Episode 14 Animal 24:7

Britain's animals are under threat.

All too often our wildlife and domestic pets

are the victims of cruelty, persecution and neglect.

Fighting to save them is a dedicated band of people

trying to protect and care for them right around the clock.

This is Animal 24/7.

In the air, on land and in the water Britain is a haven for animals.

But when they come up against man their lives are often in danger.

From our cramped inner cities to our fields and hedgerows,

from the highest moorland to the coast and beyond,

Animal 24/7 is with the people working around the clock

to save endangered wildlife and protect vulnerable pets.

These are their stories.

Today on Animal 24/7.

That dog, at the moment, should be ringing alarm bells with you.

Meg the Springer Spaniel, shut in a cage because she's too lively.

There's very few people that realise the amount of time and energy

you have to put in to a Springer Spaniel.

The search for the truth, a dog owner comes under scrutiny.

Can you please be honest with me? Has that dog received flea treatment?

He has received flea treatment.

-Has the dog been to the vets?

-Yes, he's been to the vets.

And I have to tread carefully while searching for some of Britain's rarest chicks.

You can see how amazingly camouflaged they are with the sand.

So terrifying!

Keeping pets is a time consuming process, but some animals demand far more attention than others.

Certain breeds of cats and dogs are quite happy to take things easy, while others need more exercise.

When it's obvious the wrong animal is in the wrong home the RSPCA are called to step in.

Selby, North Yorkshire,

and inside this house RSPCA inspector Jill Corder

is dealing with a complaint about two underweight dogs.

The conditions that you are keeping these dogs in is unacceptable.

It's dirty.

Jill's most concerned about a spaniel called Meg.

That dog, at the moment, should be ringing alarm bells with you,

absolutely ringing alarm bells with you.

Meg's not just thin, she's kept locked in a cage because she's too lively for the family to cope with.

My advice to you is that there shouldn't be dogs at this property

because I don't feel that you are meeting the standards required.

Several minutes later, Jill emerges with Meg after persuading the family to sign her over.

It's instantly clear why she's so concerned.

I can feel the ribs on the dog.

The backbone, it's just here.

Without question if it is having the amount of food

that they're saying it's having this dog needs a veterinary examination

to find out why it isn't putting on weight.

I think this is a diet problem.

It's quite probable there will be some weight loss

because she's so hyperactive,

but this has gone beyond the point of being reasonable.

And it's not just Meg's weight that has been troubling Jill.

Because she's boisterous,

Meg's been spending a lot of time locked in a cage

and this is a breed of dog that needs plenty of space.

And it's the right thing for this dog to come, you know, to us

and be put right and given the chance of a really lovely home that's suitable for her.

Springer Spaniels were originally bred as hunting dogs and need lots of exercise.

Jill thinks Meg hasn't been getting enough.

Typically a spaniel, it's not because the dog is particularly wild,

this is how Springer Spaniels are in houses, you know?

They are a very, very hyperactive dog.

You will occasionally get one that's more docile,

but this is typical of what I see of people taking on a Springer Spaniel.

They're just... They're just not good as a pet.

There are very few people that realise the amount of time and energy

that you have to put in to a Springer Spaniel.

A few miles away is the RSPCA animal home

where Meg is given a much needed meal.

Come on then, pup.

She's very, very hungry, as I suspected.

After emptying her bowl, there's another treat for Meg.

She settles into a comfortable bed.

There we are.

There we are. All right, darling?

In the morning she'll see the vet, who'll give her a full health check

and decide whether she can be found a new home.

The dog literally just fell in the bowl of food tonight, you know,

she's got a full tummy, a lovely bed there under that heat lamp,

so she's going to have a nice, warm comfortable night.

This is where it begins. This dog, as far as I'm concerned,

will make a full recovery, get up to normal body weight

and we'll find a home suitable for her.

After a good night's sleep, Meg is eager to be out and about.

Because she's so thin there's a concern that her problems may be more than just lack of food.

Hey, sweetheart. Come on, darling.

Vet Catherine Harris is going to give Meg a full examination.

First she needs to check for any heart problems.

Aww, good girl.

