Episode 22 Roar

Today on Roar, to catch three wild dogs,

the vet and a keeper must go inside their enclosure

and that's a dangerous move because these guys are absolutely deadly.

-Hello and welcome to Roar. I'm Johny.

-And I'm Rani.

These guys are the fabulous family of red river hogs.

We've got Mum, Dad and their three infants who are over a year old.

Wow! When red river hogs are born, they're covered in stripes,

so they can easily be camouflaged amongst the dense undergrowth.

It's true. They sort of resemble brown watermelons with legs.

-What?

-It's a good look.

We've got loads of juicy facts for you today, so let's get on with it.

Coming up on Roar, they might look like pussy cats,

but there's nothing tame about the Scottish wild cats.

Our Roar Rangers love the lemurs.

The lemurs might come up... It's OK.

Are they brave enough for a close encounter?

Quinto the new male rhino was getting on great with the girls.

Then he attacked them. So what went wrong?

But now, how do you move some of the most lethal killers in the park,

three African hunting dogs?

Out in the wild, when a pack of hunting dogs start a chase,

four out of five times they catch what they're after.

They can run at over 65 kilometres per hour.

They work as a team and they've got very sharp teeth,

but they're also an endangered species.

At the park, the keepers have worked hard to encourage them to breed

and over the years, they've raised over 20 pups.

But while this park has more dogs than they know what to do with,

at their sister park 15 miles away, they don't have any at all.

So, today, three young brothers are going to be caught here

and moved there,

but their keeper Rich Barnes knows there could be trouble.

These three are a little bit full-on.

They're quite confident and they like to give us a bit of a run-around.

They keep you on your toes, they've always been together.

They know each other, what they're able to do, they know what they are,

so they just want to test you a bit and see what it's like, really.

But now Jane the vet has arrived, so it's time to begin the move.

The dogs are so dangerous, the only way to do it

is to tranquillise them with a dart gun.

While Rich distracts the dogs, Jane's gone round the side.

The canvas cloth was put up earlier especially to hide her.

DART GUN FIRES

That is bang on target. Jane is one of the best shots in the business.

But now the dogs are suspicious, they're hanging back.

Don't just run off with a Christmas tree! Come on!

So Rich is taking a dangerous step.

He's going inside the enclosure to encourage them forward.

HE TAPS STICK

What's this? SHE FIRES GUN

That's the second dart and again bang on target!

The first two are getting wobbly on their feet

and Richard's gone after the third.

Ooh, getting confident now! Come on then. Come on then.

Come on. He's following me down.

Come on.

Come on!

But this one is no fool. He's not coming anywhere near Jane.

Do you want to just come in? You might just get a better shot.

So Jane is going inside the enclosure,

but if the last dog feels trapped and cornered,

it could become very dangerous, so whatever you do, don't go away.

It's been a year since we had one of these here - a baby black rhino.

The problem was they needed a new male,

so recently, they brought in Quinto to help.

But introducing boy and girl rhinos can be a tricky business,

so at first, the keepers arranged

for Quinto to meet two of the females through a fence.

He was definitely interested in the girls,

but at the same time, he was a bit frightened of them.

You can see that Quinto is quite nervous.

His tail is up in the air and his muscles are tensing and shaking.

And it's a sign that he is quite nervous.

That's worrying because when a male rhino gets nervous,

his natural reaction is to attack.

However, it did look as if romance was in the air.

But when Quinto was later released into the girls' field,

it all went horribly wrong.

I've heard Quinto the rhino hasn't been behaving himself recently,

-so I'm meeting keeper Shelley to see what's going on. Hiya.

-Hello.

He seems calm and sweet as anything just now.

We wanted to introduce him to two females.

They were quite young females, they've never been bred from before.

He just didn't quite know how to react and he got a bit nervous.

He kind of vented it in aggression, so we're going for Plan B now.

What's that? Ooh!

Like I said, the two females weren't experienced with males before,

so when he got aggressive towards them,

they'd run off and were instantly scared of him.

So we'll introduce him to another female who we've bred from before.

-She knows the score...

-I think he wants this!

She's used to mixing with males,

and hopefully, by her being confident with him,

it'll rub off on him and he'll lose some of his nervousness.

We've got loads of food for him.

Does he normally get this much attention? Is he being a bit spoilt?

He is, yeah. The more we can make him trust us,

hopefully, when we mix him, he'll be a bit more confident with us there

and hopefully, he'll get rid of these nerves that he's got.

So, if he is again quite aggressive towards her, what will happen then?

Will you have to say Quinto will not have little ones for a while?

No, hopefully, she'll stand her ground and her being more confident

will make him behave differently

and break that cycle of him being nervous.

