Episode 1 Rhys to the Rescue

This is incredible.

'Want to see some of Wales's wildest animals?

'You've come to the right place.

'My name is Dr Rhys Jones, and I'm based at Cardiff University's School of Biosciences.'

It's quite rigid.

'I'm licensed to handle some of the country's rarest and most dangerous animals.'

We've got it, we've got it, OK, everybody stay still.

'And if you find a snake in your bathroom,

'I'm the man the authorities will call in to help you.'

SIREN

'But it's not just snakes. I'm licensed to work with everything from owls...

'to iguanas...'

Oh! My ear!

'..chimps...

'to seals.

'Because I love the scaly, the furry, the crawly and the unknown.'

-What did you think you've seen?

-A black panther.

THEY GASP AND LAUGH

My God!

'And I can help you to love them too.

'In this episode of Rhys To The Rescue...'

This is wet, he's just sloughed his skin.

'There's a squatter in an Abertridwr bathroom.'

-Are you OK?

-Yeah.

-LAUGHTER

'I get my claws into a big cat mystery.'

-Up there.

-We've got a little footprint here.

Look at that.

'And try to save a terrified chimpanzee from going ape.'

They're not there to hurt you, they're there to play.

'Abertridwr in the South Wales Valleys,

'and I'm heading to an emergency call-out that sounds like most people's worst nightmare.'

'It's a couple with an unwanted intruder in their bathroom -

'a live snake.'

Hiya, Rhys Jones, nice to meet you. What happened?

I went to the toilet and saw a snake on the bath.

-What, just sitting there?

-Yeah, doing nothing.

-This isn't your snake, is it? Just to make clear.

-No, we've never had a snake.

-And you don't know, have any of your neighbours got snakes, or...?

-No.

We've only been here three, four weeks, anyway.

I don't know the neighbours at all much, so I couldn't tell you.

-So you've just moved here three, four weeks ago.

-Yes.

So there's a real possibility the snake could have actually been here all that time,

-and you weren't aware of it.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

That's very, very interesting.

So, I could really do with a description.

-It was about 36 inches, something like that.

-OK.

-It's sort of this colour.

-Right.

-But a bit lighter than this, and I think it's a python.

-OK.

Because of his markings, and he's an albino, because he had red eyes and a red tongue.

-OK.

-He was sniffing me, you know.

-Let's have a look, see what we're dealing with here.

'Donna and Anthony live in a rented property,

'and the housing association have sent manager Karen

'and handyman Andrew in case we have to dismantle the bathroom.

'The only hitch is, Andrew's terrified of snakes.'

If I can give you a call, all right, to follow me in if need be.

-If not, stay safe.

-Yeah.

-OK.

MENACING MUSIC

-'It appears that this snake has gone to ground, but where?'

-He went down the back of that last night.

This is going to be where he's gone, he's gone through here, hasn't he?

-Yes, he went down there.

-And I really think that needs to come off. Thank you.

How many times have you been called out to do this, then?

-I've worked for a few snakes in my time.

-RHYS LAUGHS

-I've got a horrible feeling we're going to need to take more than that off.

-Yeah.

It could well mean we've got to remove the panels on the side of the bath as well

to get access to where he is, and just hope he's still in the area.

-There's a skin down here.

-Yeah, there's a snake skin there. So he has been here a while, Anthony.

This is wet, he's just sloughed his skin. That's why he's come out, because he's hungry.

-This hasn't even had time to dry.

-So it's a pretty long one.

-Yeah, this is what we're dealing with.

-It's got to be about four foot.

-Yeah.

Just shows you, doesn't it, eh?

This looks like a rat snake we're dealing with. They're not venomous, but they can bite.

It all depends. If he's very hungry and a little bit upset, yeah... This is going to be fun.

OK, Anthony, pull that away for me. As quickly as you can.

Right, let's have a look.

Ooh!

Oh, where, where, where? Just on the top... Got it, got it, got it. Got it, OK, everybody stay still.

Stay still, stay still.

Yeah, albino rat.

Are you all right?

Everybody back and safe? OK.

Stay still, stay still.

There. There we are.

-Oh!

-That's it?

-I knew I weren't going...

-No, you weren't going nuts at all.

He's fine, no, he's not going to cause any harm.

It's a little corn snake, it is. He's probably more frightened than you are!

-HE LAUGHS

-Are you OK?

-Yeah.

So what he's done, he's come out to your bathroom, nice damp place,

he's shed his skin.

There we go.

Hello! Wow.

'Corn snakes, a type of rat snake, are native to North America.