Can you just hold your hand over her mouth so she breathes through her nose? That's it.

That's fine, yeah.

-What's she been like this morning, has she had food?

-Fine.

-She's been... She's starving.

-Yeah.

-She's almost falling in her food.

In a dog that's been brought in by an inspector the first thing

you check is their weight and their body condition.

You can see that she's quite underweight because you can actually see the outline of her ribs.

It's quite normal to have a waist, but she is probably...

She's what we call body condition score one out of five,

if you're grading them, which mean that she's underweight

compared to what a dog of her size should be.

If you're looking for conditions that would actually cause weight loss,

what we'd usually do is do a routine blood screen

and make sure she's not got any signs of ill health on that,

but we'll leave that for the moment and if she gains weight on being fed properly in here

that's a sign that it's more just malnutrition and lack of feeding than actually a health problem.

And as Catherine continues her check-up

another problem comes to light, this time with Meg's ears.

You can see she's got some kind of yellowy white areas

that cast around the hair shafts and I think they're probably lice eggs.

What we'll do is we'll take a hair sample and just check

and I'll get the staff here to clip her ears, that we can clip that off,

but again, that fits with fleas and being kept in an unhygienic environment.

Right, let's pop you on the scales and see what you weigh.

Meg has had a healthy appetite since she arrived here.

By weighing her now the staff can keep a check on whether her new diet is working.

Stand on all four feet.

Right, she's about 12.7.

Ideally, she should be between about 15 and 20 kilos

for a dog of her size, so we need to try and get her weight up.

Hopefully, in a few weeks, Meg will start to put on weight

and her fleas will be treated,

but staff will then have another challenge to overcome.

Meg needs a special kind of owner who can give her the time and exercise she needs.

The RSPCA won't let her go unless they're confident her next home is the right one.

Still to come, Jill's concerns over a group of donkeys with neglected hooves.

None of the feet are brilliant.

There's four that I consider to be unacceptable.

And I have a rare birds at my fingertips.

This is one just in front of us. Do you want to pick it up, Tom?

-Is that all right?

-Yeah, that's fine.

So beautiful.

So delicate.

When an RSPCA inspector follows up a complaint

they have to make decisions on the evidence in front of them.

Usually it's quite simple.

An underfed dog could look thin,

a cat with fleas may be constantly scratching,

but it's not always that clear cut.

RSPCA inspector Vicky McDonald

has been called to a house in Lancashire.

Where there has been a complaint about a thin, flea-bitten dog.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

I've had a call concerned about your dog.

-Can I come through?

-Yeah, you can, yeah.

This is Liz Gibbons, she owns several pets.

There's Guinness the cat,

Lolly the parrot, who never leaves her shoulder,

and a very itchy dog called Kolo.

He's got a bit of fur loss on his back end, hasn't he?

-Is that being treated?

-Yeah, I've been down to the vet's with him.

Right. Come on, then.

-What's his name?

-Kolo.

Kolo. When was he at the vet?

He was at the vet's about two weeks ago.

Have you got the treatment that he was issued?

I got him some stuff off the internet because it was a bit cheaper.

So, can I just give the vet's a call to clarify that you were there?

Yeah, you can give the...

If you want.

Which vet's was it that you went to? The one just down the road?

-Ashdale.

-He's registered under your name, is he?

-Yes, he is.

All vets hold records of any pets they've seen, so Liz should have nothing to worry about.

Are you able to access some records for me just to...

Right, right.

Right, the vet is just on lunch at the moment so she's going to go back

to the vet's for me and check the records.

Before she does, has the dog definitely been there because...

He's been to the vet's, yeah.

I don't want to be wasting the vet's time and my time.

No, he has been to the vet's.

Where's the stuff you got on the internet?

It's all gone now, because it was only one sachet I got.

-What was it that you bought?

-The Frontline.

And that just came as one individual...

One individual sachet, a little droplet, yeah.

-And where did you get that from?

-Is it Vet Med? Vet Med, I think.

And they sold you just one individual sachet?

Yeah, one individual sachet.

Vicky's starting to doubt Liz's story.

She knows these sachets aren't sold individually.

