Episode 10 Animal SOS

Good afternoon, RSPCA control centre.

What animal is your call regarding today?

In the UK, someone calls the RSPCA every 30 seconds.

Exactly what did you see?

So they're left outside in all weathers

and they've got no bedding or shelter from the rain.

24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

I don't want you to go too close to it because swans can be very,

very dangerous.

When an animal needs help, the emergency line is open.

Do you know something, I've had non-stop calls for the past hour.

All right, take care, bye-bye.

Got a bit of a rough throat now.

It's cos I don't shut up.

Filming as the calls come in...

..and when inspectors respond on the ground...

I'll pass this information through to the officer.

So close!

..rescuing everything from injured wildlife

to neglected pets.

Every shift is a challenge.

Rhea one, RSPCA nil.

There's no such thing as a typical day as an RSPCA inspector.

Get... Oh, my Lord!

We never know what we're going to deal with.

No two days are the same.

-You're keeping a dog out there, it's disgusting.

-Whoa there!

At times you feel like

you're banging your head against a brick wall.

It's dirty, sweaty...

It stuns me sometimes, the smells that I come across.

Sorry.

There's not a lot of glamour in my role.

But even if you just helped one animal...

Hi, mate.

..it's worth it.

Today, it's a mud bath for inspector Vicki McDonald

and 48 rabbits.

He's just one big ball of fur, isn't he?

The moment of truth for Mickey, the collie with a weighty problem.

And lift-off...for an injured heron.

At the National Control Centre,

operators hear about animals with all kinds of problems.

But one that's becoming increasingly common is pets piling on the pounds.

Calls about overweight dogs in particular are on the rise.

And it's the owners who are to blame.

There's a great amount of people that keep dogs, and they love their

dogs dearly, but they are literally killing their dogs with kindness.

Sweets and chocolates, and, you know, eclairs...

I've seen people feed their dog cakes.

Come on! Come on!

Oh, my life, that's a big bum.

And inspectors on the ground have got their hands full...

Two, three...

..dealing with these chunky canines.

OK. Wow. Auntie Clare's back's gone now!

You speak to the owners and they say, "Oh, well, he likes cake,"

or "He likes sausages and bacon."

I like all those things, but I know it makes me fat.

In Surrey, inspector Kerry Gabriel is on her way to help

an overweight collie.

Hello again, it's just me. See how you're getting on with Mickey.

She first visited owner James a month ago

and advised him to put Mickey on a diet and increase his exercise.

Hello, Mickey, how are you doing, babe? Are you all right?

Mickey's certainly the biggest dog I've ever visited.

I was really concerned about how big he was.

He needed to lose about a third of his body weight to be

a normal body weight for his breed.

How have you been getting on?

I don't think I can see any difference in him, either.

But as soon as I saw Mickey, I couldn't really tell that

there'd been any improvement at all in his weight, which is

quite disappointing.

What about the diet, James? What have you got him on at the moment?

Same as what he had when you came here.

-Yeah.

-Biscuits.

Biscuits. And have you reduced the amount by 10%?

He only has 75 grams.

Handful in the morning, handful at night.

OK. And what about treats?

He has vegetables.

What vegetables?

Taters, carrots, mixed veg.

OK, so potatoes, that needs to come out of the diet.

Because that is carbs, and again, that's sugars,

so that will make him fat.

James clearly loves Mickey,

and his way of showing that is to give him titbits and treats,

which Mickey loves as well, I mean, what dog wouldn't?

But what James doesn't realise is that he's causing Mickey

a lot of damage by overfeeding him, and by feeding the wrong things.

And that, you know, he's putting Mickey's health at risk,

at the end of the day.

Not sure that Mickey has lost any weight, Kerry is taking him

back to the vet's for a weigh-in.

Come on, then, Mickey, come on!

And she's not convinced by James' explanation.

I think it's just his build.

No. it's not his build. He needs to go to fat camp.

The dog is obese.

He's only two years old, he shouldn't be overweight.

And for a dog of his age to be this fat, it's really worrying.

So I really want the vet to have a look today and tell me

how bad it is.

Vet Louise Golden cuts straight to the case.

Hello, this is Mickey. He's almost three years old.

To me, I don't think he's lost any weight.

