apparently you like all animals, even the ugly ones?

-Yeah.

-So you kind of feel sorry for the ugly animals?

-Yeah.

-Fantastic. Well,

there's lots of animals in need of help, so should we go and help them?

-Yeah!

-Let's do this!

Aw, look at this lot. Cute, eh?

Chilling out at Secret World Wildlife Rescue in Somerset -

it's like a rest home for sick and injured wild things.

Vet nurse Michelle, introductions, please.

-Right, junior vets, do you want to meet your first patients?

-Yeah!

Aw!

Fox cubs. Bless them.

Aw!

When they arrived, they were in a right old state.

One of them had a bit of a bloody nose,

so they've obviously been in a little bit of an accident.

They were really cold and 300g, so really tiny.

I don't think I've ever seen a fox cub before.

When the foxes came in, I thought they were really, really cute.

They are, aren't they, Brandon?

This poor little thing needs a thorough examination.

He is really tiny and, obviously, quite terrified.

So we try and make this process as stress-free as we can for them.

Trust us, Michelle,

we'll do everything we can to help this poor little fella.

Oi, this lot are asking us a lot of questions, aren't they, Johnny?

And that's just the way we love it, Inel.

Indeed.

Come on, ask us about animals and we'll do our best to answer.

So here's my question -

when proboscis monkeys get excited, extra blood flows to their nose

so it becomes even bigger and redder.

I've heard about that and I'm not sure if it's true or not,

so please, can you tell me?

I think we can, George.

Right back at you in a few minutes.

Ah, there they are.

Jess and Keita are on the lookout for a shy antelope

that needs a bit of surgery today.

When they spot him, they need to dart him with a tranquilliser.

The rubbish weather is fine for the antelope,

as they live in swampy wetlands

and have long, wide-spread hooves to help them mooch around with ease.

But this rain ain't helping anyone today.

Hello.

I think vet Jen's just spotted our patient.

Just reverse back a little bit.

OK, can you see this one walking towards the car?

Just behind the white one?

I think that's our guy.

It was right behind this, erm, massive, white one.

Sneaky!

Now these fellas look a bit twitchy, so what's the drill, Jen?

It's really important that we try and get this in the first shot,

cos at the moment they don't know that anything's going on.

-It was really important we got him with the first shot.

-Yeah.

Otherwise all the antelope would have run off.

Steady...

Don't worry, it isn't too painful!

Our antelope was just taken by surprise.

-Has it fallen out of him?

-They usually do.

It's just the needle that goes in.

The dart will go off, the drug will inject.

And then as he sort of twitches like this, it will usually fall out.

As long as it's all injected, that's OK.

Did I spot a wobble?

Whoa. There he goes.

Now get out there and do your stuff, junior vets.

Well, I had to wiggle his horns to check he wasn't moving.

And we both touched the corner of his eye to check

they weren't twitching.

-Yeah, he's asleep.

-Good. Brilliant.

Aren't you getting tired yet, junior vets?

-Is he getting heavy.

-Yeah, he is.

-OK. Well, we're nearly there.

Nice work, junior vets.

That's it. Brilliant.

Now let's head for cover and get our antelope surgery sorted.

JOHNNY: Aw! It's the tiny, injured, orphan fox cub.

Don't worry, little 'un. Brandon and Elliott are here for you.

Have a quick look in his mouth,

making sure his teeth are all fine and his gums are all nice and pink.

Oh, there's his sister too!

They were found together ten days ago,

but they'll only be able to go back to the wild

if they're healthy and strong.

How can we help, Michelle?

Give his heart a little listen to,

making sure that it's at a good rate.

-Can you hear that?

-Yeah!

-It's amazing.

-Is it going pretty fast?

-Yeah.

Wow. That's really fast.

A lot of the time with small animals,

their hearts beat a lot quicker than larger animals.

It's looking good, cos that means our cub's heart is healthy.

So if you just want to make sure that you're happy that his eyes

and his nose and his ears are all free from discharge.

Yeah, definitely none in the ears. And the eye looks fine.

He looks completely good.

And he's nice and alert and he can see you there,

and obviously, he's a little bit worried. So he's nice and alert.

I thought, you know, we're proper vets now.

Yeah, definitely.

So you've just got to be really gentle

and just be really confident with holding him.

They're amazingly cute. I could just hug them so badly.

He's lighter than a pack of biscuits.

Yes, he is.

And he's even sweeter!

He's actually just about the right weight,

so that means we need to get him ready for a return to the wild.