-Two weeks ago the dog received treatment for fleas?

-Yes.

Vicky can only take Liz's word for now.

While waiting for the vet to call back she decides to check

what Kolo's been eating to try and establish why he's underweight.

So, when... When he has food put down he's ravenously eating it, is he?

-Yeah.

-Has he been treated for worms?

Yeah, but I only got them cheapie stuff from the supermarket

-so I don't know if they've done anything.

-And when was that?

About... I'd say about... About three weeks ago.

And do you have the packet, you wouldn't have used a whole packet of them in one treatment?

Holes are appearing in Liz's explanations.

She tells Vicky she wormed Kolo three weeks ago

and left the tablets at her old address,

but Vicky knows that's impossible

as she moved from that house five weeks ago.

That doesn't quite make sense, does it?

No, it must have been when I stopped there when I...

-I'd rather you were just honest with me.

-No, he has been wormed.

But do you see what I'm saying? Your story is a bit here, there and everywhere, isn't it?

If the fact is he hasn't been wormed, that's fine.

I can give you advice on that. If the fact is that he hasn't had treatment for fleas, which I'm highly doubting,

I'd rather you just said that and I can give you advice on that. Has the dog been wormed?

-He has been wormed, definitely.

-And has the dog received flea treatment?

-He's received flea treatment.

-Has the dog been to the vet's?

-Yes, he's been to the vet's.

Vicky has now been in the house for nearly 15 minutes and Liz is sticking to her story.

Meanwhile, Kolo is still scratching.

Vicky changes tack and turns her attention to Lolly the parrot.

You've positioned your water bowl

exactly where she's choosing to poo.

-Yeah.

-So the only water she's got access to drinking there is full of old food and poo.

Yeah, but it's cleaned every day. It's just I've not done it yet.

Regardless of whether it's cleaned every day, that's in there

-as it is at the moment and, to be honest, would you drink that?

-No.

I certainly wouldn't drink that and I wouldn't expect anything else to drink that.

Things are going rapidly downhill.

Vicky decides to test whether the other animals have clean drinking water.

-That dog is thirsty and had no access to water.

-Yeah.

OK, that's a basic essential.

40 minutes pass and nothing Liz has said or done has reassured Vicky

that the animals are in good care, and now the vet has phoned back.

Will he support Liz's story?

-We're talking three weeks ago, are we?

-Yeah, around three weeks ago.

Around three weeks ago. You would have records for that, wouldn't you?

-They don't have records.

-Well, I did take him.

Apparently she left without receiving any actual treatment and chose to buy products from the... Right.

Okie-doke. All right, then.

The vet's double check and confirm there's definitely no record for Kolo.

Vicky gives Liz a golden opportunity to come clean.

OK, thank you. Bye bye.

Liz, you haven't been, have you?

-I have been, honestly.

-Liz, they would have a record.

Vets keep records.

You're wasting everybody's time here.

Can you please just be honest with me?

You have not taken this dog to the vet, have you?

I've took him to the vet. I've rung the vet's.

The vet's have checked their records.

A vet will not treat, advise, consult, have any consultation without having a record of that.

Can you please just be straight with me and we'll deal with it from there?

Well, he has been to the vet's.

You are not in a unique situation where miraculously your records aren't there.

-They do not have your dog's name, your surname or either of your addresses registered.

-I have been.

-Why... Why are they saying they have no records then?

-I don't know.

Despite all the evidence being stacked against her,

Liz is refusing to change her story.

Is there... Is there a reason that you don't want to say that you haven't been?

No, there's no reason at all.

I'm going to have to take the word of the vet.

I would rather, if it is the case...

I'm not here to come down on you like a ton of bricks.

I'd rather just leave here having given you some advice,

but I'd rather you were being honest with me in the first place

if that is the case.

There's no need to lie to me

if the case is that the dog hasn't been to the vet.

If it hasn't, that's fine, I can leave you with the advice now,

but at least then I can be sure that you're being honest with me

and I'm being honest with you.

Liz has now insisted 12 times that Kolo has been to the vet's.

Vicky tries for a lucky 13.

So, what... What's the score?

