Episode 6 Animal Frontline

-Good afternoon, RSPCA Control Centre.

-Is the cat still breathing?

You don't think it's breathing?

Every 30 seconds, someone calls the RSPCA

about an animal that needs help.

I'll pass this information through to the officer.

From neglected pets to injured wildlife.

For the trained inspectors, every shift is a challenge.

-In the field!

-It's disgusting!

We can't leave this situation as it is.

Now they tell us what it's really like on the Animal Frontline.

No day, really, is the same.

-We have piggies!

-It never ceases to amaze me.

I go to bed thinking about it and I wake up thinking about it.

What makes a good RSPCA Inspector? Nerves of steel, a stomach of iron,

and a sense of humour!

Today, an abandoned dog left frightened and alone.

The dog was curled up, terrified.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's all right.

The horses in danger after an audacious attempt to escape.

You can see they've, like, smashed his greenhouse to smithereens down there.

And Inspector Lorna Campbell deals with an overwhelming problem.

These are all the cats that are stray or unwanted

that are waiting for a new home.

With fewer than 300 inspectors to cover the whole of the UK

and thousands of calls coming in daily,

every job is prioritised before it's sent to an officer.

But when an emergency call comes in, inspectors have to drop everything.

Literally, just had an emergency call tasked through to me

by the control room.

Staffordshire Police have been in touch with us

to say that they've had to force entry to a property.

And when they've gone into the property, they've found

a dog which they believe has been abandoned in there for several days.

When we arrived at the location

the police, obviously, were already in attendance.

What sort of dog is it?

The front door had had to be forced open.

The door was completely off its hinges.

I went inside the property with the officer

and through to a back living room, as it were, and there I saw the dog.

Hello, darling!

Bruce has been alone without food or water for a week.

And he's clearly petrified.

Are you a good boy? Are you a bit scared?

You just look a bit wary, don't you?

If you imagine that this animal has been there for a few days,

on his own in silence,

and then all of a sudden a big burly policeman comes

and smashes in the front door and walks in.

The dog was, you know, curled up, terrified.

-It's a nice looking dog, isn't it?

-It's just very scared.

That dog would have sat in that house,

there was no electricity in there, no lights.

You just imagine how that animal must feel

to be there on their own and nobody coming.

Police may have entered that property

in two or three or four week's time and found an emaciated dead dog.

Jayne needs to look round the house to see how Bruce has been surviving.

This particular dog seemed, bless him, to have taken himself

upstairs and used one room as the main sort of toilet area.

That looks like vomit actually.

Yeah, there's lots of vomit under the bed as well.

She takes some photographs of the conditions he's been living in,

but with the owner nowhere to be found, she has to seize the dog.

My priority then is to make sure

that that dog is removed and looked after.

But the moment that you approach the dog and you need to actively

get the dog out of the property,

I have to be very careful that this dog isn't going to...

Through fear that dog could turn on you.

Come on then, Bruce. There's a good boy, Brucey baby!

Good boy! There we go.

Now then... That's OK, sweetheart, don't cringe.

Bruce is terrified and Jayne has to take it slowly.

I tried to get him into the back of the van on his own.

He was too nervous and too scared.

Oh, mate. Come on.

With a little bit of encouragement he had to be placed

into the kennel and back onto the van.

Shut the door. Thanks very much.

Having managed to get the dog into the vehicle...

I had to leave a notice at the address prior to leaving,

which explains to the person responsible for this dog

that the RSPCA have attended and that an animal has been removed.

The dog was then taken away

and boarded in a private boarding kennel.

And when they get there, poor Bruce is totally overwhelmed.

He was very wary of the male police officer.

So I don't whether it's fear of men, I don't know.

He's just absolutely terrified!

When you get the dog to the kennel,

you want to dog to be happy in it's environment.

BARKING

Unfortunately, if you've never been into a kennel environment,

it can be quite overwhelming.

