Episode 3 Rhys Jones's Wildlife Patrol

-'Welsh wildlife is under attack...'

-SIREN WAILS

'..and I am on the front line trying to protect it.

'Our 5,000 native species of birds, mammals...'

Whoa! '..and reptiles

'are threatened daily by illegal activity...'

Black swan.

'..mistreatment...'

This is neglect on a level I have never seen.

'..and alien invaders.'

That does not look like a happy spider.

'I'm Doctor Rhys Jones,

'and from my laboratory at Cardiff University,

'I work with the police...'

-Hello, police!

-..bird in there.

'..international wildlife groups...'

A little bit of a tank, isn't he?

'..and concerned members of the public...'

-SHE WAILS

-It's plastic, I promise you.

'..in the fight to save our animals from humans...

'..and human from animals.' Stay still!

'And tonight there's monkey business with a mandrill...'

It'll be OK.

'..I have a close encounter

'with one of nature's most elusive mammals...'

-We got one.

-Police!

'.and there's a police pursuit...'

And there's another one there. And another one there.

'..of some persistent poachers

'through the forests of Wales.'

Go, go.

'This is Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary in Abercraf

'at the top of the Swansea Valley.

'Run by my friends Graham and Jan Garen,

'it is full of unwanted primates that have been rescued from zoos,

'laboratories and private collections around Europe

'and the Middle East.

'Graham himself makes regular trips over thousands of miles

'in his ambulance to rescue these apes and monkeys

'from zoos as far apart as Bulgaria and the Lebanon.'

Get his arm up.

'These zoos are either closing, struggling financially,

'or keeping their animals in abject conditions.

'Graham and Jan take it upon themselves

'to offer any unwanted primate a home for life.

'For my part, once Graham brings a primate back to the sanctuary,

'I help in my capacity as an animal behaviourist

'to interpret their body language.'

This lip curling, this is fear.

He's showing a little bit of fear,

but not too much, he's calming down

the lips are coming back down.

-CHIMP CHATTERS

-It's OK, we're here.

'I also interpret their needs

'and, yes, their poo...' Should be enough.

'..when they first arrive at their strange new surroundings

'in the Welsh hills.

'But the latest arrival will be a first for me,

'and for the sanctuary.

'Graham, and his colleague, amateur cameraman Mike Williams,

'are driving to Poland to bring back a mandrill called Titch.

'Titch is an eight-year-old male mandrill.

'Captive-bred, he has spent the whole of his life living on his own

'at a zoo in Eastern Poland.

'And although he's well loved by his keeper, the zoo is no longer able

'to afford to look after Titch, and so Graham has agreed to take him on.

'In preparation for his long journey back to Wales,

'Titch needs to be anaesthetised.

'The anaesthetic will last long enough

'to get him safely from his cage

'to the specially prepared carriage crate

'in the back of Graham's ambulance.

'And as they set off from the zoo, Titch is already coming around.

'By the time they reach the Channel Tunnel,

'he's fully awake and puzzling over his surroundings.

'And bright and early the following morning,

'I'm there to greet him when he arrives at the sanctuary.'

He's looking incredibly calm.

If he was looking nervous or aggressive, he'd be nodding at us

and staring and we're not seeing any of that at all.

-Not yet, anyway!

-He's quite passive. Not yet, yeah!

See how we go, keep our fingers crossed.

If he was looking upset at the moment, he'd be staring at us

and nodding, doing this type of thing, and he's not at all.

If anything, he's looking highly inquisitive and trying to work out,

"What are these people doing?"

There we go, good lad. It's OK, it's OK.

-Good boy.

-It's OK, it's OK.

'Unfortunately for Titch we have to make sure he isn't carrying

'any diseases that might infect the other primates at the sanctuary,

'so he's going to have to spend some time in isolated quarantine.'

Hey, you're OK, you're OK.

'But it's not all bad -

'on the plus side he'll be moving into

'a nice, big, swanky bachelor pad.

'And whilst the landlord won't allow him to bring any girls back,

'it is at least fully furnished with toys and treats.'

You'll be OK now.

Lots of new noises, lots of new friends.

-And in.

-Exactly as expected - the first thing he's done

is gone as high as possible.

So are you going to come down and say hello?

Hey!

He's a little bit stressed - he's pulling at his hair there,

which is a little sign of stress but only periodically

and that's to be expected. He's come into a brand-new environment.

There's lots of new sounds

and he doesn't know where he can run to safety,

he doesn't know what's going to happen next

and just needs a little time to settle in.

'In the wild, mandrills are found

'in the tropical rainforests and savannahs of central west Africa.