He hasn't been.

-I think we both knew that in the first place, didn't we?

-Yeah.

-Right.

After almost an hour, Vicky finally gets to the truth and at last she can now deal with the pet's problem.

-OK, so, shall we start from scratch?

-Yeah.

The dog's got a flea allergy, the dog's got fur loss.

He has been treated for fleas, but not by the proper stuff.

It's the cheapie, rubbishy stuff.

-Which is why it's not working.

-Yeah.

Right. Let's start from scratch then, OK?

Is it just the dog and the bird and the cat that you've got here?

There's nothing else here, no.

Vicki spells out exactly what she wants to see done.

Proper flea treatment will help that and make the fur return,

but unless you get it treated by a vet

you're not going to get on top of it, OK?

Vicky will come back in a few weeks to check

that Liz has finally taken Kolo to the vet's

and she's just hoping it won't take so long

to get to the truth next time.

Coming up.

Get in there now. Go on.

Vicky's back and it's not a good start.

Your dog's just run straight out into the road.

The kids are out, that's why.

Right, let's go in.

And tackling an owner about the condition of his animals.

There's a problem with the donkeys' overgrown feet. They are quite bad.

Now, I'm off to see first hand the fight to protect one of our most beautiful and also rarest seabirds.

Only a few hundred little terns still breed in Britain.

Ironically, many choose to nest in the very spot

where thousands of holidaymakers like to lie in the sun.

A gorgeous summer day on the beach at Great Yarmouth

and the migration of thousands of holidaymakers to the seaside

has begun in earnest.

Ice cream, fun rides and the chance to take in the sea air

are what attracts visitors here year after year.

But the sand and the ocean and the occasional seafood snack

also draws another traveller here,

one who's journeyed thousands of miles

and is fiercely loyal, returning to the same spot year after year.

This pebbled beach is the nesting ground of one of the country's rarest seabirds, the little tern.

Helping to protect them is RSPB manager Mark Smart.

-Surveying the site?

-Yes, yes. It's pretty spectacular, really.

It is. And is that all that terns wheeling around above their nests?

It is, yes. Yes, there's about 350 pairs.

So, how unusual is this site, this species?

This is probably somewhere between 10% and 15% of the...

the UK population, so in its own right

this is actually an amazingly important site for the little tern.

The nesting birds are so precious that they're kept under 24 hour guard.

We're on our way to join other RSPB workers inside the colony

to find young birds and ring them.

En route, I get my first sight of a nest.

So this is a nest that we're talking about here,

-so you can see they're very, very similar to the stones themselves.

-God, they are, aren't they?

So, in fact you can actually see, if you look very carefully,

you can see the little hole is actually... just about to hatch.

So that those eggs will turn into chicks in the next 24 hours.

Looking like the pebbles around them may protect these eggs

from predators, but not from a size nine boot.

And this is exactly the problem or the reason why we have to be here

is because obviously members of the public

won't actually know that that's a nest.

They'll be walking around enjoying themselves on the beach

-and can easily stand on it.

-Tread carefully!

To limit the chances of damage,

this area of the beach is closed to the public

when these birds are nesting.

-So, I see you've got a few barriers here.

-Yes, we have.

We've the first one which is the rope fence which effectively keeps people

off what is an electrified fence on the inside.

And why the electric fence?

So, the electric fence is there really to keep foxes and things out

and if there is any stray dogs around

it actually helps protect the nests and things in the colony itself.

What kind of threat do you get from people, either deliberate or accidental?

Well, generally speaking, most people come across the colony

because they don't know it's here so we can talk to them about it,

but obviously there is also a certain number of people who...

Egg collectors and things like this. Now we do 24 hour watches.

Thankfully, the fence is switched off so we can step inside to find a nest.

It's not that easy, but Mark has a trained eye.

So, there's a little... A couple of little chicks there we have to be very, very careful of.

You can see how amazingly camouflaged they are with the sand

-so we have to be so careful where we put our feet.

-So terrifying!

Finally, we make it to the RSPB volunteers who are ringing the birds.

Keeping track of them this way means they're branded for life

and the experts can learn valuable lessons about their behaviour.