If it's full, it's quite loud, lots of dogs barking.

BARKING

It's a bit of a bombardment of the senses.

And for this particular dog, cos he was so nervous

as he walked into that environment, I felt really sorry for him.

Bruce's owner did eventually turn up.

But he didn't contact the RSPCA for over a month,

so Bruce was put up for re-homing.

The most important thing for me

is that the dog was removed from that address and he was taken

to a safe environment where he was looked after. And now he's going

to hopefully find a new family,

who will love him and give him the affection

that he needs and he deserves, because he's a beautiful dog.

You know, he will make somebody a really fantastic pet.

BARKING

In the following days, Bruce regained his confidence

and as Jayne predicted, he was snapped up by a new family.

The RSPCA deals with a million and a half calls a year,

most about animals in genuine need.

And what animal is your call regarding?

But some are not so serious.

Your dog needs a haircut?

Every call you get is different,

so, you know, you get the sublime to the ridiculous.

Right, so just to confirm here, Marion,

you've got a pig currently chasing...

chasing the horses on your farm?

Radioactive squirrels which are albino ferrets.

A member of the public had reported that she'd found a couple

of baby armadillos in the property and it turned out to be woodlice!

An aggressive hedgehog in the downstairs toilet

turned out to be a toilet brush.

The call was for a slow moving tortoise on a motorway.

It was a deflated football that wasn't going anywhere.

But even the most comical calls often start as genuine complaints

and some need to be taken very seriously indeed.

This call to a house in Northumberland

is passed on to Inspector Trevor Walker.

It sounds serious.

We often get calls about dead animals.

But the thing that struck me about this one was why would

there be two dead dogs?

You won't under normal circumstances find two dogs

would die of natural causes at the same time.

So, immediately, I think you kick into the gear whereby you think

some foul play has gone on.

15 years on the job has taught Trevor to expect every eventuality.

The suggestion is I think that whoever's coal bunker it is,

they have actually left the property.

So, unfortunately, it may well have been a case

that either the dogs have died and they've put them in the coal bunker,

or it may well be a case that they haven't died and they've still

put them in the coal bunker and they've died in the coal bunker.

So it's a little bit worrying really until we get round there

and have a look and see what the situation is.

On arrival, the house is deserted.

The house didn't appear that it was actually lived in at all.

So I went round to the rear... and there is the coal bunker.

And I went and looked inside the coal bunker.

There's no obvious sign of dead animals.

But Trevor has made a discovery.

I will return in one moment.

I went and pulled on a pair of surgical gloves

and then returned back to the coal bunker at the back.

It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it.

Then I pulled out what appeared to be a black dead dog.

And laid it on the top of the coal bunker.

The black dog was a fur jacket.

What size are you? Looks like there's a white dog as well.

The white dog was, in actual fact, a sheepskin rug.

I think they're past it.

We've all been brought out to situations like that.

I've had owls that have been on the roof

and it hadn't moved for a week and it's a pot owl.

When you look, you can see the justification for the people

ringing in and thinking the worst has happened.

I would rather it be a frustrating call out

that has got no validity in it.

Trevor leaves happy that the only crimes committed here today

were crimes against fashion.

TICKING

It's rush hour outside Nottingham and Inspector Chris Shaw

is on his way to a call from a worried home owner.

The man has reported that a group of horses

have escaped from their field and broken through his garden fence.

When I received the call about this particular job,

they made it quite clear that these horses could get out onto the road.

The last thing I want is for a herd of horses to escape onto a main road.

Particularly with the fact that where that house was,

if the horses wanted to they could have gone up a small banking

and ended up on the M1,

which would have ended in absolute disaster.

-Hi there. You all right?

-Please, come in.

-Oh, thank you.

They're just coming straight through your fence?

Yeah, through the fence. Through Alan's fence.

Yeah. And how often has this been happening then now?

Well, they're coming all the time. Coming and going.