'Female mandrills are highly sociable and live in "hordes" -

'enormous groups of anything up to 1,000 individuals.

'But males such as Titch, on the other hand,

'are solitary animals.

'They'll join the hordes for the mating season,

'but otherwise keep themselves very much to themselves.

'Mandrills in the wild are categorised as "vulnerable" -

'deforestation, wars, and being hunted for bush meat

'mean the long-term future of this primate is far from secure.

'Back in Wales, and an hour after his move,

'Titch is settling in to his new bachelor pad.'

This is great news cos Titch has just picked up some food

and if he was stressed, he wouldn't be eating

so he's started to consume some food.

He's settling in, that's great.

We'll see if we can give him a treat. We've got an egg here.

Hopefully, he may even take it off me

and we can develop a bond of trust.

Are you going to come down for this egg?

Look what I've got.

I've got some cherries as well.

Do you want some cherries?

It's just incredible that this big monkey will come over

and he just takes the cherries out of your hands.

An incredibly powerful animal

and yet so delicate.

He finally took his egg.

Titch is really looking like he's really fitting in well.

He's looking very happy

and he's going to be in this enclosure for the next four months,

then he'll be released into his home enclosure

and I'm really looking forward to visiting him throughout that time

and finally seeing him in the freedom of his own space.

'We'll return later in the programme to see how Titch takes the move

'from his indoor bachelor pad to an outdoor Welsh penthouse.

'Brrrrr!'

SIREN WAILS

'People say to me, "Wow, your work, your life, it's so high-octane -

'"exotic animals, dangerous animals, cutting-edge science,

-'"door-knocking crime..."'

-Police, hello!

'and I say, "Yeah, it certainly has its moments."

'But behind the scenes, there's lots of dull desk work.

'And, yeah, lots of poo.'

That's badger. Anyone got any hand wash?

'And when it comes to wildlife crime,

'and setting a trap to catch a thief,

'there's hours, days, weeks, months

'of long, freezing-cold nights out in the worst of winter weather.

'But it's all in the knowledge that the longer you are out there,

'the more chance of catching the criminal red-handed.

'December.

'It's the bleak midwinter,

'but at least Christmas is coming,

'and the good folk are all at home preparing.

'On the other hand, the bad folk are out there thieving, shoplifting,

'and, in the case of wildlife crime, poaching.'

GUNSHOTS

'UK-wide, deer poaching is on the increase.

'As venison meat gets more and more popular,

'especially around the Christmas period,

'there are more and more poachers willing to take a pot shot

-'for an easy buck.'

-GUNSHOT

'And these pot-shot poachers then sell their unlicensed meat

'onto equally dodgy butchers, restaurants and pubs,

'which, as we will see, is not only illegal -

'it's also a threat to human health.

'And one of the national hot spots for poaching

'is the M4 corridor in South Wales,

'which is why, alongside Wildlife Crime Officer PC Mark Goulding,

'officers from South Wales Police,

'and forestry rangers from Natural Resources Wales,

'I'll be spending the first of an inordinate amount

'of my winter nights in the forestry along the M4

'taking part in a UK-wide anti-poaching initiative.'

The way we're going to do this - we've got officers coming in

throughout the evening but we're the kind of starting crew.

Once we're in here, we're going to close the gate.

Where the gate closes, we're going to lay down sand

cos it's clear that whoever is getting into the forest block

are utilising keys. Where they're getting them from, I don't know,

but they've obviously got a key.

So if we put sand traps down, we'll have the vehicle tread pattern

and from a policing point of view, that's evidence.

We'll photograph the vehicle tread

and then we'll start using the thermal-imaging cameras

and we'll see if we've got a vehicle driving round here.

Once we stop that vehicle,

we'll be able to match up the tyre with the entry point.

There is intelligence indicating

that some individuals have been using dogs

and, of course, we have to mindful that deer poachers also use rifles.

Firearms teams are on stand-by, all of the local community teams

are aware of Operation Harriet and also they're on stand-by as well, OK?

Cool.

'We split into teams and agree to rendezvous once it gets dark.

'We will then be joined by additional police crews.

'Mark and I lock the gates and lay the sand-traps in our sector.'

-So that's it.

-Fantastic.

So now, later on tonight, all we need to do is come down here

and see a tyre track across there.

-And we'll know if somebody's entered through the gate.

-Yeah.

'We now head up into the forest to wait and watch.

'Deer are crepuscular animals,

'meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk.

'And when the deer are active, so are the poachers,

'although the obvious question is -

'isn't this just needle in a haystack stuff?