I'm lucky enough to be given the chance to ring one myself.

First, though, I have to find it.

There's one just in front of us.

-Where?

-Just down there.

You can just about see. Do you want to pick it up, Tom?

-Is that all right?

-Yeah, that's fine.

With such a rare creature at my fingertips,

I have to be extremely careful how to handle him.

So beautiful.

So delicate.

-Right.

-Well, what you need to do is you need to pass the ring

round the lower part of the leg between the knee and the claw.

Once the ring is in place,

gentle pressure with the pliers is needed to make sure it stays put.

It makes me nervous when I see other people doing this

-let alone when I'm doing it myself!

-Well, that's right. On the...

-There you go.

-That's very good.

-Just to close up that gap, yeah?

-Yeah. Gentle pressure, yeah.

-That's it. Very good.

What we do now is we do the tip of the bill.

With the ringing complete, the next stage is to measure the bird's beak.

12, I'd go for, would you?

-I would go for exactly 12.

-12 mil.

Followed by the weight.

39.2.

Before it's allowed back to its beachside home.

There we go.

Our time in the colony has to be kept brief.

While we're here the parent birds will stay away,

so Mark and I leave the ringers to their work

and head for a bird's eye view of the site.

Overall, can you put into context the importance of this colony

and the ringing work that goes on here?

Yeah, well, certainly the colony is massively important

not only for Great Yarmouth but also for little terns as a whole

because certainly we produce more little tern chicks here

than at pretty much all the other small colonies around the UK and Ireland put together,

so we're pretty certain that many of the chicks which actually fledge from here

will go and help support the population elsewhere.

Brilliant. Now, I'm just going to watch the display for a while if that's all right with you?

Yeah. No, absolutely. No problem at all.

Fantastic seeing them wheel about.

The RSPB's work here has helped little tern numbers rise

from 55 pairs to more than 300 in more in 20 years.

It's a project which is going a long way to ensuring

these beautiful birds are safe on these shores for many years to come.

Still to come, Lolly the parrot goes on the attack.

So do you want to do that today, then?

Cor, blimey O'Reilly!

Ow.

Now we're back on patrol with RSPCA Inspector Jill Corder in North Yorkshire.

Jill has already rescued a Springer Spaniel called Meg

who was underweight and not given enough room to exercise.

Meg is now at the vet's where staff are trying to build up her weight.

They will then have the challenge of finding her a new owner who can give her the attention she needs.

In the meantime, Jill has another problem to investigate.

Grazing by the side of a busy road junction,

a group of donkeys appear to be enjoying a peaceful existence,

but all may not be what it seems.

Jill has been told that some of these donkeys have overgrown hooves.

They appear to be in pain when they walk

and may be in need of urgent treatment.

Just taken a couple of photographs, you know?

I consider these have got beyond the point of reasonableness.

You know, these hooves are down and are starting to curl.

I just want to look at the movement on this donkey,

see whether it's causing lameness.

Donkeys are notoriously stubborn,

but Jill's worried this one may not want to move because it's in pain.

It's quite an old donkey.

The condition isn't that bad. It's starting to lose some weight here.

But the concern is with the feet, being reluctant to move,

that could be an age thing, arthritic,

or it could be the hooves causing it.

Almost every donkey Jill comes across in this field

seems to have overgrown hooves. Some are clearly struggling to walk.

None of the feet are brilliant.

There's four that I consider to be unacceptable.

You see, these front hooves aren't creating a problem,

although they could still do with a trim,

but these ones clearly are.

It was a passerby who first warned Jill that something might be wrong with these donkeys.

Now she's satisfied there is a problem, tackling the owner will be her next challenge.

If I'm to give him a warning notice,

I will insist that it's a farrier or a vet

that comes and trims the feet,

that he's not allowed to do the work himself.

He'd have to give me details of an expert that's come and done them

and that the donkeys aren't to move out of this situ,

because at the moment I would argue that the donkeys aren't fit to travel with their feet being overgrown.

While it's not unusual for owners to clip donkeys' hooves themselves,

it does require specialist knowledge.