'They're very varied in their colours,

'and albino corn snakes are not at all unusual.

'They're non-venomous and quite docile, which makes them very popular pets here in the UK.'

I'm going to put him in a bag now, so that he can calm down.

He's had the most traumatic time of all.

Us running around and frightening him.

That wasn't a bad Rhys To The Rescue, was it?

'While I leave Donna and Anthony

'with a little memento of their memorable day,

'I take the corn snake back to my place for a little TLC.

'Starting with a welcome meal.'

He probably hasn't eaten for weeks and weeks.

But he's in very good condition.

So he's obviously been previously loved and very well looked after.

And my guess is he's escaped his tank.

They're very good at doing that.

And ended up in Anthony's bathroom.

He can eat something physically three times wider than his head.

He's certainly wolfing that down, as well.

'Until I can rehouse him, this cute little fellow will join the rest of my rescue menagerie,

'which currently includes 17 snakes, three lizards,

'and a ferret called Oscar.

'From the stuff of nightmares to the stuff of legend.

'From the Beast of Bont to the Beast of Bangor.

'Every year, Welsh police deal with multiple big cat sightings.'

What's that?

'The people reporting them genuinely believe they've seen a big cat,

'but the reality is, in the vast majority of cases,

'they've caught a glimpse of a dog, a deer, a fox,

'or just a plain old tabby.'

Hiya, Mark.

'So when wildlife crime officer PC Mark Goulding calls on his day off

'with a spate of credible sightings in a South Wales forestry block,

'I know there's something to investigate.'

I've had a call from the Forestry Commission.

There's been a number of sightings made by a number of the rangers,

and someone from a local mountain bike centre, saying they've seen a feline creature walking round.

-As you know, we've had vultures dumped up here in the forestry previously.

-Yeah.

All sorts of things are dumped up here.

Crime does take place in the forestry,

so if it's likely that somebody's dumped something feline,

maybe a lynx, then this is a likely place to do it.

'Our first port of call is an eyewitness account from Andrew Cox,

'manager of the nearby mountain bike centre.'

Just before it was getting dark, I saw quite a large animal,

-I only saw the rear end of it...

-OK.

And it was about the size of a large dog, with a long tail,

quite a... Probably a foot and a half, maybe a bit longer,

didn't look like a fox, it certainly wasn't a deer,

-it certainly wasn't a badger or anything like that.

-Yeah.

-Could have been a large dog...

-OK.

But the tail was far too big and fluffy.

I mean, my first thought was, "That's a large cat."

-Yes, OK.

-Disappeared into the forest as soon as it heard me coming.

I've just got one last question for you.

If you had to put your money down on what you saw...

I would say a large cat that didn't belong in this country,

possibly escaped from somewhere, possibly dumped.

I don't know, people say a black panther? I don't know.

I wouldn't put any money on it,

but I'd say it certainly wasn't something I was used to seeing round here.

'Andrew is a very credible witness.

'But what are the chances of a big cat being at large

'in a Welsh forest?

'Hypothetically, it is possible.

'A big cat dumped by a private collector

'would find it easier to survive in Wales's extensive forestry block

'than, say, Bodmin Moor.

'But speculation is cheap and easy. Mark and I are looking for hard facts.

'To start, is there any evidence of a large mammal living in these woods?'

-I guess this is a clear deer trail...

-Mm-hm.

-..that if you're a predator, you're going to want to watch.

-We've got something here.

-What's that?

-We've got a little footprint.

-That's a rounded footprint, isn't it?

-That's a domestic cat, by the look of it, so...

-That is really, really surprising.

-It's not a big cat, mind!

-HE LAUGHS

This far up? Is that possible?

Cats, especially, you know, it doesn't take anything for them to revert back to their wild state.

I mean, that's not without the realms of possibility.

-That's what I'm getting out, yeah.

-Interesting. OK.

'So is our big cat a domestic tabby gone rogue?

'Too early to say. We just need to keep gathering evidence,

'and following my scientifically trained nose.'

That's badger, to me.

I'll tell you why, look. Lots of little beetles, could be fox,

but beetles in like that, and...

-Well, what we know is it's definitely not dog, is it?

-No, no.

Possibly fox, but if it is, it's a big fox!

It's a very big fox.

I'm really liking this area, you know.

Yeah, this looks quite good.

This is a deer highway, you know.

Aah, look at that.

-Well, we've got this one here.

-I think that's still deer.

-You get a lot of information from the smell.

-OK.

-It can be very musky, and depending on the time of year,

you can work out exactly what the animal's been eating.

I thought that's why you brought me along, to do all that.