'14% of Wales is woodland, covering over 300,000 acres,

'stretching from Betws-y-Coed in the north,

'to Port Talbot in the south, so isn't this all pointless?

'No, not at all.

'This anti-poaching operation

'involves every police force in Wales and England.

'It has pooled intelligence,

'including names and car numberplates

'and tonight there are police crews

'and rangers out across the whole country,

'including our crews out in South Wales.'

When I was out the other day with the rangers,

they said this area's chronic for poaching.

When you say, Nath, that it's chronic for poaching,

how do they know?

Because they had the shooting a fortnight ago in daylight.

-In daylight?!

-Yeah.

-Goodness me.

-They would have driven up in the car

-and literally just opened fire.

-Out of the window?

Put the window down and just started shooting?

-Yeah.

-Goodness me.

-Just down by here.

'The poachers may be brazen enough to shoot deer in broad daylight,

'but tonight it seems they're staying at home,

'polishing their guns.

'And so, after ten quiet hours in the forest,

'we decide to call it a day.

'But this is far from over.

'Slowly, slowly, catchy poacher -

'and we shall be back to try and do just that

'later in the programme.

'Over the last two decades,

'Welsh wildlife groups have gained a deserved reputation

'for bringing back native wild animals

'from the brink of extinction.

'The red kite is the most celebrated example,

'but otters, red squirrel and osprey numbers

'have all made significant recoveries.

'But there is one shy, secretive, enigmatic water mammal

'whose population has plummeted by over 90% in the last 30 years

'and we are finally making a concerted effort to try and save it.

This is the beautiful Magor Marsh - over 90 acres of prime wetland.

They've got lots of bird life here, teals and herons.

We know from the poo samples, they've even got otter

and once it was a haven

for those mysterious and elusive riverside mammals

made famous by Ratty - the character in Wind And The Willows -

the water vole.

Unfortunately, water vole haven't been seen here for over 12 years.

And the reason the cute but vulnerable water vole

has been disappearing from our waterways,

is that it's been taken out

by our most vicious and predatory alien invader -

the North American mink.

An equal opportunities killer,

the mink will eat anything from ducks to fish.

But their easiest prey is the water vole

who they'll chase down and corner in their burrow.

The dreadful irony about mink

is how they came to overrun our countryside in the first place.

For decades, mink were bred on farms in the UK for their fur.

And whatever your opinion when it comes to animal furs as fashion,

I think we can all agree

that the "freeing" of the occupants of a North Yorkshire mink farm

by animal liberation activists in the early 1980s

wasn't the brightest protest action in human history.

As, over the last 30 years,

the offspring of these escapees,

and another escaped mink,

have gone on to establish themselves in most of the UK's waterways,

and have munched their way

through an estimated 4.5 million water vole in the process.

A vigorous nationwide culling programme

is finally bringing the mink population under control,

which means it's now time for us to help the water vole fight back.

In June, 70 water vole were released here in the Magor Marsh

with a view to reintroducing the species.

Three months later, I've been asked to come along

to survey, to find out how the water vole are doing.

Are they surviving? Are they thriving?

Hopefully we're going to find out.

"Hopefully" being the operative word!

As a conservation scientist,

I'm used to tracking many animals - otters, adders, dormice -

but by far the most elusive animal to set eyes on is the water vole.

I'm looking for pieces of cut vegetation.

Water vole are vegetarian

and they love to cut down some of the big reeds we're seeing here,

they'll cut them down at a 45-degree angle

and it's quite obvious where they've been grazing.

But do you know what?

I believe the easiest way to find out where they are

is just to listen,

because water vole are the noisiest eaters I've ever come across.

I've got to emphasise

just how really difficult it is to see water vole.

Standardly, when we're looking for water vole,

we're only looking for the signs of water vole.

If we're extremely lucky you hear a "plop"

and you see the tail of a water vole

as it shoots down into the water.

(That's a water vole eating - listen, listen, listen!)

CRUNCHING

HE MOUTHS

So that's ear contact made with the voles.

And there's also some visual evidence of their presence.

Great example there, look at that.

You can see that's been sliced at 45 degrees.

And there's a lot of activity,

it looks like there's been a bit of a poo in that area as well.

But can we make actual eye contact with one?

There's a water vole! There's a water vole!

Look at the reeds, look at the reeds. Look at the reeds here!

There he is.

There he is. We actually have a water vole on camera...

..a living, breathing water vole in the Gwent Levels.

We got one!

Did I say just one?

These water voles are like proverbial buses -

the first one appears and then they just kept coming along.