Not everyone knows how to get it right.

You get people that continually take off the toes,

trimming the toe length of the hoof

and they're not doing any work on the heel at the back,

so consequently the heel keeps growing longer and does this...

This in that it starts tilting the animal

as opposed to it's stood square on its hooves,

and that's the problem that you get with people home trimming.

Jill needs to decide whether to take these donkeys away

to get their feet treated.

She calls a vet for a second opinion.

And there definitely is a problem with their feet being overgrown,

but I'm debating whether to go on a warning notice

or get you out and get your opinion.

The vet tells her the donkeys need to stay where they are.

Moving them would cause them more pain.

Any work on the feet needs to be carried out here.

The vet's quite happy to say, because of the lameness,

these donkeys aren't fit for travel until their feet are put right.

So, with that, I can put that to the owner in the advice that I give him

and push that they're done by a farrier or a vet

in the hope that these hooves get trimmed correctly,

but, you know, he'll be under no uncertain terms

that this job has to be dealt with, you know, promptly and correctly.

Jill is concerned the donkeys are suffering and if the owner

doesn't get the feet treated he could face prosecution.

She takes evidence which will be used if this case goes to court.

But after a few minutes the owner turns up

and he's someone Jill has dealt with before.

There's a problem with the donkeys' overgrown feet.

You've put me in a position where they are quite bad, all right?

I've rung a vet and I've got advice.

The owner tells Jill he knows these animals have overgrown hooves.

A farrier is booked to come and deal with them in just a few days' time.

-If it's a registered farrier or a vet that comes and does it, I don't have a problem.

-Right.

The fact that you've got them booked in is good, but I would just wonder

if you could get them done any sooner that would be helpful.

-Yeah, that's fine.

-Yeah?

It's now hoped the donkeys will soon be on the mend,

but Jill will need a return visit to check the work has really been done.

He's quite a reasonable owner.

It's the man that has just been down.

The farrier's coming out now on Wednesday afternoon.

Having chatted to the vet it's a unanimous decision

that there should be a warning notice

and obviously I'll be back to check on the donkeys

and check that everything I've asked to be done is done.

Later, Meg the springy spaniel finds her perfect partner.

You couldn't get a better dog than her.

She's really friendly and she likes to play.

Now, back to RSPCA inspector Vicky McDonald and the pet owner

who refused to come clean about the treatment her dog had received.

Liz Gibbons insisted time and time again she had taken Kolo to the vet's for his flea allergy,

but after persistent interrogation from Vicky she finally admitted

that, in fact, Kolo hadn't seen a vet.

Vicki warned Liz she must now take him, but will she have listened?

Three weeks after her first visit,

inspector Vicky McDonald is back to see Liz and her black mongrel Kolo.

But it's not a good start.

What are you doing coming out into the road, silly?

The door's wide open and Kolo's on the loose.

Come here. Get in there now. Go on.

Your dog's just run straight out into the road.

The kids are out, that's why.

Right, let's go in. Have you been to the vet's?

Liz fails to impress Vicky before she's even got through the door and it gets worse.

Despite her promises, Liz says she hasn't been able to afford to see the vet and Kolo's still itching.

-Can we shut the door, if he runs out again...

-Yeah.

He could get run over and that's going to cost you an even bigger vet bill.

Vicky's already asked Liz whether keeping three pets

is too much to cope with

and within five minutes of turning up today

her suspicions have been confirmed.

Come here, you. His fur loss has actually got worse, hasn't it?

Have you thought any more about whether it would be more appropriate to rehome him...

-That's what I was thinking.

-..if you can't afford him?

His... Like I said, the landlord's not happy with him messing.

I'm... I'm not happy with him not getting vet treatment, personally.

All right, poppet. I mean, is that a decision you want to make today?

-If it's for the best, yeah.

-Well, it's your decision.

I understand about him suffering, anyway, because he's suffering if he's nibbling his back.

Well, it's driving him crazy, isn't it, if he's constantly itching?

It looks like Kolo may soon be rescued

and free from his scratching,

but Lolly the parrot doesn't seem keen on the idea.

So do you want to do that today, then?