But the only way to confirm this is to get him

-on the scales again.

-The scales never lie.

-Exactly.

An average collie should weigh around 30 kilos.

But on Mickey's last visit, he weighed a shocking 46.

Oh, dear, Mickey.

Unfortunately, he'd actually put on a kilo in a month,

which was so disappointing.

I was really hoping to see an improvement.

It was pretty gutting, to be honest.

Clearly, Mickey is going to need more help to shift the pounds.

OK. Um...

But, luckily, Kerry is in it for the long haul.

This isn't the type of job where you're going to see

improvements overnight,

it's something that you are going to take a long time dealing with.

But that's OK. You know, I'm going to build that relationship

with James and Mickey, I'm going to keep going back.

It might take months, who knows?

Hey, hey, hey. All right.

Do you want the bad news? Or do you want the bad news?

If it's bad news, he's still the same weight.

He's put on a kilo.

-Put it on?

-Yeah.

I'm not giving up until I've seen that improvement in Mickey,

and hopefully he'll be a much fitter, healthier dog,

in a few months' time, so, there's hope still.

Most complaints to the RSPCA result in a knock on someone's door.

And they don't always receive the warmest of welcomes.

On a daily basis, we could knock up to ten, 15 doors,

and I'd say the normal reaction is, you know,

a bit sort of apprehensive,

or people are quite confused

or angry.

Anger is, you know...is kind of up there, really.

Today, Herchy's responding to a call about a couple reported to be

keeping a large number of cats in unsuitable conditions.

Oh, I can see a cat in the window.

Initially, when I knocked the door, there wasn't a sound.

And I could see one cat, I think it was sitting in the window.

Hello, puss.

And I looked through the letter box...

That smells a bit.

It was pitch black,

and then suddenly I saw sort of about three or four

pairs of eyes, and there were a number of cats in the hallway.

So I knew instantly that there were definitely quite a few,

a few cats at the premises.

Hello?

Keen to get a closer look at the cats, Herchy takes a look around.

And spots an open window.

Hello?

The owners are in, but they aren't pleased to see Herchy.

-You all right?

-If you're RSPCA, get away from my door.

-OK. Can I have a...

-Just get away from my door,

you're not coming in! Just get away.

Let me just have a quick chat with you.

Initially, she wasn't happy at all.

And, you know, quite a lot of people aren't happy to see me

standing on their doorstep, so I don't take that offensively,

but it was a very strange situation.

All I want to do is have a chat with you

and have a look at the cats, all right?

But Herchy manages to talk the lady round.

OK.

I think what we need to do is a head count, really.

See how many cats you've got.

Herchy instantly sees there are lots of cats.

Two, three, four, five...

Living in poor conditions.

Hey, you two!

As well as a number of other animals.

So it was kind of a very small premises

with a large amount of animals.

She had three cat litter trays. They were full of cat faeces.

What worries me is, when you've got this many cats,

in a small house, if one gets a problem,

like fleas or ear mites, the other one's going to get it, too,

cos you've got them in such close proximity.

I can see different cats scratching themselves, biting,

and it becomes very obvious that these cats are suffering from fleas.

-What's this one called?

-Shookie. But she's just had kittens.

I was just going to say, she's had some kittens...

And the kittens are being kept shut up in a carrier.

They look tiny! For eight weeks.

-Why've you got them in there?

-Because they mess on the bed.

Do they? Can't have them in there, can you?

Imagine how annoyed you'd get

if you were locked up in a really small space for a really long time.

I'm saying it as nicely as I can, my darling,

they need to be re-homed.

The kittens bring the total number to 13,

which Herchy thinks is just too many for them to look after.

They're obviously not coping

with the amount of animals that they have.

So I was then doing my absolute best to try

and make her realise that she cannot keep this many cats.

Because you've got so many,

that's going to cost you a fortune isn't it?

Flea treatment, worm treatment, and spray for the house,

basically absolutely every cat you've got

needs some flea treatment.

And Herchy's worried, with so many of the cats unneutered,

things can only get worse.

Ten are going to get to 20, are going to get to 30.

-What're you going to do?

-I don't know.

Finally, Herchy persuades the couple to sign

the majority of the cats over for re-homing.