First, we need to pop a tiny microchip in his neck.

If he gets into bother again, it will help identify him.

Do they really feel the pain from the needle?

It's a bit like us having injections.

It is something that they do feel, unfortunately.

We can't get round that.

I felt really nervous for the fox when I saw the size of the needle,

erm, because I would not want that to happen to me.

So if you can steady his bum like that, that is absolutely perfect.

And, Brandon, if I can just get you to just hold his head.

OK, that's all done.

-Did he try to move around at all?

-No. He was really good for that.

-Really good.

-Very well behaved.

That's one orphan cub sorted. Now his sister needs a junior vet fix.

Oh, we've got a fighter here.

She's a little bit bigger and she's a little bit more feisty.

BARKING

She definitely sounds like she's alert.

Her ears are OK.

A little ID chip for big sister...

There we go.

..and a meaty reward for being brave.

It smells like a Cornish pasty.

And you know what?

Foxes are omnivores, which basically means they'll scoff anything.

And they're loving this puppy chow.

And how does that make you feel, junior vets,

knowing that you've been able to help these little foxes?

-Oh, I feel amazing.

-It makes me feel, like, really good.

Good luck, you two!

Now, earlier, George asked us this, the cheeky monkey.

When proboscis monkeys get excited, extra blood flows to the nose

so it becomes even bigger and redder.

I've heard about that, but I'm not sure if it's true or not,

so please, can you tell me?

Yeah, true. Those huge honkers are a status symbol in the wild.

And a very useful one, Johnny.

When they're threatened, blood rushes to their nose

and helps them make a louder honking sound to warn off rival monkeys.

Really? I could do with something like that myself.

I thought you'd already got one, Johnny?

-You what?

-Ha!

Hello, what's this? Oh, yeah.

Jess and Keita are about to operate on this beautiful antelope.

Better get a closer look - the surgery should help him chill better

with his mates, so a job for junior vet Jess, please, Jen.

You're going to do what's called raising the vein.

So I need you to put your hand just there and squeeze.

And Keita's got the anaesthetic covered for you.

Yeah, that syringe into there.

OK.

That's it. Perfect.

Next job, Jen.

We need to get all this area here really clean

cos that's where he's going to have his surgery.

That's it. Go on, Jess, get stuck in.

-Yeah, yeah...

-Someone's got to do it.

It was all about keeping the animal nice and clean,

otherwise he could have got a really bad infection.

I want you to keep an eye on his breathing and his heartbeat.

Jess is right on that heart rate.

OK, then. Let's go.

What's the beats like? Are they quite fast? Quite slow?

It's fast.

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-DUN!

That sounds fast. So far, so good.

With the operation itself, we're taking a piece of tissue

out from quite close to a major blood vessel.

So there is risk involved in it.

I felt nervous.

-You're not grossed out, are you, Jess?

-No way.

-Nah, she's cool.

-Should we check the heartbeat again?

-Yes, please.

I don't want him getting up in the middle of me doing this.

Oh, no. Nobody wants that, especially Jess.

She's on it like a flash.

What I need you to check, Jess, is whether you think it sounds

like it's going faster or slower than it was when you checked it last time.

What do we think? Has it gone faster?

-Yeah.

-What I need you to do is just have a look under that blindfold

and I want you to just see if he's blinking.

-Um...

-Just on the edge.

-OK.

-There...

-Is he blinking at all?

-Yeah.

His heartbeat went faster.

He's just a little bit light under the anaesthetic.

The drugs might be coming to the end of their effect.

We had to give him another dose of anaesthetic to make him

in a deeper sleep, because he might have woke up.

Sort that final snip, Jess!

-You need to cut just across there.

-No pressure, Jess!

-No pressure.

Come on.

-There we go.

-Team effort. That's what I'm saying.

-You did the final stitch, didn't you?

-Yeah.

But it's not over yet. Oh, no.

Ooh, we need to be strong. That's it.

Our antelope needs antibiotics and painkillers

to help him recover when he wakes up.

-That's it, keep going.

-Don't be shy.

-That's it.

-The full whack.

-Perfect. Right, give him a rub.

We had to give him an ear tag to show that he had had an operation.

Squeeze...

Further.

-CLICK That's it!

-Ooh!

Ooh... Good thing he's asleep.

It looked painful, but it didn't hurt the antelope.

It was just like having your ears pierced.

Yes, all done, and our antelope can get back to his herd.

Hey, these junior vets aren't bothered about the rain,

they just keep on working.