God, blimey O'Reilly!

Ow.

Liz quickly gets her loyal friend back under control.

So, what... What do you think today, then?

-I think it would be the best...

-Right.

She agrees to sign her dog over to the RSPCA and Vicky finds him a place at a rehoming centre,

but Kolo hasn't had his vaccinations and can't be admitted until he has.

Okie-doke. Well, I'll get it sorted and then I'll come back in five days

and pick him up for the kennels. All right, then. Thank you.

Cheers, bye, bye.

Right, we've got a space in the kennels,

so I will now give Victoria Vets a ring.

If I can't get him in now, I will book an appointment

where you will need to go down and get his first vaccination

and we will cover the cost of that

because obviously he's going to be coming to us for rehoming.

Leaving nothing to chance this time,

Vicky arranges the appointment at the local vet's

and she's now hoping Liz will finally take her advice on board.

I'm disappointed that she's... She's not been to the vets.

I mean, it's been several weeks now since...

Since I was here and she's made zero effort to get him treated,

but at least now today she's decided to sign him over

so he will get treatment now.

It's going to end up costing us,

but better that than he gets no treatment at all

and now we can rehome him to a more responsible owner.

Assuming he doesn't get out in the meantime!

Liz will soon have one less pet to care for,

and at least the normally wary Kolo is starting to warm to Vicky.

Hello. That's a good boy.

He's just very nervous, isn't he?

But we'll work with him on that.

And Vicky gives Liz some tips to stop this situation happening again.

-I mean, my advice would be just to keep down to a minimal...

-Yeah.

If you can't afford to have this many pets than don't have this many pets.

Stick to what you can afford and what you can cope with, all right?

But if you do get into a situation I would rather you were the one

that rang me for help than somebody puts in a complaint, OK?

Providing Kolo gets his jabs, Vicky will collect him in five days time.

And five days later Vicky is back

for what should be her final visit to Liz and her pets.

It's been a long haul,

but this could be the start of a new life for Kolo.

Hello.

Hiya. Did you get everything sorted at the vet's?

They've done the vaccination.

-Right.

-Flea stuff.

-Yeah.

I had to go buy that myself because they won't give it to you, RSPCA,

but they wouldn't do the kennel cough.

No kennel cough jab means another wasted journey for Vicky.

With her patience wearing thin, she heads to the vet's herself to ensure Kolo finally get the jabs he needs.

So he's going to need the kennel cough, so can I book her back in today, if possible?

An appointment's made and will hopefully allow Vicky to put an end to this frustrating job.

One week later, the fifth visit for Vicky,

after two vet appointments, 27 lies and one parrot attack,

will Vicky finally be in luck?

Hiya. Hello, poppet. Don't you go out.

-Are we all sorted, now?

-Yeah.

-Can I come through?

-Yeah.

-Cheers. In you go.

At last, Kolo's had all his vaccinations

and Liz has the paperwork to prove it.

Now it's time for the family to say goodbye and for Vicky

to give a reminder about the merits of telling the truth.

-If I do you ever need to speak to you again...

-Yeah.

I would just appreciate honesty from the outset

because it's so much easier for me to deal with things

if I know exactly where we stand

because all that did was just prolong a situation

that didn't need prolonging.

With everything that's gone on,

it's been easy to forget about Kolo and the treatment he needs.

He heads off to the local RSPCA kennels where his fleas and worms will finally be treated.

But as Kolo arrives he's clearly scared and unsure of his new surroundings.

Good boy. Come on, then.

It's all right.

He's shaking a bit, but he's not too bad. He's not backing away from me.

He's letting me handle him,

so I think with a bit of TLC and a bit of attention he'll...

He'll come out. We've got some brilliant members of the branch

that really work with them and bring them out of their shells

and I'm sure they'll be able to do the same with Kolo,

so I'm sure there will be family out there

that will be absolutely perfect for him and he should thrive.

It's a bewildering time for such a nervous dog,

but with the help of the staff here, this anxious but loving dog

will soon be itch free and on his way to a new home.

Finally today we're back with RSPCA inspector Jill Corder.

Earlier, Jill rescued an excitable Springer Spaniel called Meg.

