Episode 6 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.

Today, polar bears, lions...

..orphaned birds and badgers...

..and a nutty chocolate bar thief.

Caring for animals in a place full of big exotic species

is a challenge for even the most experienced vet.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS Oh!

Oh, big? Yep.

Huge? Check!

Not happy and need junior vets?

Help!

-BOTH:

-Junior vets standing by!

I'm a good animal handler,

but I used to have a snake, which could be a bit feisty.

I like to get my hands dirty. No job's too messy for me.

Yes! Here I am with my two junior vets, Eddie and Fabio, raring to go.

Now, junior vets, take a look around you.

All around here are animals in need of your help today!

That's right.

-You boys ready?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Well, come on then! Let's get going!

Yes, there are lots of huge and not so huge animals here

in Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

Aw, cute!

All of them, every now and again, need a bit of TLC - junior vet style.

Now, what can vet Alan possibly have lined up for us today?

-Right, junior vets, are you ready to meet your first patient today?

-Yeah.

All right, well, we're going to be having a look at lion.

A what, a lion?!

Well, the park does have nine of them,

all rescued from Romania, where they were living

in very cramped conditions, which isn't good for lions.

Luckily, they now live here,

where they can all have a happy life together.

But they don't always get on.

A week ago, one of the big lads, Adel, had to have an operation

to remove most of his tail.

-The lion was a good one to start on, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

-What happened to his tail?

-He was bitten.

-Oh.

-What by?

-By one of the other lions.

-Oh, dear.

Lion banter, eh?

The team need to check Adel is recovering properly,

so he's been brought to a special treatment area,

so we can take a closer look.

All right, all right, keep your mane on!

Now you're in the treatment area, we'll check you out.

Er, junior vets?

Cos of the operation and how big it was,

-he had quite a high risk of infection, didn't he?

-Mm.

ADEL GROWLS

With an animal like this,

if we're doing anything other than visual checks,

we would need to give him an anaesthetic,

so this makes what we're doing today, visual checks,

very, very important.

Not something you do every day, is it?

No, I was surprised how noisy he was.

ADEL GROWLS

Yep, he's noisy and huge!

How's that tail healing, junior vets?

-Can you see how there's some stitches in that?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

-They looking good?

-Yeah, it looks nice.

-Looks all right.

-Think he looks a strong male lion.

-Yeah, his tail's looking excellent.

Don't worry, Adel, your tail is looking OK!

It's not infected and the new look suits you.

Honest.

He looked very healthy and looked like he wanted to get outside.

Let's get him back home, then.

If you want to open it up now and then he'll go straight out.

And how about a meaty treat for being a patient patient?

-Adel! There we go.

-Adel.

So, just put it through for him.

Rather you boys than me. Well done.

It was really cool that we got to go so close and feed him.

I was surprised how gently he took the food off the tongs.

Yep, see you later, Adel!

Good luck, fella.

Now, you might not know it,

but I'm actually surrounded by hundreds of wild animals

and what are the chances of them needing urgent veterinary care?

The answer is very high

and I'm going to need some urgent junior vet.

Junior vets, are you there?

-BOTH:

-Junior vets standing by.

I want to care for animals when I'm older

but I'm not so keen on blood and gore.

I love animals. I have 15 pets

and I want to save some rare sea creatures.

So, Hannah, you want to look after animals,

what kind of looker-aftering of animals do you want to do?

Well, I really like working with giraffes and meerkats,

-cos they're really cuddly and not scary.

-Excellent.

Would you want to be a vet?

-Yeah, but I don't really like the smell of animal guts.

-Animal guts?

I don't know how you know the smell of animal guts.

I don't think I want to find out. And, Iman, your cousin tells me

that you've been helping a lot of animals, is that true?

-Yeah, I helped some turtles in Borneo.

-Excellent, let's get to it.

Well, I don't know about Borneo turtles, but there are plenty of ill

and injured animals at West Hatch Wildlife Centre in Taunton.

Hello! Emergency patients are here already.

-Morning, girls. BOTH:

-Morning.

Right now, it's nesting season and that means birds in trouble.

Let's get everyone checked in.

