Episode 3 Rhys Jones's Wildlife Patrol


Episode 3

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Transcript


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-'Welsh wildlife is under attack...'

-SIREN WAILS

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

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

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Whoa! '..and reptiles

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'are threatened daily by illegal activity...'

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Black swan.

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'..mistreatment...'

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This is neglect on a level I have never seen.

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'..and alien invaders.'

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That does not look like a happy spider.

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'I'm Doctor Rhys Jones,

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'and from my laboratory at Cardiff University,

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'I work with the police...'

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-Hello, police!

-..bird in there.

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'..international wildlife groups...'

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

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

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-SHE WAILS

-It's plastic, I promise you.

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

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

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

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It'll be OK.

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'..I have a close encounter

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

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-We got one.

-Police!

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

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

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'..of some persistent poachers

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'through the forests of Wales.'

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Go, go.

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'This is Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary in Abercraf

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'at the top of the Swansea Valley.

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'Run by my friends Graham and Jan Garen,

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

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'laboratories and private collections around Europe

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'and the Middle East.

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'Graham himself makes regular trips over thousands of miles

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'in his ambulance to rescue these apes and monkeys

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

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Get his arm up.

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'These zoos are either closing, struggling financially,

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'or keeping their animals in abject conditions.

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'Graham and Jan take it upon themselves

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'to offer any unwanted primate a home for life.

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

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'I help in my capacity as an animal behaviourist

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'to interpret their body language.'

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This lip curling, this is fear.

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He's showing a little bit of fear,

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but not too much, he's calming down

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the lips are coming back down.

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-CHIMP CHATTERS

-It's OK, we're here.

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'I also interpret their needs

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

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

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'in the Welsh hills.

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

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'and for the sanctuary.

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

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

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

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

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'at a zoo in Eastern Poland.

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

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

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'In preparation for his long journey back to Wales,

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'Titch needs to be anaesthetised.

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'The anaesthetic will last long enough

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'to get him safely from his cage

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'to the specially prepared carriage crate

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'in the back of Graham's ambulance.

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

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'By the time they reach the Channel Tunnel,

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

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'And bright and early the following morning,

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

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He's looking incredibly calm.

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

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

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-Not yet, anyway!

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

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See how we go, keep our fingers crossed.

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

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

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

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"What are these people doing?"

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

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-Good boy.

-It's OK, it's OK.

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

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

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

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

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'But it's not all bad -

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'on the plus side he'll be moving into

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'a nice, big, swanky bachelor pad.

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

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

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You'll be OK now.

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Lots of new noises, lots of new friends.

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-And in.

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

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is gone as high as possible.

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So are you going to come down and say hello?

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Hey!

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

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which is a little sign of stress but only periodically

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

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There's lots of new sounds

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

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

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and just needs a little time to settle in.

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'In the wild, mandrills are found

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

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

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

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

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'are solitary animals.

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

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'but otherwise keep themselves very much to themselves.

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

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'deforestation, wars, and being hunted for bush meat

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

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

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

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

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

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so he's started to consume some food.

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He's settling in, that's great.

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

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Hopefully, he may even take it off me

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and we can develop a bond of trust.

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Are you going to come down for this egg?

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Look what I've got.

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I've got some cherries as well.

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Do you want some cherries?

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

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and he just takes the cherries out of your hands.

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An incredibly powerful animal

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and yet so delicate.

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He finally took his egg.

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

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He's looking very happy

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

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then he'll be released into his home enclosure

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

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

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

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

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'Brrrrr!'

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SIREN WAILS

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

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

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

-Police, hello!

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

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

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'And, yeah, lots of poo.'

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That's badger. Anyone got any hand wash?

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'And when it comes to wildlife crime,

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'and setting a trap to catch a thief,

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'there's hours, days, weeks, months

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

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

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

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'December.

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'It's the bleak midwinter,

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'but at least Christmas is coming,

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'and the good folk are all at home preparing.