So we're just going to give him an injection to wake him up.

Just need you to give it as big a squeeze as you can.

Wake-up juice injected. Good work, Keita.

And ten minutes later...

Look, look!

Oh, he's doing a bit of rolling.

That's it!

In a few days, or certainly a week, he'll be back to his normal self.

So you've really helped that animal.

Top junior vet work, safari-style.

Erm, rainy safari-style.

Elliott and Brandon are wildlife vetting at a rescue centre.

And they're about to net their next case.

Poor Steven, a lesser black-backed gull, might look a bit tetchy,

but if I'd been hit by a car two weeks ago, I'd look the same.

Only I wouldn't have feathers. Or a beak.

Gulls don't really have a very good reputation.

One even pinched one of my chips once.

But I reckon Steven's a good boy.

He's injured a wing and nearly didn't make it.

How do you look after a gull with a wonky wing, Michelle?

He was given supportive care, he was given cage rest and fluids

and we monitored him very closely for a few days.

So he's come up here so he can have room to fly

and kind of spread his wings

and we know that he's doing really, really well.

These two will do anything they can to help get Steven

back to the great outdoors.

So you're going to help me with a health check?

-Yes!

-Perfect.

-Are you ready for this?

-Yes!

Not sure if that recovering swan is, though.

When we went in, the swan was chilling,

didn't expect a thing, and then we had to move it.

We're going to move round to each side and then we're going to try

and encourage the swan to go onto the water.

If she stands up - which she will -

she'll make herself look nice and big.

Which they are, quite big, swans.

-But it's all a lot of hiss and nonsense, OK?

-OK.

I thought, normally I'm trying to feed swans with bread

and now I'm trying to get it in the water.

It's like two opposite worlds.

She's already thinking about going onto the water.

And ker-plunk. In she goes.

Perfect.

Let's see if we can spot little Steven.

Ain't that him there?

OK, he's already started to fly.

It had the advantage of flying.

And there we were on the ground, trying to catch it.

Nice catch!

Now let's hope Steven is fit to go home.

OK, so, what we need to do

is just make sure that he doesn't get too stressed.

As we can see, he was flying really well,

so we're just going to have a look in his mouth.

Yep, everything's completely clear and that's fine in there.

And then what we need to do is look at each wing in turn, OK?

Brandon and Elliott, over to you.

Would you junior vets like to just feel along the wings for me?

What you're feeling for is if there's any swelling,

so anything that's abnormal.

If there was a problem, would he still be able to be, like, released?

No, if we do find a problem now,

then unfortunately, he would stay with us for more rehabilitation.

Let's keep our fingers and wings crossed

that Steven is cleared for a return home.

Good old Doggie Barker - give him the run around

and he rewards us with some lovely video treats from you lot.

Come on, fetch.

# Doggie lift-y tail-a Doggie lift-y tail-a

# I said Doggie lift-y tail-a

# And show us what you've got. #

Looking forward to this, Rachel and Gem.

My cat can sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,

so we're going to show you.

-# Twinkle, twinkle, little... #

-Meow...

-# How I wonder what you... #

-Meow...

-# Up above the world so... #

-Meow...

# Like a diamond in the... #

That's your cue!

LAUGHTER

That's brilliant, that is.

Oh, it's Jacob and his pal, Norman.

I sense a problem here.

I do have a naughty and troublesome pet.

It's this little one right here.

He may not look like much,

but whenever my Beano comes through the door,

he shreds it to utter pieces, thinking it's the right thing to do,

because of my granny's now deceased dog teaching him.

So, hold up!

A deceased dog taught him how to do that?

-More like a zombie dog!

-No wonder he's shredding everything.

-Anyway, I'm all over this one, Johnny.

-OK, Inel.

I'll just read my comic then.

You see, a sudden, loud noise can seem like a threat to a dog.

Norman is probably trying to protect Jacob

when that comic crashes through his letterbox.

Oh, that makes sense, Inel.

So maybe try and keep him well away from the front door

when the postie's due.

Exactly. How's your comic?

Shredded. NORMAN!

Lovely stuff.

Brendon and Elliott are giving Steven the seagull a good old once-over.

If Steven passes the vet check,

he could be leaving the wildlife hospital today.

Michelle, what's the score?

We need to look at each wing in turn, OK?

Be nice and gentle.

I felt slightly nervous around him,

just because they nick your chips quite often.

Don't I know it!

-Seems pretty fine on that wing.

-Yep. So if I turn him around...