And she's keen to take the ginger tom,

who's the big daddy of the house.

I think big boy over there, who is getting everyone pregnant,

should go, don't you?

Don't you think he should go? Because that's the...

-That's our favourite one.

-Is he?

-Yeah.

-OK. Well then you need...you need to get him done, then.

Herchy agrees to leave them their favourite, but gives them vouchers,

so they can have him and the remaining cats

neutered at the vet's.

It's pointless me taking away ten cats, and then I come back

six months later, to find her with the same amount of cats again.

Because she's not neutered those cats.

This one and this one, you're keeping, yeah?

-And the ginger one.

-Yeah.

-Yeah? OK, lovely.

Two cats would have been ample, in that flat,

and I think we left it at three in the end.

Good boy. He's beautiful, you know, he's a lovely boy.

And she signed over the other sort of ten cats.

All right then, I'll leave you in peace.

Now that the cats have been signed over,

Herchy can get them to the local animal hospital to be checked.

And her fears are confirmed.

-They're really bad, aren't they?

-Really sore ears.

All the cats and kittens are infected with fleas and ear mites.

So that's a real shame, isn't it, in kittens so young,

that they've got fleas and mites.

But after treatment, they will all be re-homed.

Oh, little kitty.

The end result is always going to be that

I want to make sure that those animals have a better future,

that they can go on and lead happy lives somewhere else.

Looking after any pet can involve a lot of work.

But when people keep large numbers of animals,

it can become a full-time job.

And when things go wrong,

they can be difficult cases for inspectors to deal with.

It's a wet Oldham morning,

and Vicki McDonald has picked up her first call of the day.

We've got an allegation of something in the region

of 50 rabbits being kept in the garden of this premises.

They're in poor living conditions,

so we're hoping that it doesn't turn into anything too bad.

When you get a call that's involving large numbers of animals,

you hope that it's not quite as bad as is being described.

But first impressions aren't good.

It is very muddy.

-I mean, there's a lot of poo.

-Yeah. Definitely...

They are in need of cleaning out.

Vicki and colleague, Inspector Mel Fury, need to talk to the

owner of the rabbits.

Hiya, we're from the RSPCA, we've had a call about your rabbits.

When we met the lady,

it was almost like she's kind of been expecting us.

How many have you got altogether out there?

I think there's about 40.

Right. Okey-doke.

We could see, just from looking over the wall, that

it was a welly boot job, for sure.

It was a quagmire out there.

How many did you originally have?

-When I was at the last house, we had over 100.

-Right.

There were hutches and hutches and hutches.

I don't think she was entirely sure herself of the exact numbers

that she had there.

-Eight in here at the top.

-Yeah.

A quick headcount reveals there are 48 rabbits,

and Vicki's not happy about some of the conditions.

They are in need of cleaning out.

Yeah, I know, I've got the stuff there.

There were other family members who also had

ownership of some of the rabbits, but I think most of the care

was falling down to this particular lady.

And she was struggling.

I think what we do need to do is get it down to a number that is more

easily managed and then that number that you have are all neutered.

The owner had been thinking about re-homing some of the rabbits.

What would be a sensible number to keep, then, maybe five, ten?

They start to identify which ones can go.

-That one will be kept.

-So that one will be kept down there.

She's talking about signing over

something in the region of 40 rabbits.

So logistically, we have a bit of work on our hands.

Vicki and Mel want to get this job completed today.

All right, who do we have here?

In pouring rain, they begin moving the rabbits from the muddy garden.

Is one of these Sherlock? The grey one? OK, that's fine.

He's just one big ball of fur, isn't he?

Here you go, Lionel.

Getting a bit chilly and a bit wet.

We've got a long way to go yet.

As they box them up,

Vicki notices that some of the rabbits aren't in great shape.

I think we'll have her on her own.

This one's got overgrown teeth. So they'll need to be clipped.

Oh, dear.

They all need to be checked over by the vet.

Are you all right?

It's a lot to deal with in one day, isn't it?

As the hutches empty, the owner starts to feel the strain.

She was upset, and I don't blame her for that, she was attached

to them and no-one likes to give up their animals.

I think you're doing the right thing here.

But she knew that it needed sorting.