I've done temporary repairs on the fence,

but it makes no difference they just burst through it again.

I did feel for the owner of the property.

He'd come home from wherever he'd been

to find all these horses in his garden.

It wasn't a very big garden, the garden had been really trashed.

They'd basically smashed a few panes in his greenhouse,

they'd trashed his lawn.

The thing is, what can I do when there's five of them in the garden?

They're charging down the small alleyway past my shed.

They're charging at the iron gates at the bottom

and if they burst through them they'll be onto the road

and that's what they've been trying to do.

The horses have retreated back into the field.

Worried for their safety, Chris wants to take a closer look.

-Well, if it's all right, we'll go out and have a look.

-Yes, of course you can, yeah.

They've been coming right up to the back door.

Looks like they've been here a while with all this poo.

That must be the hole they're getting through.

And you can see they've, like,

smashed his greenhouse to smithereens down there.

So my problem is, if they've been walking through all this glass

that's not very good, really.

The gentleman is quite upset that these horses

are coming into his garden and causing all this damage.

He wants to speak to the owners

to try and get his fence fixed and things,

but really what I'm here for is to make sure these horses are all right.

Chris heads out into the field to see if he can find the horses.

The first thing I wanted to do was to go and check that the horses

were all safe really and not injured.

There's hazards everywhere round here, we've got like barbed wire

and just bits and bobs of all kinds of things, really.

Glass bottles. Not the best place, really.

The issue I had was it was pitch black.

It had gone dark and the horses were quite flighty,

they didn't really want me being near them.

And the closer I got to them in the field the further they ran.

God boy. And... whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

It's all right. Steady, steady.

And I could find the horses.

I was told there was about six,

but there was actually about eight in total.

All right. Steady, steady.

Trying not to scare them,

Chris inches forward and gets close enough to check them over.

Are you all right?

When we found them what I wanted to do

was to check their legs and their feet.

How's your little legs, eh? Steady, steady.

Your legs look all right.

Just to make sure I couldn't see any fresh blood,

that they weren't limping or lame or anything like that.

So that was sort of my priority then.

I've just been and checked the condition of these horses,

their legs seem all right at the moment.

Considering there's so many hazards, I think they've done quite well to come through.

I mean, we've got pipes sticking out of the ground, glass bottles,

we've got smashed glass everywhere, we've got barbed wire on the floor.

It's not great at all.

So they're doing all right at the moment, but I need to speak to the owner cos that is not suitable.

We can't leave them like that.

Inevitably, they're going to get injured.

With no details of who owns the horses,

all Chris can do is leave a note for them on the gate.

What this is is a slip to say,

"Please, get in touch with us as a matter of urgency."

Fortunately for me, which doesn't happen very often in these cases,

as I was leaving the note a 4X4 turned up

and we had the owner of the horses present, which was a real bonus.

-Hiya. Are you anything to do with these horses?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I've just been in to check them and I don't know if you've heard,

but they're getting through these people's gardens and smashing greenhouses and things.

The first thing I did is say, you know,

"I wanna go and show you what my concerns are."

There's loads of barbed wire on the floor

and there's quite a lot of smashed bottles

and there's, like, metal pipes sticking out of the ground.

Do you want me to go and show you?

Chris takes the owner to see the hazards

and explains that the horses aren't safe in the field.

She's been quite good about it. She's going to go and get a trailer tonight and move the horses tonight

and get them off this field. So can't ask any fairer than that, really.

The next morning, Chris goes to check the horses at the stables they've been moved to.

And there's some bad news.

All right, so we're back here where all the horses are being stabled now.

I'm just coming to check. These are two of the ones from last night.

But, unfortunately, I've been told that one of them has got a bit of an injury.

The owner saw the injury last night and called the vet.

Oh, that's terrible!

Even cleaned up, it's a nasty wound.

She's got a massive gash on the back of her.

I'm guessing it's some kind of injury from the greenhouse.