In the end, I catalogue 13 separate water voles

in this one stretch of the Levels.

And just as importantly, I see no evidence whatsoever of any mink.

Now what that means is that I am happy to say

that water vole are doing really, really well here

and we can bolster the numbers of water vole already present

with a release of more animals.

'And to help me do just that,

'I'm joined by Richard Davies of the Environment Agency.'

So, Richard, how old are these water vole?

They're quite young actually.

They've probably only been alive for...just over a month,

they grow really quickly within the seven months.

These are going to be very, very quick and scampering around then?

They will be quite lively and full of energy.

'Better watch my fingers then!'

Here we go. There's a water vole for you.

'These water vole have been captive-bred on a Devon farm

'specifically for release into the wild.

'They might only be a month old

'but they live their lives at hyper-speed.

'They're capable of breeding at three months,

'can produce four litters a year

'and, in the wild, have an average life expectancy

'of just five months.'

Five little water voles ready for release.

So, Richard, this is the release pen,

do you want to explain to me how this works?

This is what we use

to help the voles acclimatise to their new surroundings.

These will stay in this cage for three days.

Once they become acclimatised to the area,

then they can leave and come back as they see fit.

It's a lovely soggy sight - look at that.

'These five water vole are the first of another 80

'to be released into the Gwent Levels over the next two weeks.

'And six months after that steamy summer's day,

'I'm returning to meet the Wildlife Trust's Alice Rees

'at the release site

'to see how the water vole have fared.'

This was it, wasn't it?

It's completely unrecognisable to what it was.

This has all been cut back.

It has. We've cut back all the willow to really open it up

and keep it back down to that natural wetland

that would have been here 50 or 60 years ago.

Since I came here last year, I think it's rained every single day

and everybody's fully aware of all the flooding,

and has that affected the water vole population here,

and especially your programme?

Well, you can expect up to an 80% death rate over winter

with the flooding and with the cold weather,

but actually we hope we don't see as much of that here.

It's difficult to say exactly how many we've got left,

but we've certainly got plenty of signs around

which indicate the population is here and it's thriving.

'And a quick shufty round the marshes

'confirm Alice's conclusions.'

Look at that!

Fresh water vole poo! I think this is absolutely conclusive.

We haven't seen any water vole today,

but if we saw them on every visit,

then they wouldn't be as special as they are.

But we've got some water vole poo there,

we've got feeding signs,

this is fresh feeding activity in this area,

lots and lots of activity, and that is just great news.

So, a big hurrah for the re-introduced water vole.

Now, when are we going to bring back the beaver?

'Earlier in the programme,

'PC Mark Goulding and I began work on an anti-deer-poaching operation.

'In connection with this initiative, we've received a call from a farmer

'who has found the scattered remains of a pregnant fallow deer

'at one of our poaching hot spots.'

What I noticed was, I think it had been shot in the skull,

there was blood on the rips so it wasn't done after it'd died,

-whether there was dogs at it...

-Yeah, dogs maybe.

'It appears that the deer has been shot by poachers,

'brought to ground by their dogs,

'and then butchered for its meat,

'as forest ranger Matt explains.'

They've obviously had the rock up on this bank

and suspended the deer

to perform some sort of rough butchery.

-And "rough" butchery being the operative word.

-Yeah.

The brutality of killing a pregnant deer aside,

poached meat is also a known risk to humans.

'Like cattle, badgers,

'and even domestic cats,

'deer are known to be a reservoir for TB.'

'Can they pass it on to humans?

'Potentially, absolutely - through infected meat.

'So anyone offered a cheap cut of poached venison

'should first reflect that alongside the risk

'of the meat being tainted by unhygienic handling,

'there's also TB to consider.

'Following this incident,

'our next night patrol is in atrocious weather,

'but on the poaching front,

'things are starting to hot up.'

We've just arrived at a gate here

and the gate is open and it's not supposed to be.

Now, we don't want to give our position away with the white camera,

so it's definitely time to switch to night vision.

So they've opened that with a key?

Yeah, that's been opened with a key.

So the question we have here is could this be logging,

or has somebody come in, left it open for a fast exit?

'Whilst logging work is going on in the area,

'this is hardly jolly logging weather.

'And when we check the next gate into the forest block,

'our suspicions that something untoward is going on are confirmed.'

-It's open.

-That one's open.

Neil! MAN SHOUTS IN DISTANCE

-Where?

-OK.

We've just had a sighting of a vehicle

which is travelling in this area, shouldn't be here.

We're going to lock these gates back up

and get back to our vehicles ASAP.

