0:00:02 > 0:00:05'Welsh wildlife is under attack
0:00:05 > 0:00:08'and I am on the front line trying to protect it.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14'Our 5,000 native species of bird, mammals...'
0:00:14 > 0:00:15Whoa!
0:00:15 > 0:00:19'..and reptiles are threatened daily by illegal activity...
0:00:19 > 0:00:21Ready? Go, go.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23'..mistreatment...'
0:00:23 > 0:00:26This is neglect on a level that I've never seen.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28'..and alien invaders.'
0:00:28 > 0:00:30That does not look like a happy spider.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34'I'm Dr Rhys Jones
0:00:34 > 0:00:37'and, from my laboratory at Cardiff University,
0:00:37 > 0:00:38'I work with the police...'
0:00:38 > 0:00:41- Hello, police! - Bird in there.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43'..wildlife groups...'
0:00:43 > 0:00:44It's OK.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46'..and concerned members of the public...'
0:00:46 > 0:00:49- SCREAMING - It's plastic, I promise you.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52'..in the fight to save our animals from humans
0:00:52 > 0:00:54'and human from animals.'
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Everybody, stay still. Stay still.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02'And tonight, the heat is on when wildfires force wildlife
0:01:02 > 0:01:03'onto our streets...'
0:01:03 > 0:01:05This is a venomous reptile.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07If somebody gets bitten it could be serious.
0:01:07 > 0:01:08'..I get drilled into some
0:01:08 > 0:01:12'international wildlife crime fighting,
0:01:12 > 0:01:17'and everyone's favourite worst nightmare - venomous spiders.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19- 'And this time...' - Two egg sacs.
0:01:19 > 0:01:20'..they're breeding.'
0:01:28 > 0:01:29Stop, stop, stop, we've got a snake.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Stay. Yeah. Stay, stay, stay.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35'I've been working with wildlife for over 20 years now,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39'and, whilst the majority of that work is done within the UK,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42'I am also fortunate enough to travel the world as a scientist
0:01:42 > 0:01:44'and conservation geneticist,
0:01:44 > 0:01:48'and to work with some of the world's most spectacular...'
0:01:48 > 0:01:50There's a mutual respect going on here.
0:01:50 > 0:01:51'..most dangerous...'
0:01:51 > 0:01:57This is a puff adder. That bites you, you have no idea.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59Your flesh just rots and falls off.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02'..and most threatened animal species.'
0:02:02 > 0:02:05It's all right, sweetheart. Gently, gently.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10'However, it is rare for me to work on a case that has such
0:02:10 > 0:02:14'repercussions both here in the UK and abroad.'
0:02:14 > 0:02:16There are huge problems. Especially...
0:02:16 > 0:02:18'But earlier this year, I was called in to work on
0:02:18 > 0:02:22'a ground-breaking new project that could have a profound impact
0:02:22 > 0:02:25'on the survival chances of one of the world's most
0:02:25 > 0:02:28'critically endangered animals - the African rhino.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35'And it all started in early January,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38'when I received one of the strangest calls I've ever had.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41'It was from wildlife crime officer PC Mark Goulding,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46'asking if I could gather together a drill, some sterile drill bits,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51'some latex gloves and several laboratory specimen tubes
0:02:51 > 0:02:54'and then meet him at a secret South Wales location.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57'I wasn't sure what to make of this
0:02:57 > 0:03:00'but Mark is, after all, an officer of the law
0:03:00 > 0:03:05'and so I assumed whatever he had planned was at least legal.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09'Suitably intrigued, I did as I was asked,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13'which is how I ended up in a drab little room
0:03:13 > 0:03:16- 'at an anonymous location...' - Hi, Rhys.- Hiya.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19'..face to face with one of nature's greatest jewels.'
0:03:19 > 0:03:21We've got some property here, Rhys,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24that we've seized as part of a court case.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27I think you're going to find this really interesting.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32Let's just help the specimen out there.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34'A rhino horn.'
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Look at that. Oh, it's mounted as well.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38How old is this, Mark?