You can see that it is quite bad.

That's why I was concerned about them.

There were lots of hazards in that field.

The problem with the greenhouse,

the problem with the broken fence and all the bits and pieces that were hanging around the floor.

You know, that's why I wanted the owner to move those horses.

The owner's been and fetched the horses in when I asked

and she's got the vet out straight away. She did all that last night.

It's just a problem, you know.

Unfortunately, I was there in the pitch black in a field with six horses.

I didn't get to see this last night.

This horse now faces a long recovery

as it could take over a month for the wound to totally heal.

After a quick check round the rest of the yard,

Chris is pleased to see all the other horses are in good health

and enjoying their new surroundings.

These are now nicely put in the stables, no injuries at all.

In safety, in a much better place, aren't you, eh, little one?

Hopefully these guys will be OK from now on.

So, job well done, I guess.

Britain has thousands of feral and stray cats.

They feed on mice and birds,

but often rely on regular meals from humans to survive.

But when the people who've cared for them move on,

the homeless moggies can often struggle to fend for themselves.

We're on our way to see a cat that's been left behind

at an empty property.

I managed to get in touch with the previous occupant

and he's got the cat confined for us in the shed.

So it's ready for collection for re-homing.

The man who was feeding the cat has moved home.

If Lorna doesn't rescue it, it could starve.

When he lived there, he just started feeding the cat.

It was a stray, it was never his cat even though he's lived there for however many years.

So when he moves, he's left the cat behind.

We get this all the time,

I get calls every day for this same thing.

So when I went down, I went into the garden

and there's this metal shed with a duvet in, cat food and water.

Come on, then!

Although this cat wasn't sick or injured,

it had recently been left behind, so it was classed as an abandoned cat.

It's got no owners, they've left it.

Come on, then. I don't want you to shoot out on me.

Lorna may be trying to help the cat, but it's not going to come quietly.

Am I going to have to come in there for you?

After a bit of a stand off, Lorna makes her move.

SHE LAUGHS He made a run for it, like I thought he would.

I had you down to a tee, then.

You had it written all over your face.

He looks like a typical stray cat.

A bit mucky, bit of a rogue. He's definitely been living the outside life for some time, I think.

Lorna knows that most people mean well when they feed strays.

But unless you're willing to take the cat on full time,

it's better to report it.

Before the cat has a chance of finding a new home,

Lorna must get him checked out by a vet.

-Hiya.

-Hiya.

-It's just a general check, really,

just to check he's fit and healthy for re-homing.

Can I have a feel of your tum? He's been well fed!

-I know.

-We need to put a flea treatment on him,

but other than that, he should be OK for re-homing.

-Right, we'll get him sorted, then.

-Yep.

He's in good shape. And this could be the start of a new life.

Right, thank you very much.

But there's a long waiting list for homes on Lorna's patch.

There you go, pudding.

Sadly, he's not the first and he won't be the last homeless cat

to play the waiting game in these cages.

These are all the cats that are currently stray or unwanted

that are waiting for a new home.

So you've got mum and kittens, kitten dumped in a box by a canal.

People go, "It's a cat, they'll fend for themselves."

And, yeah, they won't just curl up and die.

They will go out there and they will find somebody else to feed them

or they will catch a mouse.

I remember you. Dumped in a cat basket in a bin liner.

I brought this one in last week.

But that's not everything about owning an animal.

That's just... That's the basics.

What about the veterinary care and what about their health as well?

And people don't think about that.

Or they do and they think, "Well, the RSPCA will sort that out when it becomes a problem."

I don't think people realise just how many cats

we get brought in to us.

And why it's totally unacceptable just to leave them like this one.

CAT MEOWS

I've got a cat, yeah.

And he was a stray that turned up one day

and, yeah, he is without a doubt my cat.

I couldn't ever imagine leaving my cat behind and moving house.

Not all cats needing re-homing are unwanted or stray.