-It's quite herby, isn't it?

-Exactly. So what would you deduce from that?

-It's a vegetarian.

-Probably, yeah.

Look at that. That is animal scratches.

That's a claw.

-I think what's also of note, Rhys, is look...

-Yeah.

-All the bark...

-Scratched off.

This is obviously an area where an animal is coming to quite often.

-OK.

-It'll be interesting to find out what animal that is.

I'll do the messy bit, if you like.

'Time to get out the trail cams and the pork chops.

'Chops to tempt our mystery animal,

'and cameras to catch it in mid-feast.'

That's good.

That's ideal, isn't it, there.

So any animal which is coming in is going to investigate this pork here,

it's going to break this beam,

and hopefully we'll get an image of our mystery animal.

'Only time, and our two cameras, will tell.'

'When I'm not yomping around hilltops in search of big cats

'or rescuing snakes from people's bathrooms,

'I spend the majority of my time undertaking scientific research.

'As a fellow of Cardiff University, I get to work with everything,

'from snakes in the lab...'

This is Cathalina the cat snake, and yes, she's venomous.

'..to rhinos in the field.

'And I'm incredibly privileged

'in that my work takes me all around the world,

'not only as a biologist, but also as a licensed wildlife handler,

'and as an animal behaviourist.'

There's a mutual respect going on here.

'But often, my greatest and most unexpected opportunities

'occur right here in Wales.'

As a fellow of Cardiff University,

I work within a division of the School of Biosciences called Organisms and Environment.

Part of our responsibility is the conservation of primates, and that includes chimpanzees.

I've just been given a golden opportunity

to work with chimpanzees here in Wales,

A, because I'm an expert animal handler, and B, because I'm a bit of an expert with poo.

'This is the Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary in the Swansea Valley.

'It is home to a menagerie of unwanted and abused animals,

'rescued from zoos and private collections around the world.

'They include gibbons and lemurs from the UK,

'and baboons from the war-torn Lebanon.

'In total, proprietors Jan and Graham Garen care for over 300 rescued animals.

'Graham has just left Wales on his latest rescue mission,

'a 4,000-mile round trip to Bulgaria to rescue Billy,

'a 30-year-old chimpanzee.

'Accompanied by colleague and amateur cameraman Mike Williams,

'Graham has driven his primate rescue ambulance across Europe

'to the Stara Zagora Zoo in Bulgaria.

'Like many cash-starved zoos in the former Soviet bloc,

'Stara Zagora is full of neglected animals,

'kept in stark and unstimulating conditions.

'Billy the chimp's story is heartbreaking.

'He spent half his life in a travelling circus,

'and the other half in this cage.

'Billy hasn't seen another chimp for 15 years,

'and after all that time in isolation, he craves attention and affection.'

Come on.

Ah! What's the matter?

'Graham is bringing Billy back to Wales for a better life,

'but before the journey begins, and for his own safety, Billy needs to be anaesthetised.

'Bulgarian-style.

'The anaesthetic won't last long,

'so it's a dash to get him securely caged inside the ambulance.

'Graham and Billy hit the road, and I join the preparations for their arrival.

'What Billy doesn't know is that when he gets to his new home,

'he won't be alone.

'He's going to meet two other rescue chimps -

'Bimbo and Tubman.

'The hope is, after a period of adjustment, they'll all be happily housed together.

'But it won't be easy.

'In the wild and in captivity, chimpanzees are highly socialised animals.

'They live in groups, and they interact and bond with one another,

'but they're also very territorial, and they can be very violent,

'attacking and even killing any intruding chimpanzee.

'Whilst there's no way we'd let that happen here,

'part of my role is to assess whether Tubman and Bimbo will make good companions for Billy.

'Head keeper Nicola introduces me.'

Come on, then. Don't be shy. This is Bimbo.

-Hello, Bimbo.

-And this is Tubman.

-Hello, Tubman.

-Basically, Billy will be into an empty bedroom first of all?

-Yes.

-Until we can assess how well he's doing.

-He'll have the run of the two rooms during the day.

-OK.

Bimbo and Tubman will be able to come back into the day room. They'll have the day room and the outside,

so they'll see each other through the door.

Right, you two...

There we are. Good.

'As an animal behaviourist, I'm looking for signs of aggression and dominance in these two,

'but apart from some questionable table manners, these chaps are very passive and easy-going.

'It's a good sign.'

It depends how Billy behaves when he sees chimps for the first time.

He might be totally freaked out, he might be really excited and pleased to see them.

We'll just have to see how he is.