0:03:38 > 0:03:42We think it's pre-1947 and there's a bit of a story to this.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44This went up for auction some two years ago
0:03:44 > 0:03:50and a gentleman from Shanghai bought it via online auction.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53How much do you think he paid for it two years ago?
0:03:53 > 0:03:56£30-40,000? Something like that.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58Yeah, it was £43,000.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00Of course, since then, as you know,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03its value now has practically tripled.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05'In fact, on today's black market,
0:04:05 > 0:04:10'the horn is worth at least £130,000
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'and it has been seized by South Wales Police
0:04:12 > 0:04:16'because the buyer, who bought it in Wales, then tried to export it
0:04:16 > 0:04:19'out of the UK, which is illegal.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22'And here's the reason why.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26'In 2011, a rumour came out of Vietnam that rhino horn
0:04:26 > 0:04:28'could cure cancer.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30'This is, of course, medically and scientifically,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33'complete and utter rubbish.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36'Rhino horn is made entirely of keratin - the same
0:04:36 > 0:04:40'stuff as human nail and hair - and no medical body is suggesting
0:04:40 > 0:04:43'that we bite our nails as a cure for cancer.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46'But this hasn't stopped the demand for rhino horn
0:04:46 > 0:04:48'rocketing in the newly-rich Far East,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50'where an illegal, underground trade
0:04:50 > 0:04:56'uses it as a so-called cure in traditional Asian medicine.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59'The currently demand for rhino horn as an alleged cure for cancer
0:04:59 > 0:05:03'is so great that on the black market it sells for three times
0:05:03 > 0:05:09'the price of gold, leading to an unscrupulous gold rush for rhino.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12'Last year alone, over 1,000 rhino were murdered by armed gangs
0:05:12 > 0:05:16'across Africa, solely for their horn.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19'At current rates, rhino will be extinct in the wild
0:05:19 > 0:05:22'within the next 20 years.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24'But what's that got to do with little, old us
0:05:24 > 0:05:26'in little, old Wales?'
0:05:26 > 0:05:27Come on, sweetheart.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30We want to get as close as we can to the base
0:05:30 > 0:05:33because obviously that's where, presumably,
0:05:33 > 0:05:34the most viable DNA would be.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37'Well. believe it or not, Mark and I are part of
0:05:37 > 0:05:40'the front line fight against this barbaric trade.'
0:05:40 > 0:05:43That's it. Now, this is where I want to go in
0:05:43 > 0:05:47and actually drill down into this section here.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50'How? Well, the black market demand for rhino horn is now
0:05:50 > 0:05:54'so great that, world-wide, including here in the UK,
0:05:54 > 0:05:59'museums, auction houses, private collections and even zoos are being
0:05:59 > 0:06:04'targeted by criminal gangs, intent on stealing their rhino horn.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06'In response, wildlife crime bodies
0:06:06 > 0:06:09'have devised a new way to combat the thieves.'
0:06:09 > 0:06:14What we're doing is, across the UK, every piece of rhino horn -
0:06:14 > 0:06:20museum piece or live animal - we're getting a DNA profile
0:06:20 > 0:06:22done on each piece of horn.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25So that, for me, as a police officer,
0:06:25 > 0:06:32if this was stolen and it was identified in Europe or perhaps Asia
0:06:32 > 0:06:37we can actually trace it by a DNA sample all the way back to this day.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41'Which is where my training as an evolutionary biologist
0:06:41 > 0:06:45'who has carried out hundreds of DNA tests comes into play.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48'Mind you, I've never sampled a rhino horn before.'
0:06:48 > 0:06:52I'm actually a bit nervous cos I'm thinking,
0:06:52 > 0:06:53"This is a lot of money, Rhys."
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Oh, yeah, yeah. The DNA is very delicate
0:06:55 > 0:06:57so we want the cells intact.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59So we have to drill through very slowly,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02very delicately to recover the information.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07- Dr Jones knows best. - Well, hopefully this'll work.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10'Truthfully, I'm a tad nervous myself.'