How do you feel, junior vets?

I feel really excited.

I feel really excited to see what's wrong with them

and help them get better.

Patient number one - a young bird found on the ground

and without his mum.

Our first patient was a baby robin.

And he'd fallen out of a tree and was left by itself.

We'll give it a look over

and make sure that it hasn't been injured,

that it's in good condition and that it hasn't fallen out of its nest

because its parents have died perhaps and it hasn't been fed.

Oops-a-daisy.

Barbara's managed to catch it.

Whoa! Epic save from vet nurse Barbara.

It was just like...

Let's see that again!

CHEERING

So little robin's wings are working,

but what about the rest of him, junior vets?

-He's very fragile.

-See how tiny his legs are?

They're thinner than a matchstick.

He was really small.

I know, he was probably the tiniest bird I've ever seen.

This little fella may have fallen from the nest,

but if you find an abandoned baby bird, unless it's injured,

it's usually best to leave it, as mum is often close by.

OK, wee robin, there we are.

It was using its feet a little bit over there,

but it doesn't seem to be moving very much.

Now that I've seen it move around, I think its feet are actually OK.

He seems to be fine.

Yeah, it doesn't look like there's much wrong with him.

It's really cute.

Yes! No broken bones. Great news.

Best get some grub into you and get your weight up.

Won't be long before you're flapping about again.

Here's the deal, you ask an animal question, we find out the answer.

Well, go on, then, Amy.

I've heard that deer and sheep have been seen eating bird bones

and I was wondering if this is true or not

and why they would do it, if it is true, cos they're herbivores?

Ah, good question, that!

Can't wait to find the answer to this one, Amy.

Ah, the wildlife park, where I've got a feeling things are about to go

from big to, well, erm...

huge.

It was really amazing that we'd gone from doing something

so big as a lion and then going on to doing something even bigger.

Told you! Boom!

You don't get much bigger than 16-year-old Victor here.

He was England's first-ever polar bear when he arrived here last year,

as part of a breeding program set up to help save polar bears.

Now, he's enjoying a well-earned retirement with his grandson Pixel.

I would've thought that they'd be kept indoors in, sort of,

a fake environment.

The traditional thought is that polar bears live in

a very cold environment and, much of the time, that's true,

but in the summer, where they would normally naturally live,

it can get up to about 30 degrees

so for them, this isn't too much of a problem.

Well, I've learnt something today and, hey,

here's something else you might not know. They aren't actually white.

I'm not messing around.

Their fur looks white, but it's a trick of the light

as the individual hairs are actually transparent.

Mm-hm!

Right now, Pixel's home alone because grandad isn't well.

Hey, Victor, you don't look too perky, mate.

So, can you see any problems with Victor at the moment

if you have a look at him?

Well, his leg's shaking lots and he's like holding it

-in the air, like it's painful to walk on or something.

-Yeah.

Exactly, that's very good.

Victor's paw looks sore all right and, when you're a polar bear,

weighing 500 kilos, that's going to hurt a lot.

When we first went in to see Victor, his paw was in a very bad state.

He was struggling to walk on it.

When he's walking, he's walking on three legs, lifting one up

and he's crossing it over with the other one, cos it's sore.

-He really looks like he's in pain.

-Yeah.

Don't worry, Victor, we'll sort you out.

Looks like Hannah and Iman have got their hands full

at the rescue centre. Who've you got there?

Aw!

-See how high he can jump.

-So cute!

He was really cute and fluffy.

And I'm glad that we came to help.

-Have you any idea what he might be?

-No.

-He's a mallard.

PEEPING Oh, there he is peeping.

Shall I put him on the floor?

If you put him over in the corner there, we just want to watch him move

to make sure he's using his legs normally.

So, he's peeping like that because he's lost

and he's missing the rest of his brothers and sisters.

-He's trying to find them in the room.

-Yeah.

He's making that noise, so he can be found again.

Poor little guy. Let's get you checked out quickly.

-Do you see how tiny his wings are just now?

-Yeah.

-That's his wing?

-Yep.

And his legs. Let's check his legs.

What now, David?

What we'll do is we'll put him with some other ducklings

that we've got so he can grow up and know that he's a duck.