OWL HOOTS

EXCITED CONVERSATION

'It's 2:00am by the time the ambulance finally arrives at the Sanctuary.'

Well done, Graham.

'And I get to clamp eyes on Billy for the first time.'

Hello! This is your home.

He's lovely.

Something here that might be of interest to him.

Billy, would you like some apple? There we go, my friend.

He's a very, very gentle chimpanzee indeed, isn't he?

'We all agree to get a couple of hours' shut-eye

'before introducing Billy to his new enclosure.'

CHIMPANZEES SCREECH

'Three hours later, and Billy's new home and playmates await him.

'Graham wakes Billy up...'

What's out there?

What's out there?

'..and I get his new digs ready.'

Just making him a little bed in the corner here.

To be honest, it doesn't really matter where I put anything.

Billy's going to come in here and rearrange his new enclosure to suit him.

OK, let's go and get Billy out.

'Cute as he is, Billy's still a wild animal,

'so we're transporting him, cage and all, to his new digs.'

Oh, fantastic!

Hello!

Hello!

Oh...

He has got to be so happy.

'Bimbo and Tubman are brought into the adjacent day room.

'But will they stop monkeying around long enough to notice Billy?

-BILLY SCREECHES

-'Oh, yes.'

-That's the first noise he's made since we've...

-Yeah, excitement to see another chimp.

-What's that, mate?

-Isn't that... Oh, look at the grin! Which shows he's really happy.

-Oh, look!

-What's he doing?

Well, they're quite calm, actually, there's not too much screaming.

Although they're banging about a bit, it's just...

-BANGING

-..excited to see each other.

Billy's jumping about, there's a little bit of banging,

-but nothing to what a chimp could be.

-No.

'Whilst Billy settles in, I've got one last test to perform.'

I'm going to take a small poo sample from Billy's cage,

and it'll just help us to assess how healthy he is.

'I'll analyse Billy's poo

'to make sure there's no sign of infection or disease.

'Until I can give him the all-clear, he'll have to remain alone.

'But I'll be back for the moment Billy gets to end his years of isolation,

'and meet his new companions face to face.'

BILLY SCREECHES

Aah, that's great to see, really successful.

'Meanwhile, back on Big Cat Mountain,

'it's been two weeks since we left the trail cams.

'Time to return and see what we've got.'

Timer is on.

Where's the bait gone?

It's gone.

There are some big, big scrams here, and none of these were here previously.

Something has clearly gone up and leant, hasn't it?

Leant and pulled out from here.

This is something big enough

to have actually grabbed the meat and yanked it out,

so we're looking at a big animal.

'Well, that's my considered theory, anyway.

'But what does the camera say?'

-It's not quite dark, is it?

-No.

-Oh!

-Oh, yeah.

-We got a jay.

Can't be a jay that's snacking on that, can it?

-No!

-No!

-No way!

-That was not one of our suspects to take the meat.

-No.

That's ridiculous! We have a bird eating pork chops.

It's incredible! How much meat can this bird eat?

There we are - what can this be? It's been torn away.

What can possibly have taken that piece of meat? A jay.

People, though, are clearly not mixing up

a jay with some type of feline-looking creature.

-So you know what this means.

-Set the cameras up.

We've got to set the cameras up again. Come on.

'We'd barely had time to reset

'when we got wind of another big cat sighting.

'This time, Nigel, a forestry worker,

'has seen something feline in the woods.'

-What do you believe this animal to be?

-A black panther, a black leopard.

-OK.

-With his tail as long as me.

The latest one I saw on the back side of the mountain,

three stags came out shaking their heads

and going in different directions trying to get away.

And he came out, looked at me,

and me and him had eye contact for seconds.

It seemed longer. Must have taken my eyes for a second.

-I looked back, he's gone.

-OK.

If I had to say to you, as a percentage,

-how sure could you be that that was a black panther?

-100.

You're absolutely adamant in your mind what you saw was

-a black panther?

-I've got very good eyes.

'Nigel believes he's got conclusive evidence too.'

It's an incredibly clean print.

So, what I'd very much like is to get this photograph.

-If you know how to get it out of there, you're welcome.

-Great.

'Whilst the image is clear and compelling, it's not conclusive.

'It could be cat, or a dog, or a fox.

'What it needs is some scientific scrutiny.

'Actually, there's a really simple way to tell

'if a paw print is feline or canine.

'All you need are two plaster casts and the X factor.'

What I've brought to the table, a Labrador print.

-What have you brought?

-Tiger.

-Yours is bigger than mine. OK.

If we look at a cat print like this, you can see that the digital pads

are really spread here, and we've got the metacarpal pad here.