0:07:10 > 0:07:11- OK.- Yeah.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14'Keratin is a really tough material.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17'If I don't apply enough force, I won't be able to extract
0:07:17 > 0:07:18'a sample cleanly.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21'But if I drill too fast, I could fry the DNA and
0:07:21 > 0:07:26'our hopes for getting to the bottom of this case could go up in smoke.'
0:07:26 > 0:07:28I can't believe we're doing this.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32And the material coming out, it just looks so fresh.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37- It looks the colour of cooked pasta. - There we go. Perfect.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Have a smell of that now, Mark.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44Oh. Actually, that smells exactly like burnt hair.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50'Whilst this horn is heading back to its high-security lock-up,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54'I'll be taking these samples to my lab at Cardiff University,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57'where hopefully I'll not only profile the DNA
0:07:57 > 0:08:01'but also determine the species of rhino it came from.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09'Springtime in Wales guarantees three things -
0:08:09 > 0:08:12'stunning landscapes,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14'glorious nature
0:08:14 > 0:08:17'and wild fires.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21'Lots and lots of wildfires.'
0:08:21 > 0:08:22Over the weekend,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26fire crews were called to 69 grass fires across South Wales
0:08:26 > 0:08:28which were started deliberately.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32'In fact, so many of them that the South Wales valleys have eight times
0:08:32 > 0:08:35'the amount of grass and forest fires each spring
0:08:35 > 0:08:38'as the whole of the rest of the UK combined.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43'And, sadly, the majority of these fires are started deliberately.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47'And, whilst the danger to human life is readily apparent,
0:08:47 > 0:08:50'there's also a devastating price for our wildlife.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55'Reptiles are particularly vulnerable.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58'Slow worms, adders, lizards, grass snakes -
0:08:58 > 0:09:01'they're not as fast and agile as you might think.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03'They can't fly away like birds,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06'or run over rough terrain like foxes or badgers
0:09:06 > 0:09:10'so they're often trapped with no hope of escape.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13'Once a fire is out, I'll go in and see
0:09:13 > 0:09:15'if anything has managed to survive.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20'I'll relocate any lucky reptile to a safer nearby area.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22'But quite often, I'm just too late.'
0:09:22 > 0:09:27That was a slow worm. Absolutely cooked right through.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29It's solid.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34'Thankfully, there are some lucky wildfire wildlife escapes although
0:09:34 > 0:09:39'perhaps the animal in my next case might not totally agree with me.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41'A wild fire in the Sirhowy Valley
0:09:41 > 0:09:45'led to a call from the village of Cwmfelinfach.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48'Locals reported an adder slithering down their terraced street.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51'By the time I arrived, there was a welcoming committee
0:09:51 > 0:09:54'and the snake had apparently taken up residence
0:09:54 > 0:09:57'in the brickwork of one of the end-of-terrace houses.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01'The snake had a reluctant new next-door neighbour.'
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Jackie, the snake is right next door to you. What happened exactly?
0:10:05 > 0:10:07When were you first aware the snake was here?
0:10:07 > 0:10:12Well, my son called me out and it was just by there.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14I couldn't get over it.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17- Literally on the pavement here? - No. Well, just down by there.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21OK. Right. Was it travelling in a direction or was it curled up or...?
0:10:21 > 0:10:24- No, slithering around. - OK, slithering down.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26So if it was in this direction,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28- it was coming from further up the street.- Yeah.- OK.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31You can smell a lot of smoke around here. Is there a fire in the area?
0:10:31 > 0:10:33Yeah, there has been, yeah.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Yeah? What's happened? In the local forestry here?
0:10:35 > 0:10:37Not this mountain, the other mountain.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40OK, so wildlife could have been pushed out from where it would
0:10:40 > 0:10:45- be normally...- Yes.- ..and it's now in this hole over here.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49OK, guys, can I just say, seriously a minute, OK? This is a venomous
0:10:49 > 0:10:53reptile so, please, nobody coming close if the animal comes out.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55They're not aggressive.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58The reality is, if somebody gets bitten, it could be serious
0:10:58 > 0:10:59so let's just make sure
0:10:59 > 0:11:02everybody stays out the way and we stay as quiet as we can, OK?