What?

There are more cute rescue ducklings? That's lucky!

But will they make friends?

Oh, cute!

-I think he's happy with the other ducklings.

-Yeah.

So do I.

Aw, alone no more, little guy.

This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Earlier, Amy asked us this challenging question.

I've heard that deer and sheep have been seen eating bird bones

and I was wondering if this is true or not

and why they would do it, if it is true, cos they're herbivores?

Well, you're not going to believe this, Amy, but it's true.

-What?!

-Yep.

Both animals eat plants and grass,

but they have been known to chomp on birds at certain times

of the year, to get the minerals they need to survive.

Well, I... I don't...

Oi! Bambi, you keep away from my budgie, all right?

Hannah and Iman have got another emergency at the wildlife centre.

Oh, look at this poor wild bird. This looks serious, David.

This is a young herring gull and the suspicion is it's been shot,

because it's got an injury in its shoulder

and this is something that we see quite often, unfortunately.

'That's awful.

'The shot has smashed the bones in one of the gull's wings,

'he's not going to be able to fly now.'

It's really sad to see that someone may have caused this,

like, the suffering to an animal.

-So, we see the blood on his feathers here.

-Ooh.

-Looks like it hurts a lot.

-Yeah.

I can't believe someone would actually shoot a bird like that.

I know, it's so wrong and they just did it for fun, as well.

-When do you think it was about shot?

-Maybe a few days ago.

It looks a wee bit infected, so it certainly hasn't just happened.

Things aren't looking good for our poor old gull.

This is a very serious injury.

How long do you think it'll take for his injury to get better?

I think, unfortunately, in this instance,

because he's been shot on his shoulder,

that the likelihood of him being able to fly again after is very slim.

The wild's a tough place to be and he needs to be able to survive

and if he can't fly properly

then he can't compete for food with other birds.

I started to realise what was going to happen.

Junior vets, sometimes you do have to make a tough decision

with an animal, to stop its suffering.

Well, it makes me feel really upset and sad, because you kind of know

-that he doesn't have a chance in the wild.

-But I feel better that it's...

To let him suffer and, like, have a bad experience

for the rest of his life would be worse.

David had to put the gull to sleep.

I think it was just for the best.

That is the toughest part of any vet's job.

You did well, junior vets.

Remember who this enclosure belongs to?

Here's a clue.

Poor old Victor, the polar bear.

Victor's in pain, all right, but now he's in the treatment centre,

we can get a closer look.

What's the verdict, junior vets?

He looks like he's stretching his legs out really quite far,

which it looks, sort of, not normal.

Oh, no, that poorly paw needs fixing fast.

He needs to take a painkiller.

Sounds like one of those easier said than done, sort of, things.

Anyone know how to give a grumpy polar bear a tablet?

Vicky?

These are just some sardines in tomato sauce

which are his all-time favourite. He absolutely loves them.

So, I'll try and put a little bit on there...

Ah, clever, Vicky, I like it.

His food didn't look very appetising.

Make that into a nice sandwich for him.

-Yeah, but Victor enjoyed it, didn't he?

-Yeah.

Oi, don't play it too cool, Victor. Come on.

Lovely, smelly sardines...

and vitamin supplement.

It was really amazing, I wasn't expecting it.

Ha-ha-ha, well done, Fabio!

A sneaky pain-relieving sarnie.

Not something you do every day.

OK, so part of his treatment today, we want to give his foot a clean.

Eddie, make sure you keep Victor occupied with foodie treats,

while Fabio treats his paw with a healing salt water spray.

Teamwork!

It felt really nice to be helping Victor

and to know that he is going to get better.

Do you think Victor will be all right in the long-term?

Yeah, I'm certainly very hopeful that he's going to make

a very good improvement and, obviously, with the medications

and treatment you've helped us give him today,

he'll be well on the way to recovery.

That sounds like a positive result to me, junior vets.

Good luck, Victor, and get well soon!

Yes, Barker has some videos of your animals to show us.

You're a good boy, Barker, you're a good boy.