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

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

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GUNSHOTS

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

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'As venison meat gets more and more popular,

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'especially around the Christmas period,

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

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-'for an easy buck.'

-GUNSHOT

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

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'onto equally dodgy butchers, restaurants and pubs,

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

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'it's also a threat to human health.

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'And one of the national hot spots for poaching

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'is the M4 corridor in South Wales,

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

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'officers from South Wales Police,

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'and forestry rangers from Natural Resources Wales,

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

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'of my winter nights in the forestry along the M4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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but they've obviously got a key.

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

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

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We'll photograph the vehicle tread

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

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

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Once we stop that vehicle,

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

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There is intelligence indicating

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that some individuals have been using dogs

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

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

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

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Cool.

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

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'We will then be joined by additional police crews.

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

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-So that's it.

-Fantastic.

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

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and see a tyre track across there.

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

-Yeah.

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

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'Deer are crepuscular animals,

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'meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk.

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

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'although the obvious question is -

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

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

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

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

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'No, not at all.

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'This anti-poaching operation

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'involves every police force in Wales and England.

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'It has pooled intelligence,

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'including names and car numberplates

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'and tonight there are police crews

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'and rangers out across the whole country,

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'including our crews out in South Wales.'

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When I was out the other day with the rangers,

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they said this area's chronic for poaching.

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

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how do they know?

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Because they had the shooting a fortnight ago in daylight.

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-In daylight?!

-Yeah.

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-Goodness me.

-They would have driven up in the car

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-and literally just opened fire.

-Out of the window?

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Put the window down and just started shooting?

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-Yeah.

-Goodness me.

-Just down by here.

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

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

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'polishing their guns.

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

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'we decide to call it a day.

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'But this is far from over.

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'Slowly, slowly, catchy poacher -

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

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'later in the programme.

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'Over the last two decades,

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'Welsh wildlife groups have gained a deserved reputation

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'for bringing back native wild animals

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'from the brink of extinction.

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'The red kite is the most celebrated example,

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'but otters, red squirrel and osprey numbers

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'have all made significant recoveries.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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and once it was a haven

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for those mysterious and elusive riverside mammals

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

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the water vole.

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

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And the reason the cute but vulnerable water vole

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has been disappearing from our waterways,

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is that it's been taken out

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by our most vicious and predatory alien invader -

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the North American mink.

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An equal opportunities killer,

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the mink will eat anything from ducks to fish.

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But their easiest prey is the water vole

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

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The dreadful irony about mink

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

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

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

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I think we can all agree

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

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by animal liberation activists in the early 1980s

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wasn't the brightest protest action in human history.

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As, over the last 30 years,

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the offspring of these escapees,

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and another escaped mink,

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

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and have munched their way

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through an estimated 4.5 million water vole in the process.

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A vigorous nationwide culling programme

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is finally bringing the mink population under control,

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

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

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with a view to reintroducing the species.

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

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

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Are they surviving? Are they thriving?

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Hopefully we're going to find out.

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"Hopefully" being the operative word!

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As a conservation scientist,

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

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

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I'm looking for pieces of cut vegetation.

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Water vole are vegetarian

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

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

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

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But do you know what?

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I believe the easiest way to find out where they are

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is just to listen,

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

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I've got to emphasise

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just how really difficult it is to see water vole.

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Standardly, when we're looking for water vole,

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

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

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and you see the tail of a water vole

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as it shoots down into the water.

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

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CRUNCHING

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HE MOUTHS

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So that's ear contact made with the voles.

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

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Great example there, look at that.

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

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And there's a lot of activity,

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

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But can we make actual eye contact with one?

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

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

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There he is.

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

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

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We got one!

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Did I say just one?

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These water voles are like proverbial buses -

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

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In the end, I catalogue 13 separate water voles

0:17:440:17:48

in this one stretch of the Levels.

0:17:480:17:50

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

0:17:500:17:55

Now what that means is that I am happy to say

0:17:550:17:58

that water vole are doing really, really well here

0:17:580:18:02

and we can bolster the numbers of water vole already present

0:18:020:18:05

with a release of more animals.