0:11:04 > 0:11:06How on earth are we going to get in there?
0:11:06 > 0:11:08I can only suggest we can knock out
0:11:08 > 0:11:10that lump of concrete at the front by there.
0:11:10 > 0:11:11- I'm quite happy to try.- Yeah?
0:11:17 > 0:11:20There's no clear view of any snake yet.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23'Not that I'm surprised about that.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26'Adders have this reputation for being big and aggressive
0:11:26 > 0:11:30'and deadly - bite first, ask questions later.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32'But nothing could be further from the truth.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36'They're shy and retiring and a fully-grown adult will grow
0:11:36 > 0:11:40'to no more than 90cm, and an adder will go out of its way to avoid
0:11:40 > 0:11:44'any kind of contact with any humans, their dogs or their horses.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49'Unfortunately, they're so good at hiding out of the way
0:11:49 > 0:11:52'and blending into their environment that the only time most of us
0:11:52 > 0:11:56'will ever encounter one is if we accidently stand on one.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59'Hence the bad reputation. Because, of course,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02'they are our only venomous reptile and, whilst the last person to die
0:12:02 > 0:12:06'of an adder bite in the UK was almost 50 years ago,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09'any bite can be fatal for dogs and horses.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12'And, for humans, it's a definite hospital job.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16'So I need to be careful where I put my fingers.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18'Time to get out my inspection camera
0:12:18 > 0:12:21'also known as a see-snake cam.'
0:12:22 > 0:12:24It's going back quite far now.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29The hole is at least that deep
0:12:29 > 0:12:33and it goes off in a little canal to the right.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Let's see what we've got to the left here.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39'Here snaky, snaky, snaky.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42'Actually, there are so many nooks and crannies here,
0:12:42 > 0:12:46'it's like looking for your car keys down King Solomon's mine.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48'Luckily, I've got an even better idea
0:12:48 > 0:12:52'that I know homeowner Tony's going to love.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54'Maybe not.'
0:12:54 > 0:12:56Right, that's the outside wall.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00Let me have a look from there first.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03That's incredible how far that goes.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08The unfortunate thing is that you've not only got the enormous area,
0:13:08 > 0:13:10it's all filled with rubble.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14You could hide a dog down here, never mind a snake.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16'Come on. No excuses, Jones.'
0:13:16 > 0:13:19'Having wrecked Tony's living room, as well as his rendering,
0:13:19 > 0:13:21'I wasn't about to give up that easily.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23'I figured we'd wait for it to get dark
0:13:23 > 0:13:27'and for the street to quieten down and we'd give it another go.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30'This time, we were joined by Tony's lovely
0:13:30 > 0:13:33'but rather terrified wife Emma, who was so scared of snakes
0:13:33 > 0:13:36'she was reluctant to stand anywhere near her own home,
0:13:36 > 0:13:38'let alone step back inside it.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42'Especially when I finally located the adder.'
0:13:42 > 0:13:45He's on the shelf behind that brick.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50- Is it OK?- Yeah. There's a ledge there and that's where it's sat.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52You're up on this shelf, aren't you, my dear?
0:13:52 > 0:13:54Yes, you are.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56Where is it?
0:13:56 > 0:13:57There we go.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00That's amazing. I don't know how she can feel.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02She's really scared at the moment.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Me and her together!
0:14:05 > 0:14:09- But you can see she's not a scary animal, look, is she?- No.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12'This adder is another young, frightened female,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16'but, as long as she's left alone, of absolutely no danger to anyone.'
0:14:16 > 0:14:18You know, when I first came down here,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20you just thought that this snake was going to take you out,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23- it was going to attack you. - It was going to kill me.