And then we'll just bring his wing out like that.

So if you go from underneath, then you'll be able to feel all

the bones and just make sure there's no swelling.

-No, doesn't feel like it.

-Brilliant.

-He looks completely fine.

Really good, actually.

If we did release him without checking properly,

he could have got injured again or maybe even something even

more tragic could have happened.

He's got good strength in his feet and he's at a good weight

and we know that he's eating well.

I'm more than happy that he can be released into the wild today.

It was brilliant, knowing that we were going to be able to help him.

Definitely put on enough weight!

And that's pretty near perfect. Only one thing left to do.

-Let's go and let Steven go back to the wild then.

-Yay!

-INEL:

-Jessica and Keita have already done surgery on an antelope

at the safari park.

I wonder who your next patient is, junior vets.

-Aw!

-Aw!

Meet Sezani, a super-cute blesbok antelope.

-She's so cute!

-Yeah, she was really cute.

Blesbok calves are different from other antelope calves

that hide in undergrowth when Mum forages for food.

These young 'uns always stay at Mum's side.

The weather outside is horrible,

so little Sezani and proud mum Zambia

are sheltered together in this cosy antelope house for now.

Are babies often born with problems?

Sometimes you'll get babies that are born with heart problems,

and sometimes they can get injuries.

It sounds like Sezani needs her first full vet check then.

Junior vets, this one's yours.

-Ssh!

-(Well done.)

Before we did the check-up, we had to separate her from her mum.

So Mum's on her own in there now.

So we can get in with the baby.

Her mum was, like, stomping up and down and she was panicking a lot.

So we had to be very quick doing it.

Yeah.

-What are we looking for?

-We're looking for lumps and bumps.

Anything abnormal.

We're just making sure that her legs are all nice and clean,

bending the way they should be.

Sezani's really nervous.

All right...

Don't worry, Zambia. We'll be as quick as we can with your baby.

Does that sound OK?

-Yeah, it sounds...

-Going ten to the dozen, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-A lot faster than the other one?

-Yeah.

I was really pleased that Sezani was fine and everything was good.

Yeah!

And just to be safe, a tiny microchip goes in Sezani's shoulder

so she can always be identified in the herd.

Got your number there.

OK, so she's been chipped.

Go on, Zambia. Get back to your junior-vet-confirmed healthy baby.

Brandon and Elliott have also confirmed their patient's healthy too

and Steven the gull is going back home.

-You both all set to release him?

-Yep, we're good.

Excellent, excellent.

Steven seems pretty calm at the moment, junior vets.

Do you think he knows that he's about do go home?

-He looks excited.

-He looks excited.

I think he can sense the excitement.

There's Steven's friends.

So what's the plan for releasing him, then?

We're going to stand his cage on the end.

OK, because what we don't want to do is lift the lid up

and him fly at you.

-I think it's time, eh? Shall we get Steven out?

-Yep.

I can see this now.

Steven's going to spread his winds and leap into glorious flight.

Three, two, one.

Here we go!

Any moment now!

-Oh.

-Yay!

-Oh...

-We thought he was going to fly off, like, "Yay!"

But what he did, he flapped and then just landed.

Well, it's been a busy day for Steven.

He can stretch those mended wings later.

Look, he's just said to his mate,

"You're not going to guess where I've been."

He looks like he's having fun.

He can have a happy life, make lots of new friends.

Our junior vets have been on it today.

Brandon and Elliott fixed fox cubs and got a gull back to the wild.

Brandon, when you were working with those baby foxes, was there anything

that perhaps surprised you about what you were being asked to do?

Yeah, I thought they might get hurt from the injection,

but, you know, they looked fine.

Elliott, obviously, you've really helped Steven out as well,

Steven the seagull.

I know, like, one animal in the world is now better off cos

I've done something about it.

That made me feel good.

And Jess and Keita helped antelopes

even though it was pouring with rain.

The weather's been awful,

but they're still really keen to come outside and help us.

They've both got involved with everything.

-I'm really impressed with them.

-Phew!

What a busy day we've had today, junior vets.

Yep, and we all had our roles to play.

Especially me. I did most of the work.

You didn't do anything!

Yes, I did, Keita. What did you do then?

I had to shave an antelope.

Yeah, that's true. You did, yeah.

What did you do then, Jess?

-I did the cut.

-Oh, yeah, you had to cut the stitches off, didn't you?

-Yeah.

-You know, that was quite tricky, wasn't it?

-It was hard.

Thank you, junior vets. This lot are loving your work.