If all fails and they're not getting on,

we've still got other females that are waiting for him,

so we'll probably go to Plan C and introduce him to another female.

Is it really important to get more rhino babies here at the park?

That's our main goal - to breed black rhinos.

The more we can breed, the better.

By giving him loads of browse, we'll keep him happy

and fingers crossed, we'll get more babies.

-Let's go and get some more browse for him. He deserves it.

-Yes.

What kind of bees hum and drop things?

A fumble-bee. Bzzzzz!

Miaow!

Miaow!

The teacher said, "Name me six wild animals."

The pupil then said, "Four elephants and two lions."

Raargh! Quack, quack, quack! Raargh! Quack, quack, quack!

-There were two fish in a tank.

-Really?

-Yeah.

One turned to the other and said, "How do you drive this thing?"

SHE CACKLES

Rich and Jane the vet are now inside the enclosure

of the three African hunting dogs who need to be moved today.

The first two have been darted, but the third dog is still on the loose.

That's the one that hasn't been darted

and the one that you darted first is just down there behind the bush.

Jane gets into position while Rich drives dog three into an ambush.

The hunting dog has become the hunted.

But he's clever and he's keeping his distance.

Meanwhile, the other two dogs have now fallen asleep,

so Rich is bringing them out.

Before they go in their travel boxes,

vet nurse Kerry will do a health check and some routine treatments.

That's it.

Keepers Chris and Jess are here to help.

That slab he's on is actually a set of scales,

so they can weigh the dogs.

28.95.

I'm just vaccinating this one and giving him a worming injection.

It's nice to do all these things while we've got them here.

When the health check is done, he goes in his travel box on the van.

Here comes Rich with dog two and Jane has now darted the third dog,

but they will have to leave him in the enclosure for a few minutes

while the tranquilliser takes effect.

Kerry takes a blood sample in case it's needed for tests

and checks the dog's deadly weapons.

Beautiful teeth. They're perfect. There's no problems with them at all.

There's no tartar that you might see in domestic dogs.

I wouldn't want to be bitten by them!

Here at last is the third and final dog.

This one needed extra tranquilliser drug to send him to sleep.

With the final health checks done, the last dog can go in the van.

The crates have been prepared

with a thick layer of shredded paper in the bottom to keep them comfy.

That went very well. We were worried because it's quite a big enclosure,

so I thought we might be running around for longer than we were.

They've all had their health checks, they're all in their crates now,

all waking up really well, so I'm very pleased.

But this is just the start of the adventure for the three boys

because very soon they'll be arriving at their new home.

Our Roar Rangers today are James and Emily from Essex.

They're nine years old and twins.

My favourite animals have to be lemurs because I like their howls.

These twins are both great dancers,

but are they both going to be great keepers?

She won't be good at shovelling up the poo cos she isn't strong enough.

But now, which animal will they be looking after?

"Emily and James, today you are primate keepers.

"Which one is your favourite?"

-It might be a lemur. They're my favourite animals.

-You never know.

BOTH: It might be a lemur!

Yes, it is. The twins will be getting up close

with the black-and-white ruffed lemurs.

They come from Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa.

The species is critically endangered

because there aren't many left in the wild.

Here in the park, there's a group of six.

And keeper Adam could do with some help to look after them.

Hi, James. Nice to meet you, Emily. I'm Adam.

I've heard that you like lemurs.

Yeah, they're my favourite.

We'll do a bit of cleaning and I can show you behind the scenes.

Then we'll have a treat for you, but I won't tell you what that is yet.

Let's go and do some work.

The lemurs have a large enclosure which they love to race about in,

but they also have a shed where they shelter from the weather,

sleep at night and use as a toilet.

Right, so we're going to just clear up a bit inside.

First of all, we need to put on these gloves. Try and slip those on.

This is Cyclone. This is Ren.

That's Quaver next door.

This one going through is the boss. That's Grunge.

How is she the boss? She's just a bit more aggressive.

They know not to mess about with her.

In any group of lemurs, the girls are in charge.

They're bigger and boss the boys.

So we'll pick up in here quickly, just to make sure it's all clean.

If we go in then...

Eugh! That is stinky!

That's it. If you push it up against the wall... That's it.

Get your hands dirty.

Nice one. Put it in the bag here. That's it.

Just like Emily and James, lemurs are usually born as twins.

In this group of six, there are two sets of twins -

Rock and Grunge who are ten and Breve and Quaver who are nine.

Right, guys, you've done really well.

I'll get some food and we can do some hand-feeding.

-Are you up for that?

-Yeah.

-OK, we'll do that.