0:14:23 > 0:14:30I truly, truly, truly believed that it was going to bite me and kill me.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32I was like, "I'm going to die.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35"I'm going to have a coronary here and now in the street.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38"I am going to die." That's all I could think to myself.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Now, here I am, thinking I'm going to stand guard tonight
0:14:41 > 0:14:44in case someone's drunk coming past and they're going to step on it.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47There's little more we can do today now.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Tomorrow morning, she can make her escape from here straightaway.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55You've seen already that she's constantly checking the front to see
0:14:55 > 0:14:58if the way is clear just to get out here.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03I'm quite happy to leave her be for tonight and you look the same
0:15:03 > 0:15:04so shall we call it a night?
0:15:04 > 0:15:08- Yes.- Yeah.- Thank you very much. - Not at all.- Thank you.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12'Mercifully, Emma didn't have to stay out all night diverting
0:15:12 > 0:15:15'passing drunks and she called me the following morning to say
0:15:15 > 0:15:17'she had watched the adder leave its bolt hole
0:15:17 > 0:15:21'and safely make for the woods at the bottom of her street.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28'Earlier in the programme, I was called to a secret location
0:15:28 > 0:15:32'to sample a rhino horn seized by South Wales Police.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35'And I'm now visiting another secret location
0:15:35 > 0:15:37'to sample more rhino horn
0:15:37 > 0:15:40'as this story has come to an unexpected head.'
0:15:43 > 0:15:46OK, that's the biggest specimen I've had to date, that's for sure.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50But it's the same as before - drill in to the side of the horn
0:15:50 > 0:15:52and get a valid sample.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58'In the short space of time between drilling the original horn,
0:15:58 > 0:16:03'I've been visiting museums and collections up and down Wales.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07'I've got out my drill, gloves and specimen tubes
0:16:07 > 0:16:11'to sample over £2 million worth
0:16:11 > 0:16:15'of horn, skulls and bones
0:16:15 > 0:16:18'at a series of secret locations.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21'And if you think the secrecy is all a bit cloak and dagger
0:16:21 > 0:16:24'and James Bond silly, think again.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27'In the same period I've been collecting these samples,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29'there have been more rhino horn raids,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32'including the home of dancer Michael Flatley,
0:16:32 > 0:16:33'whose African Room was hit
0:16:33 > 0:16:37'while he and his family were in another part of the house.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42'I'm taking all of my samples to the ancient DNA laboratory
0:16:42 > 0:16:46'at Cardiff University, where I hope to create profiles for each one.'
0:16:48 > 0:16:50- OK?- OK. You're done.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53'DNA-profiling is nothing like the instant revelations
0:16:53 > 0:16:54'of CSI programmes.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58'It's actually a long and laborious process.'
0:16:58 > 0:17:03OK, 540 microlitres of ATL per sample tube.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06'It takes several steps, over several weeks,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09'and often several attempts to achieve a clean analysis.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14'But, for me, it will all be worth it.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21'And that's because my work with rhino is not just limited to
0:17:21 > 0:17:24'laboratory analysis.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27'For the past 15 years, I've been working as a conservation biologist
0:17:27 > 0:17:32'with rhino on numerous breeding programmes across Kenya.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36'Whilst conservation biologist sounds very posh and important,
0:17:36 > 0:17:38'the reality is quite different.'
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Roll you over then. Roll you over. Right. There we go.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Just making him go to the loo and then we can get the sample.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Excellent. That's as fresh as it gets.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Look at that. That's great.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Right in the middle there, we want. Brilliant.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56'My specialist field is parasitology
0:17:56 > 0:17:58'so my not too glamorous work
0:17:58 > 0:18:02'consists of gathering and checking rhino poo to make sure each
0:18:02 > 0:18:04'individual on a breeding programme is fit and healthy
0:18:04 > 0:18:07'and not suffering from any parasitic diseases.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14'And it was in my capacity as a rhino Doctor Poo that,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16'five years ago, I met Max,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20'an orphaned southern white rhino who was found as a calf
0:18:20 > 0:18:24'beside the body of his mother after she was killed by poachers.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27'At the time, Max was being hand-reared within a large
0:18:27 > 0:18:30'enclosure at Ol Pejeta in northern Kenya.'