0:18:050:18:07

'And to help me do just that,

0:18:080:18:10

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

0:18:100:18:14

So, Richard, how old are these water vole?

0:18:140:18:16

They're quite young actually.

0:18:160:18:18

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

0:18:180:18:21

they grow really quickly within the seven months.

0:18:210:18:24

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

0:18:240:18:27

They will be quite lively and full of energy.

0:18:270:18:29

'Better watch my fingers then!'

0:18:290:18:31

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

0:18:310:18:34

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

0:18:340:18:36

'specifically for release into the wild.

0:18:360:18:39

'They might only be a month old

0:18:390:18:41

'but they live their lives at hyper-speed.

0:18:410:18:44

'They're capable of breeding at three months,

0:18:440:18:46

'can produce four litters a year

0:18:460:18:49

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

0:18:490:18:53

'of just five months.'

0:18:530:18:54

Five little water voles ready for release.

0:18:540:18:57

So, Richard, this is the release pen,

0:18:570:18:59

do you want to explain to me how this works?

0:18:590:19:01

This is what we use

0:19:010:19:02

to help the voles acclimatise to their new surroundings.

0:19:020:19:05

These will stay in this cage for three days.

0:19:050:19:07

Once they become acclimatised to the area,

0:19:070:19:10

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

0:19:100:19:13

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

0:19:140:19:17

'These five water vole are the first of another 80

0:19:190:19:22

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

0:19:220:19:26

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

0:19:270:19:29

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

0:19:290:19:32

'at the release site

0:19:320:19:34

'to see how the water vole have fared.'

0:19:340:19:36

This was it, wasn't it?

0:19:360:19:38

It's completely unrecognisable to what it was.

0:19:380:19:41

This has all been cut back.

0:19:410:19:42

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

0:19:420:19:45

and keep it back down to that natural wetland

0:19:450:19:47

that would have been here 50 or 60 years ago.

0:19:470:19:50

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

0:19:500:19:53

and everybody's fully aware of all the flooding,

0:19:530:19:55

and has that affected the water vole population here,

0:19:550:19:58

and especially your programme?

0:19:580:19:59

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

0:19:590:20:02

with the flooding and with the cold weather,

0:20:020:20:04

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

0:20:040:20:07

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

0:20:070:20:09

but we've certainly got plenty of signs around

0:20:090:20:11

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

0:20:110:20:14

'And a quick shufty round the marshes

0:20:140:20:16

'confirm Alice's conclusions.'

0:20:160:20:17

Look at that!

0:20:170:20:18

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

0:20:180:20:22

We haven't seen any water vole today,

0:20:220:20:24

but if we saw them on every visit,

0:20:240:20:25

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

0:20:250:20:28

But we've got some water vole poo there,

0:20:280:20:31

we've got feeding signs,

0:20:310:20:32

this is fresh feeding activity in this area,

0:20:320:20:35

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

0:20:350:20:39

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

0:20:390:20:43

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

0:20:430:20:46

'Earlier in the programme,

0:20:480:20:50

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

0:20:500:20:54

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

0:20:540:20:58

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

0:20:580:21:01

'at one of our poaching hot spots.'

0:21:010:21:04

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

0:21:040:21:07

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

0:21:070:21:11

-whether there was dogs at it...

-Yeah, dogs maybe.

0:21:110:21:13

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

0:21:130:21:16

'brought to ground by their dogs,

0:21:160:21:18

'and then butchered for its meat,

0:21:180:21:20

'as forest ranger Matt explains.'

0:21:200:21:22

They've obviously had the rock up on this bank

0:21:220:21:25

and suspended the deer

0:21:250:21:27

to perform some sort of rough butchery.

0:21:270:21:32

-And "rough" butchery being the operative word.

-Yeah.

0:21:320:21:35

The brutality of killing a pregnant deer aside,

0:21:350:21:38

poached meat is also a known risk to humans.