You can only hand-feed a lemur if you're with a keeper,

so this will be something special, though the twins are worried.

I might be scared, but I don't know yet.

You don't know if they'll take it off you.

So, feeding the lemurs is not only a treat. It's also a challenge.

And we'll soon find out if our Roar Ranger twins are up for it.

The parks have a wide range of cats from the tiger to the pallas cat,

from the cheetah to the ocelot.

But of all the wild cats in the world,

there's only one kind that comes from Britain -

the Scottish wild cat.

I've come to help keeper Steve do a bit of gardening in their enclosure.

In this little tub here, we've got some seeds.

We'll plant some of these. These produce grass.

-Why grass?

-Grass is quite important for a few reasons.

One - it contains a vitamin called folic acid,

which is very beneficial for producing red blood cells,

which prevents them from getting anaemia.

But there's another beneficiary

and that's cats like to cough up furballs,

so eating grass disturbs their stomach enough

that they can regurgitate their furballs.

I thought that was a bit of a Mickey Mouse problem. Can it be serious?

It's genuinely something that cats have to do.

They eat a lot of small prey.

Scottish wild cats would hunt small voles and mice, that kind of thing.

The fur isn't really very beneficial

and is quite difficult to digest for some of their prey,

so what they then do is eat a bit of grass, it upsets their stomach

and they can bring it up and this doesn't cause them any problems.

There's a few reasons why grass is important.

-I think I can see one of them up there.

-Yes, Iona.

She looks pretty much the same as your regular cat.

What makes her a Scottish wild cat?

-That's where we got domestic cats from - from wild cats.

-Wow!

So they do look a lot like your domestic cat.

It would be hard to tell the difference.

These guys are one of the most endangered species at the park.

There's only 400 or so left in the wild.

They do look like regular cats. Could you have them as pets?

I wouldn't recommend it.

They don't have the same temperament, really, as a pet cat.

They can be quite aggressive.

Although they're the same size, they haven't been domesticated,

so they're not used to people as much as the cats you find in a pet shop.

Now you tell me they're aggressive. Quickly, let's get this grass out!

Stand by, gamers. Here's what you've been waiting for - "wood23".

That's today's cheat code to help you look after your animals

in the Roar online game.

If you haven't tried it out yet, you really should give it a go.

It's on the CBBC website and it's probably the easiest way

to get your very own wild animal park. Happy gaming!

Our Roar Ranger twins are about

to feed the black-and-white ruffed lemurs by hand.

They're a little worried about it because they might look cute,

but up close, these primates are big and they're bold.

Adam is showing how to feed them.

If you hold it like that, the lemurs might come up... It's OK, it's OK.

It might take your hand with its hand and pull it towards their mouth,

-but they're not trying to hurt you. They just want to get the food.

-OK.

I'll pass the food to you, then they can take it off you.

Make your way down there. Nothing to be scared of. They won't hurt you.

They're not going to hurt you. That's fine. If we go down this way...

Go up to this one. Just keep your hand still. A bit closer...

That's it. Very good. EMILY GIGGLES

Let's get him off there.

Have a go. Keep your hand nice and still.

Don't worry. He won't hurt you. Very good.

These lemurs are being kept in a walk-through enclosure,

so they're used to being around people,

but this is the first time Emily and James have been so close

to so many lemurs.

Have another go. She's the old female. She's calm. A bit higher.

Keep it still.

-Very good. They're nice and gentle.

-Yeah.

Do you want to try some banana?

Take one more bit. You try these two up here, James.

Choose one each there.

That's it... He's going to take it straight off you. Very good.

They're impatient. Yes, because they're very hungry.

They may be hungry, but they rarely snatch.

They've got very good manners and the twins have got used to them now.

-That's all the food they're getting for now. Was that really good?

-Yeah.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Really soft and gentle, aren't they?

After a feed, this bunch usually go for a snooze.

-I think I might become a lemur keeper when I'm older.

-Good one.

It's my favourite animal, so it's my...

< You both can be one. That's OK.

-Yeah.

-Together.

-Twin keepers.

-I hope you had a nice time.

-Thank you, Adam.

Thanks, James. Thanks, Emily.

It was the best day ever cos I got to look after my favourite animal.

It was cool and magical and brilliant. I just loved it!

Picnics have to be one of my favourite pastimes -

the great outdoors with all the fresh air and a lovely, tasty snack!

Liam, I was hoping for tasty snacks like sandwiches, not green beans.

What's going on here?

This is a midday feed for a big group of Javan langurs,

so lots of greens there which they love.

It's not that bad. It's nice, fresh and crisp.

We're going to set this food out for them. They're all indoors.