0:18:33 > 0:18:34Right at the next roundabout.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40'Two years later, in 2011, I met Max again.
0:18:40 > 0:18:41'And this time, I'm delighted to say,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44'he was roaming free and ready to start breeding.'
0:18:44 > 0:18:47You'll probably notice that Max has been de-horned since I saw him last.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50We've taken them enormous horns off him
0:18:50 > 0:18:53and that's to stop poachers coming.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55It's a major, major problem in the area.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Last year, when I came to see Max, I saw another rhino,
0:18:58 > 0:19:03Jobe, and unfortunately he's no longer with us. Poachers got to him.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06So it's a real, real issue here
0:19:06 > 0:19:09and this is one way you can protect the rhinos.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12'Sadly, I was wrong.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17'Last year, Max was also killed for his pitiful amount of horn.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20'As a true lover of these magnificent animals,
0:19:20 > 0:19:22'Max's death really hit me hard.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24'And I wasn't the only one.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27'Prince William had also met Max
0:19:27 > 0:19:31'and his outrage at his death led to the royals supporting this year's
0:19:31 > 0:19:35'International Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in London.'
0:19:35 > 0:19:38There is not a moment to lose if we are to save the species.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Poachers think they can act with impunity.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44We will show them they are wrong.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46'Ironically, as world leaders met
0:19:46 > 0:19:49'and pledged to fight the crime syndicates behind poaching,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51'I was on my third day in the DNA lab...'
0:19:51 > 0:19:53That's...that's a great sample.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56'..where the work I was doing was also about to
0:19:56 > 0:19:58'take on an international dimension
0:19:58 > 0:20:02'involving a programme that might well prove the last chance
0:20:02 > 0:20:04'to keep rhinos alive in the wild.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12'Meanwhile, there's time for a quick eight-legged call-out.
0:20:12 > 0:20:13'As I'm constantly being reminded,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17'size isn't everything, especially in the world of venom.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21'For example, as a rule, the larger the scorpion and its pincers,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24'the weaker the venom. It's the little ones that often kill.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27'And it's the same rule for snakes.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29'The larger ones can squeeze the life out of you
0:20:29 > 0:20:33'but it's the little ones which can inject a lethal dose.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35'And here's a handy fact to note.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39'A baby snake can pack just as much venom as a fully-grown adult.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45'And, as for spiders, of the 40,000 species scuttling this planet,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48'there are approximately 60 whose venom is
0:20:48 > 0:20:52'medically significant to humans - that is, dangerous.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56'The good news is that none of them are native to the UK.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00'The bad - all 60 are weeny enough to make good stowaways.'
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Well very interesting call-out this morning.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09I'm here on the outskirts of Cardiff at an exotic pet shop.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12They've just been brought a small spider that's been
0:21:12 > 0:21:14recovered from a crate from a gentleman
0:21:14 > 0:21:17who's emigrated from South Africa to here in Wales.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20They have no idea what the spider is.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24It's small, it's widow-like. They'd like a second opinion.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26- Hiya, Simon.- Rhys. - So, tell me your story.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28- Come check this out.- OK.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31So we have a member of the public. He's opened all of his suitcases
0:21:31 > 0:21:34and everything he's brought with him and a spider has crawled out.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Lucky enough, he's managed to capture it and bring it in to us.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40- He thinks it's a black widow. - He thinks it's a black widow, is it?