The owner is struggling to say goodbye to the number they agreed.

How many more have we got for re-homing?

Well...

They're starting to haggle a bit on the numbers that stay.

So I think we might need to make some agreements.

Seeing the situation is causing upset,

Vicki decides to reduce how many rabbits they take today.

My personal opinion is I'd like to get below 20.

Because even we've still kind of crept up

from where we were at the start of the day.

I'm trying very hard to do this

on a friendly, helpful basis.

But I don't think what they realise is that

some of these are potentially not in great nick.

But finally, three vehicles filled with 28 rabbits

are ready to head off.

All right, in you go.

I'm not going to be the vet's favourite person today.

When we got to the vet's,

each of the rabbits needed to be examined more closely.

This one's got a very nasty eye infection.

This is going to be causing the rabbit a lot of discomfort

and it's going to be quite painful for her.

It was really quite sad that, upon closer examination,

these rabbits really, really, weren't very well.

He's quite skinny.

What starts out as just one or two becomes three or four,

becomes five and six, becomes ten, 20, 30, 40.

Ultimately, you get to a stage where for whatever reason,

it's not possible to meet the needs of all of those animals.

And the situation here is getting worse.

It's not looking so good for him, really.

Vet Amy Edwards thinks most of the rabbits have a contagious disease.

He's got a bit of staining around its nose, as well.

Not a very good sign.

Pretty much all these rabbits seem to have quite severe

respiratory infection.

They've got something which is usually known as snuffles.

It isn't good news cos it's very infectious,

especially in a confined environment like they have been in, a lot of

rabbits can and do die from it, even despite attempts at treating it.

It's a devastating development for Vicki,

as the contagious rabbits cannot now be re-homed as she'd hoped.

It was a really sad outcome, because my entire intention

throughout was to hopefully re-home these rabbits.

All right.

When we realised what the extent of the sickness was,

I felt it only right to go back and explain to her what had happened.

It's quite a serious condition, and it's only going to spread,

and only going to get worse, and they're all going to need

treatment, so we need to go straight back to her now,

and advise her what's happened with these

and what she needs to do with the ones that are remaining.

Hi, can I bob in a minute?

I've got a bit of a tricky situation that I need to discuss with you.

We've been to the vet's. The rabbits really aren't well.

Every single one of them has got snuffles, every single one.

And I'm absolutely gutted,

I'm gutted for me and I'm gutted for you.

It's late, dark, and wet.

Oh, the heavens are opening.

But it's vital they check the remaining rabbits for any

signs of the disease.

You see, that's a yes.

Sadly, many of them have.

Yeah, that's a definite. So all bar one in there.

Oh, crikey, Charlie. This is not a good day, is it?

Vicki has no choice

but to caution the owner for failing to properly care for the rabbits.

You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence

if you do not mention when questioned something

which you later rely on in court.

It's a very sad situation, and it's very unfortunate, but she

accepts what's happened today, she accepts what's happened at the vet's,

and it is sad, and it wasn't the outcome that we wanted by any means.

The RSPCA doesn't just look after pets.

Every year they rescue and treat over 16,000 wild animals.

East Winch in Norfolk is one of the UK's biggest wildlife

rehabilitation centres.

At East Winch, we rescue, we rehabilitate,

we release British wildlife.

We get normally about 4,000 to 5,000 in every year.

The team here is led by hands-on centre manager, Alison Charles.

It's unusual, my job, because, I mean, most managers

don't go hands-on,

go into the kitchen and prepare feed, or anything like that.

But for me, it's important that I'm with the staff.

And at busy times, you know, the animals are most important,

the paperwork can wait.

From dusk till dawn, 365 days a year,

the centre helps all species of British wildlife.

There isn't really a typical day,

you never know what's going to turn up, it could be absolutely anything.

I start normally at 8.00, and it ends when it ends.

It's dirty, it's messy, it's certainly not glamorous.

The wildlife is very demanding, it's not easy and they are sick

as well, so it's not just that you have to feed them, clean them,

you have to try and get them well, you are rehabilitating them.

The team treat thousands of birds here every year.

But yesterday, a patient with a rather unusual injury was

admitted, needing emergency care.

Veterinary officer Mhairi Fleming is looking after it.