-Hungrily waiting.

-So they are waiting for their food?

-Definitely.

-We'd better move quickly.

-Yeah.

-How shall I do this?

If we scatter a bit on a couple of these platforms.

There's a lot of them, so it's important that we spread it around.

-You work on these two platforms.

-OK.

-And we'll move around the enclosure.

-Yes, boss!

-That's the way we like it.

-I'll do as I'm told.

We have scattered the Javan langurs' veggies all around their enclosure.

All we've got to do is wait for them to come out with their napkins on

-and enjoy their tasty lunch.

-Yeah.

-Here they come, here they come!

-Yeah.

I love watching them bound around. They're so light on their feet.

Yeah, definitely.

So, all these trees, do any of them ever go to the top?

I'm looking right to the top of the canopy. Is there anyone up there?

There's no-one up there just now because the food is on the platforms,

but they move around the trees like anyone's business.

They go up to the top and the mid levels, towards the bottom.

They can see around the whole park.

You've got quite a few little ones in here. How many have you got?

There's about four youngsters in here. There's 17 animals in total.

There's four if you say "babies", maybe a year old,

around that age, the youngest we've got in here.

That's great. Are these endangered?

Yeah, these guys are quite endangered in the wild.

It's mainly due to the places where they live in the wild in Java.

Hardly any of their habitat is left.

It's fantastic that you're able to breed them.

They're bounding around, so they must be happy.

Or it could be the way I laid out their fruit and veg so delicately.

-What do you think?

-They definitely look chuffed with that.

-Could I be a chef to the Javan langurs?

-I reckon so.

Liam, I've definitely enjoyed it. Thank you so much.

The three African hunting dogs

are about to face the next challenge in their big move.

They've arrived at their sister park

and it's up to the keeper in charge of the carnivores here, Jim Vassey,

to make sure they get settled into their new enclosure

without anyone getting hurt.

Inside the travel crates, two dogs are coming round from the sedatives,

but one of them is still asleep.

One of my biggest problems is that they don't come around from sedation.

That's always a worry. You've got to get the mixture of the drugs correct.

It's a very fine balance between getting it right and wrong.

So Jim's keeping a close eye on all three of them.

He's very experienced with African hunting dogs.

They're one of his favourites.

Hunting dogs are great characters,

so we're glad that we've got three new ones back.

We've to get to know them. They have to get to know us.

But they can't start getting to know them quite yet.

They're completely wobbly on their feet.

And one's more asleep than the other two.

If we let them out now, the two that are more awake

will attack the one that's asleep,

so we'll make sure that they're fully around before we let them out.

It's strange to think that these dogs might attack their own brother

who they grew up with.

But in the wild, they can be vicious

and their instinct is to attack first and ask questions later.

But after an hour, all three dogs are awake

and the big moment is here. They'll go into a small enclosure first

while they get used to the place and Jim is taking no chances.

It's always possible they will attack us,

but we'll do it in such a way that they won't have the option.

We're going to do it as safe as possible for us and for them.

A sliding hatch leads to the small enclosure,

so they just have to line up the travel crate, then open the doors.

There's one.

-Good boy.

-There's two.

And that's three.

Nice one.

They've all come out, they're all awake, which is good news.

It's always great looking after new animals, so yeah, I'm very happy.

Yeah, we've got three nice-looking boys.

Before we leave you today,

we thought, why don't you have a sneaky look at the red pandas

because they're so gorgeous and we thought we'd give them a treat?

-That's all right, Nev?

-Absolutely.

-Thank you so much.

They are so cute. Who have we got here?

This is Lai-Yi and just above you there is Wing-Wah.

We're giving these guys some bamboo today.

Is this their favourite tree and they eat this predominantly?

Yeah, bamboo makes up the main part of their diet.

Both here and in the wild.

But they do like other things as well.

In captivity, they get different fruits and veg.

-Nice.

-And the odd mouse as well.

-Eugh!

This just looks like glorified grass.

-They can't get much nutrition from this?

-Bamboo is poor in nutrition.

That's why they eat a lot of it

and they tend to be quite slow-moving animals for that reason.

They'll not leap about the trees like monkeys do.

They'll do everything slowly.

Nev, thank you for letting us get so close to these amazing animals.

-I think she's going off for a snooze now.

-I don't blame her.

Why not check out what's coming up on the next episode of Roar?

Leon the zebra has been fighting and kicking the other animals,

so now the keepers must catch him because he's got to go.

The last seven baby red pandas they had here all died young,

so we'll find out how the new one's doing.

And fancy a swim in an icy pool?

The tiger cubs do and we're going to discover why.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2010

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