Sadly one of the most common reasons the RSPCA is called

to help is when a pet owner has died.

It's a huge part of the job to help animals

when their owner's passed away.

We're the first port of call if an animal is involved.

And if somebody's deceased, it's usually an emergency situation

and they need someone to attend straight away.

In London, Inspector Clare Dew is on her way to a report of a cat

trapped in a flat.

We'd had a call that a gentleman at the flat had passed away

and Social Services had had permission from a family member

to re-home the cat and then asked us if we could go and collect it.

A hospital social worker is waiting to let Clare into the property.

Thank you for meeting me, Jose, at least we can get the cat.

-The cat has been alone in the flat for over a week.

-CAT MEOWS

Oh, I can hear the cat. Be careful cos it might run out the door.

A cat's natural instinct the minute a door is open is to bolt.

And this cat didn't actually do that. Oh, you're lovely.

The cat was immediately by the door. It quite clearly hadn't seen anyone

or had much food or contact from anyone for a few days.

Right, well, let's get you in the basket.

I don't think you're gonna be too much of a problem.

The cat upon first observation is quite thin, which isn't surprising.

It's a bit dehydrated. But considering the living conditions that it's in

and the fact that it probably hadn't eaten anything for a while, it wasn't doing too bad.

Ohh! Hey! Right, in you get.

With the nervous cat put safely in the carrier,

Clare checks the rest of the flat to see how it's been living.

CAT MEOWS

Ohh, dear!

It's a depressing scene.

But upstairs it's clear the cat had been well looked after.

One of this man's last thoughts was about his cat

-and what was going to happen to it.

-CAT MEOWS

And usually the animal itself is OK

and it's just dealing with the circumstances that can be

more difficult than actually dealing with the pet. I've never met this gentleman,

we've never had any calls to this address.

SHE SIGHS

It's difficult not to get affected by an incident like that.

OK, let's get this cat.

It's quite a shame, really, that it had come to that,

that the gentleman didn't have anyone else to leave the cat to.

-No wonder the neighbours been worried, you making all that noise.

-CAT MEOWS

-Hello!

-CAT MEOWS

For RSPCA inspectors the holy grail is to match an animal

-that needs a home with a compatible owner.

-CAT MEOWS

I recently picked up a cat that had, unfortunately,

been involved in a collision with a car and didn't make it.

And I had to impart the very sad news to that cat's owner.

And she asked me if it would be possible for her to have another cat.

And I said I would gladly find her another cat, so I'm hoping

that this little cat can go straight from its old home to a new home.

It is quite sad that an animal like that

comes up for re-homing in those circumstances,

but it's great that we're able to do something about it quite quickly.

And after a vet check,

Clare is about to introduce the cat to a potential new owner.

Hi, Judith!

If both parties get on, this tragic story could have a happy ending.

Come on! Hello.

-Hello!

-Hello, girl!

The cautious cat begins to find its feet.

I had expected the cat to immediately run off

and hide behind a sofa or under a bed or in the nearest dark corner,

and it just didn't do that.

-She's not frightened, she's just having a look round.

-Yeah.

-Hello!

It just examined the whole of its new flat

with interest and confidence.

Bonny, look, here's something to eat. She's rubbing herself on you.

Hello! Oh, I think she's gonna be fine, you know.

It walked about, sniffed corners as though it just accepted that,

"Yeah, this looks great. Quite happy to live here, thanks."

She's coming. There's a good girl.

She coming straight to it, Judith, look.

Clare leaves Judith and the newly named Bonny,

to get to know each other.

It's wandering around, it's calling out. I'm really pleased.

They're really pleased and I'm really pleased. It's really great.

I quite often pick up the animal and then have no idea what's happened to it.

And it's nice to be able to put an animal into a home

where I knew it would be really well loved

and hopefully I've done the right thing by the man.

He wanted someone to look after his pet and I know that's happening.

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