This buzzard here can't fly,

he seems to have some broken feathers on his right wing.

The buzzard came in from Lincolnshire, and he was found in a

field, and all his primary feathers and his tail feathers were cut off,

so, quite bizarre, we've never seen anything quite like that before.

I'm just checking the long bones just to feel for any

fractures or dislocations.

For some reason, the feather have just been bent and broken off.

It's an unusual injury.

But when the buzzard is X-rayed, the puzzle starts to unravel.

So this bird has been shot.

Buzzards are sometimes targeted

because they're thought to feed on game birds.

Mhairi thinks the shot wound will be fine,

but she's not sure how the feathers have been broken.

Seems to be only the one piece of shot,

so we may be able to get away with this.

What we'll do is cover him with some antibiotics,

and then have a think about trying to fix his feathers.

The buzzard is taken away for treatment.

But for now, a new patient needs urgent attention.

Hiya. What have you got here?

One goose. With fishing line, round its leg.

The Canada goose was brought in by an inspector, and had horrible

fishing line all round its leg, so in a bit of a poor state, really.

Oh, that looks nasty.

The surrounding Norfolk waterways are popular with anglers and sadly,

that means East Winch sees its fair share of fishing-related injuries.

You can see that the fishing line's gone all the way round,

and it's digging into the leg and cutting off the circulation,

causing swelling.

Mhairi begins the careful job of unwinding the fishing line

that is cutting into the Canada goose's leg.

It's just like cheese wire, so as soon as it wraps round the leg,

it just digs in deeper and deeper

until it cuts through the tissues, which is what's happened here.

It remains to be seen whether this leg swelling's going to go down

back to normal or not.

Unfortunately, sometimes they are left with a compromised leg,

but only time will tell.

The trouble with fishing line is that, yeah,

eventually, you'll amputate limbs because it just slices

through their skin and then through their tendons and muscle.

And it's just a really horrible injury. And just so unnecessary.

Hopefully, this goose has been rescued in time.

With its leg now free, the wound can be treated and left to heal.

Six weeks later, there's a fluttering of feathers

and exciting news from the centre's aviary.

The grounded buzzard that was brought in after being shot

has undergone treatment to get airborne again.

Both wings and his tail feathers were gone.

So he couldn't actually fly, and we obviously couldn't release him.

And the only options were put him

to sleep or try to imp his feathers. And imping is where you put feathers

from a dead bird into the existing feathers on a bird that's alive.

And you use a bit of superglue and a little bit more dead bird feather

to attach the two together, so it's a bit like having hair extensions.

But obviously much better. And it enables him to fly.

And the buzzard's fancy new feather extensions

seem to be working a treat.

When he moults his feathers normally, those sort of extra bits

will be lost and he'll get his proper feather through, and

when we're 100% happy with him, then we'll release him.

And for Alison and the team,

releasing animals back into the wild is what it's all about.

At a nearby lake, it's time for the Canada goose

and its mate to spread their wings again.

The goose's leg has healed from the fishing line injury

and it's fully fit.

Off you go.

So bottom-first, it heads back to where it belongs.

Not all releases are plain sailing though.

This heron is also ready to go.

But only if Alison can get her hands on it.

It's tricky catching herons.

They're wildlife, they're scared, they're in a strange place.

So we just go in there quietly and not get bitten,

or not get scratched, and certainly try not to get pooed on.

It may be fast now, but when it arrived,

it was seriously ill after colliding with a boat.

We try to make it as fast and as smooth as we can,

cos it's a big day for the heron.

He's going back into the wild, and after being so sick

and, you know, you want to make it as smooth as possible.

Which, that was very good, so very pleased with that.

You never quite know with herons, whether they're really fit enough,

whether they'll sit on the ground, whether he'll fly well,

what he'll do.

So it's a bit of an interesting one when you release herons.

The heron's just one of around 1,000 birds Alison

and her team return back to the wild every year.

I love wildlife and I love being able to put it back out in the wild.

To know that you've done the best you can while they're in care,

when they're sick, injured and probably quite scared,

and then you've returned them to the wild in a fit, healthy state,

it's just fantastic.

He's looking fabulous. He's going to get a second chance

at survival now, so hopefully he'll be fine.