0:21:380:21:40

'Like cattle, badgers,

0:21:400:21:42

'and even domestic cats,

0:21:420:21:44

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

0:21:440:21:47

'Can they pass it on to humans?

0:21:480:21:50

'Potentially, absolutely - through infected meat.

0:21:500:21:54

'So anyone offered a cheap cut of poached venison

0:21:540:21:57

'should first reflect that alongside the risk

0:21:570:22:00

'of the meat being tainted by unhygienic handling,

0:22:000:22:03

'there's also TB to consider.

0:22:030:22:05

'Following this incident,

0:22:080:22:09

'our next night patrol is in atrocious weather,

0:22:090:22:12

'but on the poaching front,

0:22:120:22:14

'things are starting to hot up.'

0:22:140:22:16

We've just arrived at a gate here

0:22:160:22:18

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

0:22:180:22:20

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

0:22:200:22:23

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

0:22:230:22:25

So they've opened that with a key?

0:22:270:22:28

Yeah, that's been opened with a key.

0:22:280:22:30

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

0:22:300:22:34

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

0:22:340:22:37

'Whilst logging work is going on in the area,

0:22:370:22:40

'this is hardly jolly logging weather.

0:22:400:22:43

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

0:22:430:22:45

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

0:22:450:22:49

-It's open.

-That one's open.

0:22:490:22:51

Neil! MAN SHOUTS IN DISTANCE

0:22:510:22:54

-Where?

-OK.

0:22:540:22:56

We've just had a sighting of a vehicle

0:22:560:22:58

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

0:22:580:23:01

We're going to lock these gates back up

0:23:010:23:02

and get back to our vehicles ASAP.

0:23:020:23:05

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

0:23:050:23:07

'but it soon becomes apparent

0:23:070:23:09

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

0:23:090:23:12

There was a red light down there,

0:23:120:23:14

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

0:23:140:23:17

'But is this one vehicle, several vehicles,

0:23:170:23:19

'or are these individuals on foot with lamps?

0:23:190:23:22

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

0:23:220:23:25

'of fleeting flashes of light

0:23:250:23:26

'until Mark receives a phone call

0:23:260:23:28

'confirming we're not just chasing shadows.'

0:23:280:23:31

We've just received a phone call

0:23:330:23:34

from the security guards that work in the area.

0:23:340:23:36

They have had a very suspicious character

0:23:360:23:39

who's driving a silver vehicle.

0:23:390:23:40

He was with another man

0:23:400:23:42

and the name that he gave

0:23:420:23:45

is somebody of great interest to us.

0:23:450:23:48

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

0:23:480:23:51

'And we are.

0:23:530:23:54

'More lights in a distant field -

0:23:540:23:56

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

0:23:560:24:00

'a local farmer putting his horse away.'

0:24:000:24:03

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

0:24:030:24:06

but you haven't seen any red lights?

0:24:060:24:08

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

0:24:080:24:10

OK, I hope we didn't frighten you.

0:24:100:24:11

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

0:24:110:24:13

-I was a bit worried.

-No, this is the right thing.

0:24:130:24:16

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

0:24:160:24:18

-All right.

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

0:24:180:24:21

-Pleasure.

-Cheers.

0:24:210:24:23

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

0:24:260:24:30

'Days, nights, weeks, chasing down suspects

0:24:300:24:33

'in vast forest blocks in hideous weather.

0:24:330:24:36

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

0:24:360:24:40

'it's beyond frustrating.'

0:24:400:24:42

It was just really unfortunate for us, Rhys,

0:24:440:24:47

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

0:24:470:24:50

when we also had, potentially, the red lamp.

0:24:500:24:54

So we go to the man with the horse

0:24:540:24:57

and the people with the red lamp

0:24:570:24:58

had the opportunity to get back to the roadside,

0:24:580:25:01

or back into the forestry.

0:25:010:25:03

So, really frustrating.