-There's three very distinct lobes here.

-Yeah.

Now, the X test, if we were to bring

an acetate of an X here, we try and fit that over a cat print.

I can't get that to fit that print. It won't work.

-So you're trying to get the cross in the gaps?

-Absolutely.

And that's not going to fit.

Now, if we were to look at a Labrador cast,

it fits very nicely straightaway.

Clearly, I can dissect straight through the middle.

-This is dog, it works even better on fox.

-OK.

-X marks the spot, then.

-It does indeed.

'But what's the X factor on Nigel's print?

'Well, it has a clear X marked through it,

'and that indicates a dog.

'However, there are no claw marks on the print, and confusingly,

'that could indicate a cat.'

One thing, of course, is that with a dog print,

you normally expect to see the claw marks.

But I think that this print has slipped forward.

As the foot has been put into the mud, it's slipped forward

and to the right, and that's wiped out the claw mark, and it's slid and

rounded, and that's why it's been such a difficult print to recognise.

But to me, I'm completely convinced this is a dog.

Absolutely, I'm in total agreement.

'So, definitely a dog print.

'Then what is it that Nigel

'and all the other forestry workers have reported seeing?'

What's that?!

THEY SHRIEK

Are you going to call the police?

'OK, hands up, this particular footage was faked by us,

'but we're all prone to being disorientated by unexpected

'encounters with animals, especially when they're over in a flash.

'Or glimpsed from a moving vehicle, or witnessed from a distance.

'And our eyes and our imaginations frequently play tricks on us,

'particularly when it comes to perspective.

'That's not to say I disbelieve Nigel and the other witnesses -

'quite the opposite.

'I'm actually convinced they saw something

'out of the ordinary in the forest block.

'What's more - after months of persistence,

'I think Mark and I have the footage to prove it.

'Having left the trail cam in various spots around the forest,

'we captured plenty of evidence of deer.

'But these deer look nothing like the big cat our witness described.

'They're not the size of a large dog,

'and they don't have a big, fluffy tail.

'But I think this beast fits the profile.

'He's an enormous male fox we caught on the trail cam,

'and I'm convinced he's our culprit.

'And this case is closed.

'Four weeks after he arrived at the sanctuary,

'I'm able to give the all-clear on Billy's poo sample.

'It's been years since Billy interacted with another chimp,

'but all being well, today he'll finally get to meet Bimbo and Tubman

'face to face.'

How are your feelings about how Billy is going to interact now?

Well, you can never tell.

They're all right and playful when they've got a barrier between them.

How they'll actually react when there's nothing

is just something you've got to take a chance, and...

Today is going to be the day.

This is it. This is the big moment. Look how excited these two are.

They know Billy's coming out.

CHIMPS SHRIEK

'But before Billy can get out, Bimbo and Tubman roll in.'

It's OK.

That lip curling is fear.

You can all calm down now.

BANGING

Basically, the interaction is going well,

because the other two chimpanzees are not being aggressive towards Billy.

Billy is still putting his fingers through.

He's basically looking for human reassurance.

Situation a lot calmer.

CHIMPS SHRIEK AGAIN

'So maybe I spoke too soon.'

They're trying to be playful with him,

but at the moment, Billy doesn't understand that.

'OK. Time for a different tack.'

What we're hoping now is that by bringing Bimbo

and Tubman out, just into the large enclosure,

that it'll be less stressful and we're hoping that Billy will

gently come out and interact with them in a far larger environment.

Billy, come on! Yes!

This is a very unusual environment for Billy.

Full of new sounds and sights and there's a lot to take in.

'Including Bimbo, who's not one for taking things slowly.

'Obviously wanting to become fast friends,

'he follows Billy back inside.

'And tries to impress him with a few flash moves.

'To begin with, Billy's not impressed. And then...'

That went so well. Did you see how they were gripping?

There's a real interaction going on between these two.

Hey, you're doing really well, aren't you?

You're doing really well.

They're grooming each other now.

That's a social behaviour, so that's great.

We can see that these chimpanzees are really interacting now.

Look at that. Billy has really calmed down now.

It's incredible to think that Billy has only been here four weeks,

and previous to that

he hadn't seen another chimpanzee for over 15 years.

And in that time...

..he's now become habituated to being with other chimpanzees.

It's incredible.

'Next time on Rhys To The Rescue...'

Wow! It's Christmas.

'I get all over-excited about some squiggly slow worms,

'I'm all eyes for two abandoned owl chicks,

'and I help out a damsel in distress.'

-I was scared to death.

-It's very scary.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]