# Doggy, doggy, lift your tail up

# Doggy, doggy, lift your tail up

# Doggy, doggy, lift your tail up

# Doggy, lift your tail up and show us what you got. #

Jack, what have you got for us?

The question I've always wanted to ask about my pet is, erm,

why does he snore so loud? Cos it's like...

He snores so loud, if you're near him, you can't get to sleep.

You know what? I think Jack must be a really light sleeper.

Yeah, his dog looks tiny.

-No dog snores that loud.

-Nope.

LOUD SNORING

I think I spoke too soon.

SNORING CONTINUES

Jack, that is loud!

Has he stopped yet?

I can't hear you. My fingers are in my ears.

Nah, mate, I can't hear you. My fingers are in my ears.

I can't hear you. I've got my fingers in my ears.

Nah, I can't hear you. My finger's are in my ears, mate.

You might as well stop. I can't hear you.

If your dog's snoring is really loud,

you could ask your vet to check it out.

Generally, though, it's not unusual for dogs to snore.

Sometimes giving you pooch a pillow helps.

It will raise his head and allow his air passages to expand.

Failing that, get yourself some ear plugs.

Ah, Maddie, with a wildlife mystery, I believe.

Every day, we have quite a few grey squirrels coming into

our back garden, where we keep our wheelie bin.

We always have a massive hole in the corner of it,

in which the squirrels have bitten.

I'd like to find out why they keep coming to our bin

and biting a hole in it and stealing some food.

Whoa! Did I just see a squirrel eating a nutty chocolate bar?

I hope so, cos that's what I thought I just saw, too.

-Think I'm going to need to lie down.

-Yeah, tell me about it.

I mean, how did it even open the wrapper?

Mate, how did it even get the chocolate in the first place?

-That's what I'm saying.

-Yeah, nuts!

They're cunning little guys, squirrels.

They'll find food anywhere and can even chew through your wheelie bin.

You want to make sure your waste is properly sealed,

so they can't smell it in your bins.

-That should stop them eating your chocolate bars.

-Yeah.

Cute as they are, no-one wants to see a fat squirrel,

know what I'm saying?

At the wildlife park,

Eddie and Fabio are on their way to treat another animal in need of help.

I wonder who it is, vet Alison?

Right, junior vets, this is our next patient.

Wow! It's only Behansin the giraffe. Isn't he a beauty?

Giraffes often have problems with lamenesses

and he has a problem with his shoulder.

It's because of the way that they're built.

-The amount of weight that they've got to carry...

-On small legs.

-..and the fact that they've got thin legs.

-Thin legs, yeah.

Because we can't do physio or give them exercises to do

-as a programmed exercise...

-Yeah.

..we have to teach them how to exercise themselves.

Sounds like a tall order, eh?

TALL order, yeah? Ah, forget it.

So, what good will this training do for him?

By going over the logs, he's actually got to lift

his feet up

by about that much to get the whole foot over.

That is actually making him work his muscles more.

You're doing well, Behansin, keep it up.

Can you spot any problems, junior vets?

He seems to move one leg longer,

like, further than the other.

-It makes him walk, like, sort of lop-sided almost.

-Yeah.

So, what can we do to help?

Ah, the old sneaky medicine trick again.

Ah, cheeky.

Like what parents do to baby food, they mix in the medicine,

-so the baby can't taste it.

-Yep.

-Nice.

-That's it.

You two are clev... This is why I got you two.

This is why!

-Yeah, here he comes.

-Look at that.

He's so unaware right now that he's eating medicine.

-And he does like his food.

-He does, yeah.

It was quite nice giving it to him

after he'd been a good lad doing his exercises.

Perfect! And, hopefully, Behansin will be a whole lot better

after his junior vet sesh.

Ah, there you are, Hannah and Iman.

Where are you off to now, then?

Aw, look, orphaned baby badgers.

These guys have been recovering separately,

but vet David's plan is to introduce them.

It could help them survive in the wild.

So...

So, is the badger that you've got, you're going to mix it with,

is that the same age?

Yes, it's one about the same age and, that way, it'll give it some company

and, hopefully, it'll stay wild, so that when we release it,

it's still acting wild.

-Aw!

-Aw!