0:25:030:25:06

What do you think the message is, then,

0:25:060:25:07

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

0:25:070:25:10

The message is really clear -

0:25:100:25:12

don't risk your firearm certificate

0:25:120:25:14

coming out to illegally poach deer,

0:25:140:25:17

because one day I will catch them.

0:25:170:25:21

Right.

0:25:220:25:23

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

0:25:230:25:27

'elsewhere in the UK the operation did result

0:25:270:25:30

'in charges related to poaching offences.

0:25:300:25:32

'And here in South Wales, a number of individuals

0:25:320:25:35

'whose activities were brought to police attention

0:25:350:25:38

'remain of ongoing interest.

0:25:380:25:40

'Earlier I helped resettle Titch.'

0:25:460:25:49

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

0:25:490:25:51

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

0:25:510:25:54

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

0:25:540:25:58

'A full six months after he went into quarantine,

0:25:580:26:01

'it's now time for Titch

0:26:010:26:03

'to move into his new permanent outdoor penthouse.'

0:26:030:26:06

Well, that says mandrill,

0:26:080:26:10

so I take it this is the new enclosure.

0:26:100:26:12

Lots of environmental enrichment there,

0:26:120:26:14

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

0:26:140:26:17

hide if he needs to.

0:26:170:26:19

It's really well thought out.

0:26:190:26:21

He's going to be housed on his own

0:26:210:26:22

so there's plenty of room afforded for him.

0:26:220:26:26

But I haven't seen him for absolutely ages,

0:26:260:26:29

so let's see how he's doing.

0:26:290:26:31

Titch, hello!

0:26:320:26:34

Hello.

0:26:340:26:36

I'm just looking at Titch now

0:26:360:26:38

and this looks like a totally different animal.

0:26:380:26:40

The coat is looking really healthy,

0:26:400:26:42

he's obviously put on a lot of weight,

0:26:420:26:44

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

0:26:440:26:49

He's really calmed down.

0:26:490:26:51

He's not at all skittish now.

0:26:510:26:53

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

0:26:530:26:55

Yes.

0:26:550:26:57

That's for you.

0:26:570:26:59

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

0:26:590:27:03

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

0:27:030:27:06

and take him finally out of quarantine

0:27:060:27:09

and to his new enclosure.

0:27:090:27:12

At the moment Graham is just trying to dart Titch,

0:27:120:27:15

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

0:27:150:27:18

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

0:27:180:27:22

Titch has been given a light sedative,

0:27:230:27:25

just enough to get him from his quarantine quarters

0:27:250:27:28

to his new pen.

0:27:280:27:29

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

0:27:310:27:33

He's finally into his new enclosure.

0:27:360:27:38

You can see he's breathing quite heavily,

0:27:380:27:41

so he's just about coming around now.

0:27:410:27:44

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

0:27:440:27:47

Hello, mate. Where are you?

0:27:470:27:49

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

0:27:490:27:52

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

0:27:520:27:56

So the plan of action today, Graham,

0:27:560:27:59

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

0:27:590:28:01

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

0:28:010:28:04

-as long as there's no rain!

-Yeah.

0:28:040:28:06

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

0:28:060:28:10

But it's great to see he's moved

0:28:100:28:11

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

0:28:110:28:14

'The following morning,

0:28:170:28:20

'I check in on Titch.'

0:28:200:28:22

Hello! Hey, you. Hey, big boy.

0:28:220:28:26

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

0:28:260:28:28

You look fabulous - you do, you do.

0:28:290:28:32

He's so gentle for such a big boy.

0:28:320:28:35

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

0:28:350:28:38

He seems to really have fitted in well now

0:28:380:28:40

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

0:28:400:28:44

in such a lovely enclosure.

0:28:440:28:46

There we are. One last one.

0:28:460:28:48

I'll see you soon.

0:28:480:28:50

Having spent all those cold winter nights

0:28:510:28:54

chasing idiots with guns around forests,

0:28:540:28:57

what a lovely way to greet the spring!

0:28:570:29:00

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