0:21:40 > 0:21:43OK. Straightaway if you think widow-looking spiders
0:21:43 > 0:21:46from South Africa is something like maybe one of the button spiders.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50- Yeah.- So either brown or black button spiders.- Yeah.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52And you can see the little indentations,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55- little dots on the back there.- On the abdomen.- Yeah, straightaway.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59Normally, you've got red markings on these but if it's an older female -
0:21:59 > 0:22:02this is female - those markings disappear quite rapidly anyway.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Do you know the worrying thing? Since we've had it, it's laid two egg sacs.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09'Oh, a black button spider with young.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11'Talk about the mother lode.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13'The South African black button spiders,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15'of which there are six species,
0:22:15 > 0:22:18'belong to the notorious black widow family.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20'And all six of them pack a neurotoxic bite
0:22:20 > 0:22:22'of medical significance.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26'For most adult humans, a bite means an unpleasant sweaty fever.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30'But for young children and the elderly, it can be quite dangerous.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33'Thankfully, that's very rare.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35'As, it has to be stressed, is the appearance of
0:22:35 > 0:22:37'a button spider on these shores.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40'Currently, the issue in the UK is with the wannabes -
0:22:40 > 0:22:42'the false black widows,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46'whose appearance, but not their venom, imitates the real thing.'
0:22:46 > 0:22:49This is very similar to, like, last year we had the false widow thing.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53The media really went to town on the false widow.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Any small spider they see that even slightly resembles a widow,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59immediately they're phoning the police or phoning us
0:22:59 > 0:23:02panicking they'll be bitten, their children will be killed,
0:23:02 > 0:23:03their dogs will be killed
0:23:03 > 0:23:08when, in actuality, they don't want anything to do with human beings and
0:23:08 > 0:23:12you've really got to put yourself in an awkward position to get bitten.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15'Awkward or not, this girl's coming back to my secure pad
0:23:15 > 0:23:18'to live out her days under lock and key.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20'I just hope those eggs don't hatch!'
0:23:27 > 0:23:31'Back at Cardiff University, word of my rhino DNA work had got out
0:23:31 > 0:23:34'and my colleague, Dr Isa-Rita Russo,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37'took me to one side to let me in on a little secret.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41'Funded by the International Rhino Foundation,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43'she is part of a small team
0:23:43 > 0:23:46'that have also been working on a hush-hush rhino project.'
0:23:46 > 0:23:51- Wow.- And then also if you look at actually sample number...
0:23:51 > 0:23:52'But, unlike my little Welsh effort,
0:23:52 > 0:23:57'they have been studying black rhino across the whole African continent
0:23:57 > 0:24:01'and gathered over 400 samples from both existing populations
0:24:01 > 0:24:05'and those that have already been driven to extinction.'
0:24:05 > 0:24:08This is the first time that we've actually used a geographic-wide
0:24:08 > 0:24:12approach and also the first time that we've actually used extinct
0:24:12 > 0:24:16samples that only exist today in museums
0:24:16 > 0:24:19and then also the extant samples that we still have in the wild.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23We've actually combined the two with each other to see what we've
0:24:23 > 0:24:27had in the past, what we have today and what we have lost in
0:24:27 > 0:24:29the meantime in order to try and save black rhino.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34'What this means in layman's terms is that, for the first time ever,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37'the team have drawn up a comprehensive DNA map
0:24:37 > 0:24:40'of all of the different haplotypes, or genetic breeds,
0:24:40 > 0:24:45'of black rhino that have ever been known to exist.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49'Shockingly, what it also reveals is that, through hunting and poaching
0:24:49 > 0:24:52'in the last 200 years, of the 64 distinct breeds of black rhino
0:24:52 > 0:24:55'that once lived on the African continent,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59'man has already driven 44 to extinction.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02'That's one every five years.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10'Isa-Rita and the team might not be able to personally prevent
0:25:10 > 0:25:13'the poaching but they hope that their database will now
0:25:13 > 0:25:16'provide the foundation of all future black rhino breeding
0:25:16 > 0:25:19'programmes, helping to protect the unique genetic
0:25:19 > 0:25:24'identity of the remaining 20 breeds and also avoiding in-breeding,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27'which would be as fatal to the rhino as the poachers' guns.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35'I return to lab for one final bit of sequencing on my own samples,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37'blown away by what Isa-Rita has told me
0:25:37 > 0:25:41'but also humbled to say that she and her colleagues have asked me
0:25:41 > 0:25:44'if I would like to add my nine little black rhino samples
0:25:44 > 0:25:47'to their 400-plus sample database.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49'I'm honoured beyond words.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54'And so I'd better make sure I don't mess up this last, crucial bit!