-It's so small!

But this little fella is going nowhere,

until the vet team have given him a thorough once over.

Does somebody want to have a listen to his chest?

-Can you hear his heart?

-Yeah. It's very fast.

-Cos he's quite excited.

-It's nothing to suggest anything's wrong.

-He has quite big claws.

They use their front claws for digging.

The cub was only a few weeks old when he was found

and he was really thin. How's he now, Dave?

That's a good weight for him now.

He's certainly a lot plumper than he was when he came in.

And hold on...

Phwoar, all right, who's trumped? And it ain't me.

-Can you smell it?

-Yeah.

-Yep.

THEY LAUGH

The smell, it just filled the room. It was, like, toxic.

Despite the smell, our first badger is all relaxed and healthy.

Let's bring in his, fingers crossed, soon-to-be playmate.

Hopefully, this is going to be another routine check over.

Right, junior vets?

BADGER CHATTERS

Oh, can you hear him?

Er... Maybe not.

Why is it making these sounds?

Cos he's not terribly keen on being handled.

Well, he certainly sounds healthy.

Sometimes, when older,

they might end up in fights over territories and things, but when

they're this age, they get on very well, so they should get on great.

Now, for the big test. Will the little fellas get on?

If they do, they'll both be a step closer to the great outdoors.

Oh! He's turning a lot and doing roly-polys in the box.

Well, perhaps he can't wait to meet his new playmate.

Put the quiet one in first, OK?

Hey, you're loving that, aren't you, mate?

There's a nice bed for you over there.

Here comes the rowdy one.

BADGER CHATTERS

Aw, look at that.

He's run straight over to say hello. That's a great sign.

-Saying hello together.

-Oh, yeah.

Adorable.

Let's hope these two are going to be friends for life

and running free for years to come.

After a lion, a polar bear and a giraffe,

I reckon junior vets Eddie and Fabio's last patients

are going to be absolutely gimongous!

Ah, OK, not so enormous, but very cute.

They're ring-tailed lemurs -

lovely little primates from the island of Madagascar.

That's the best sunbathing position, you know.

If people did that, just, like, stood...

Aren't they adorable?

But which one's our patient, keeper Sam?

Has anyone spotted Mum yet?

-Yeah.

-Er... Yeah.

-Yeah.

'Aw, look, Tink and Humbug have just had twins.

'Congratulations! They're the spit of you, Mum.'

-So, you can see...

-Look at the little baby ones!

Lemurs are the world's most endangered species,

so making sure these precious babies

are fit and healthy is really important.

We need to check that their eyes are nice and bright,

that they're looking around.

All looking good, so far.

That they're both putting on weight and they're growing.

That they're feeding well and, actually, if you look right now,

-they're feeding really well, aren't they?

-Yeah.

Yep. Mum's milk is making them fit and strong -

and strong is the important bit.

They start to climb from three weeks old.

We need to check that these are gripping onto Mum,

because she's going to climb up these trees

and if they're not, they'll drop off,

so we need to make sure that they're clinging on nice and tight.

-Can you just see that they're clinging on?

-Yeah, yeah.

They looked really healthy.

They were clinging on to their mother nicely

and they had their eyes open.

-They were very strong for their age, weren't they?

-Yeah.

As junior vets, are you happy that these are nice and healthy?

-They just look like miniature versions.

-They do, don't they?

-Yeah, they look similar.

-Just shrunk down lemurs.

-Yeah.

Two healthy lemur babies. Aww.

If you needed proof our junior vets can handle anything, you just got it.

Eddie and Fabio treated animals from all over the planet.

Been very impressed with the junior vets today.

They both worked extremely hard and, yeah, show a lot of promise.

And Hannah and Iman proved they could handle vet work

when things really got tough.

Unfortunately, vet work's not always about happy endings

and sometimes, there's going to be difficult decisions that have

to be made and I thought the junior vets handled that very well.

Was there anything about the experiences today that you perhaps

weren't expecting to have to deal with?

All of it was really hard, but I think the hardest part

-was when we had to put down the seagull.

-Yeah, absolutely.

It was a tough moment and you both dealt with it really well.

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