'Our two police cars set off in pursuit of the mystery vehicle,

'but it soon becomes apparent

'that we're dealing with more than one point of focus.'

There was a red light down there,

and there's another one there, and another one there!

'But is this one vehicle, several vehicles,

'or are these individuals on foot with lamps?

'We spend the next hour in a stop-start pursuit

'of fleeting flashes of light

'until Mark receives a phone call

'confirming we're not just chasing shadows.'

We've just received a phone call

from the security guards that work in the area.

They have had a very suspicious character

who's driving a silver vehicle.

He was with another man

and the name that he gave

is somebody of great interest to us.

It feels as if we are right on top of something now.

'And we are.

'More lights in a distant field -

'we give hot pursuit and come face to face with...

'a local farmer putting his horse away.'

We've just had a report of red lights down here,

but you haven't seen any red lights?

No, this is the only light I've got.

OK, I hope we didn't frighten you.

No, no, I just saw lights at the top.

-I was a bit worried.

-No, this is the right thing.

We're not lampers, we're out looking for them.

-All right.

-We'll leave you to it with the horse, thank you very much.

-Pleasure.

-Cheers.

'In fact, this is the blunt reality of fighting wildlife crime.

'Days, nights, weeks, chasing down suspects

'in vast forest blocks in hideous weather.

'But on nights like tonight when you come so close,

'it's beyond frustrating.'

It was just really unfortunate for us, Rhys,

that we had the gentleman with the torch dealing with his horse

when we also had, potentially, the red lamp.

So we go to the man with the horse

and the people with the red lamp

had the opportunity to get back to the roadside,

or back into the forestry.

So, really frustrating.

What do you think the message is, then,

for anyone trying to come and poach in this block at the moment?

The message is really clear -

don't risk your firearm certificate

coming out to illegally poach deer,

because one day I will catch them.

Right.

'Whilst Mark and I drew a blank in our neck of the woods,

'elsewhere in the UK the operation did result

'in charges related to poaching offences.

'And here in South Wales, a number of individuals

'whose activities were brought to police attention

'remain of ongoing interest.

'Earlier I helped resettle Titch.'

Hey, you're OK, you're OK.

'An eight-year-old male mandrill rescued from a zoo in Poland

'and re-homed by the Wales Ape And Monkey Sanctuary.

'A full six months after he went into quarantine,

'it's now time for Titch

'to move into his new permanent outdoor penthouse.'

Well, that says mandrill,

so I take it this is the new enclosure.

Lots of environmental enrichment there,

he's got places where he can swing and climb -

hide if he needs to.

It's really well thought out.

He's going to be housed on his own

so there's plenty of room afforded for him.

But I haven't seen him for absolutely ages,

so let's see how he's doing.

Titch, hello!

Hello.

I'm just looking at Titch now

and this looks like a totally different animal.

The coat is looking really healthy,

he's obviously put on a lot of weight,

and you just look beautiful, don't you? You do.

He's really calmed down.

He's not at all skittish now.

You've really come on, haven't you?

Yes.

That's for you.

I can hear Graham the other side of the small doorway there,

he's setting up a cage so that we can capture Titch

and take him finally out of quarantine

and to his new enclosure.

At the moment Graham is just trying to dart Titch,

we don't want Titch any more aggravated than he needs to be.

We want this to go as smoothly and as quietly as possible.

Titch has been given a light sedative,

just enough to get him from his quarantine quarters

to his new pen.

He's a heavy boy, ain't he?

He's finally into his new enclosure.

You can see he's breathing quite heavily,

so he's just about coming around now.

He doesn't stay under for long, that's for sure.

Hello, mate. Where are you?

I don't think he quite knows yet, Graham.

And he's probably feeling very, very groggy indeed.

So the plan of action today, Graham,

is just to leave him in here to find his senses again.

It will be tomorrow, then, that he'll go outside,

-as long as there's no rain!

-Yeah.

I don't know, you're in Wales, so I wouldn't want to bet on that.

But it's great to see he's moved

and these new surroundings are going to be amazing for him.

'The following morning,

'I check in on Titch.'

Hello! Hey, you. Hey, big boy.

'And it's like greeting an old friend.'

You look fabulous - you do, you do.

He's so gentle for such a big boy.

I say big, you can actually get twice the size of this.

He seems to really have fitted in well now

and he's going to be able to live out his days in relative comfort

in such a lovely enclosure.

There we are. One last one.

I'll see you soon.

Having spent all those cold winter nights

chasing idiots with guns around forests,

what a lovely way to greet the spring!