0:25:54 > 0:25:57'I've been in and out of the lab for the last five weeks
0:25:57 > 0:26:01'and all that work comes down to this moment.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03'Will I have a positive reading
0:26:03 > 0:26:05'or a blank result?'
0:26:05 > 0:26:10Oh, fantastic! Fantastic. It's worked.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13- HE SIGHS - Sigh of relief, let me tell you.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15These are amazing results.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18It's better than I possibly could have wished for.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22This is our DNA. It's really bright, which means there's a lot of it
0:26:22 > 0:26:25and I'm going to be able to read it quite easily.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27'Actually, considering how hard
0:26:27 > 0:26:29'extracting rhino horn DNA is supposed to be,
0:26:29 > 0:26:33'I think I should get a second opinion from a fellow scientist.'
0:26:33 > 0:26:36- This is perfect. - The negatives are clean.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39- The DNA is vibrant...- It's really good.- ..there's a lot of it.
0:26:39 > 0:26:40It's really good.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45- It's really, really excellent. I am absolutely thrilled.- Wow.
0:26:45 > 0:26:46That's phenomenal.
0:26:46 > 0:26:51'With such clear DNA, Isa-Rita and I were able to compare my samples
0:26:51 > 0:26:53'with the 400-sample dataset
0:26:53 > 0:26:55'and, for the first time, to our knowledge,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59'determine the origin of all nine of my rhino horns.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01'Four of them, including the complete head,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04'were from Kenyan black rhinos.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07'Two of them were not from black rhinos at all.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09'One of them, an Indian rhino
0:27:09 > 0:27:11'and the other, a southern white rhino.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15'The last sample, sadly but perhaps not surprisingly,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17'was from a Namibian rhino
0:27:17 > 0:27:22'of a haplotype or breed now believed extinct in the wild.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24'There's only one set of data left
0:27:24 > 0:27:27'and, as the starting point for this incredible journey had been
0:27:27 > 0:27:31'a phone call from PC Mark Goulding, I thought I'd give him the results
0:27:31 > 0:27:33'from his seized rhino horn in person.'
0:27:33 > 0:27:37One thing we talked about - are both horns from the same animal?
0:27:37 > 0:27:42I can tell you that I sequenced both of the horns, I aligned them
0:27:42 > 0:27:47and they are definitely, with 100% certainty, from the same animal.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52Species? Did you get any kind of result?
0:27:52 > 0:27:53It's black rhino.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Is it really? Well, where's it from?
0:27:56 > 0:27:59With 100% certainty, it's Kenyan.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03And, in all probability, it's a small region of southern Kenya,
0:28:03 > 0:28:06where two national parks appear. It's called Tsavo.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08There's Tsavo East, Tsavo West.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12And that looks to be the area where that black rhino was shot.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16Pleased with the result. It's fantastic, the DNA,
0:28:16 > 0:28:18that we do have a DNA profile.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22But everything else, I know how hard it is on humans.
0:28:22 > 0:28:28How you'll have managed to achieve that from a historical piece,
0:28:28 > 0:28:32you really pulled out the scientific big guns on that one, didn't you?
0:28:32 > 0:28:35That's remarkable. Well done.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38Do you know, despite the very hard work
0:28:38 > 0:28:41that we undertook on that project, there is a real possibility,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45within my lifetime, that the black rhino can go extinct in the wild?
0:28:45 > 0:28:47And the fact is I don't know what we can do about it
0:28:47 > 0:28:51because these criminal gangs are inventing new miracle cures
0:28:51 > 0:28:56from various animal parts now, which are not only from the black rhino
0:28:56 > 0:28:59but from elephant and tiger, even lion,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02and I think the question we have to ask ourselves is
0:29:02 > 0:29:04where do we want this to stop?