She needed to put on weight, but also find an owner that could cope with giving her enough exercise.

Jill also visited a field full of donkeys whose overgrown feet were causing them distress.

Last time Jill was here, most of these donkeys' feet were in dire need of attention.

Today, she's checking to see if her demand to have them seen has been heeded.

We've come back today to do the revisit on these donkeys.

As we know the owner was given a warning notice

and asked to trim up all the feet

which, looking at these two donkeys, that's certainly been done.

The donkeys near the fence look good, but Jill needs to get into the field to check them all over.

This is the donkey that I was concerned about and she's actually looking greatly improved.

You can see on that one there, the hoof grows with a bit of a tilt.

These are deformities that grow

and they're quite hard to bring the hoof back to the normal shape.

When she was last here, many of the donkeys were lame.

Now, after having their feet trimmed, they seem to be moving much more freely.

That's another one there that we've checked

and her hooves are much improved, so I'm quite pleased about that.

This was the donkey that I couldn't get near last time

and she's clearly not going to let me approach her again

and, you know, she's got a youngster with her

so I'm not going to try and harass her.

She was displaying a bit of lameness last time,

but today she's completely sound, so, again, that's good.

Hopefully, there was something with the hoof

that the farrier's been able to correct,

but she's walking lovely today.

Jill's visit has been worthwhile.

The owner has done all that's asked of him,

but it's a case she'll continue to monitor.

I'm happy that there's been a real good effort made here

and all the donkeys are sound. It's not left any of them with lameness.

They're clearly vastly improved from my last visit,

so I'm going to have a word with the owner and, providing the revisit is booked for the donkeys,

then we'll be able to close this job.

Our advice has been followed and I think it has improved animal welfare here without any doubt.

It's been a successful outcome for the donkeys,

but now back to Meg, the spaniel Jill rescued a month ago.

Meg was underweight and living in cramped conditions.

Rehoming such an energetic dog was always going to be difficult.

Meg needed a special kind of owner that could give her all the walks she needed.

And now she has one.

She's living with a new family with plenty of space to run around.

Meg's new owner is Katarina Gill and she says it was love at first sight.

We've had Meg now for two weeks and she's been really, really good.

She was right at the back and we just saw her ears poke up

and I said, "Oh, she's nice,"

but the girl that was looking after her said that everybody loved her.

We didn't really have a close enough look at her first time,

but it was the second time we saw her close up,

so we decided to take her for a walk and that was it.

She's here now!

Meg was not used to much attention and took some time to adjust to her new surroundings.

Meg was really quiet when we first brought her home

and she was a bit wary of where she was,

but she's settled in quite well within a few days.

Quite a lot of people tried to put us off Meg

because of the breed being quite boisterous and they say that the dogs are quite mad,

but she's been fine.

And Meg's proving a big hit with Katarina's daughter, too.

I've always liked dogs when I was, like, little.

They're just like humans, they like to play and everything

and she just likes cuddling up to you and lying on the sofa.

With regular food and exercise Meg's now gaining strength every day.

When we brought Meg home

we could feel the bones showing at the back of her,

but she's put quite a lot of weight on

and I can't see the bones at all now and she feeds really good.

I can't believe how different she looks and everybody that's seen her

can't believe how different she looks.

She's had probably a little bit more than what she should,

but then the home told us to give her a little bit more to feed her up.

She's had a lot of treats from Nicole.

Meg is a dog who's full of running and whatever the weather,

come rain or shine, the Gill family never hesitate to take her out.

We usually take Meg for a walk about two or three times a day.

We have to bring her on the lead up to the top of the path

and then we let her go and she's fine, she's off.

She likes to go in the woods up there.

She's a bit strong for Nicole so I have to hold her at the moment,

but I'm sure she'll be fine when we take her for a few dog obedience classes, won't she?

We're going to take her to a few just to help you hold her

and then she'll be fine, because she comes back to us when she's off to lead.

Meg!

You couldn't get a better dog than her.

She's really friendly and she likes to play.

And it's not just Meg that's benefiting from the great outdoors.

I quite enjoy going for the walks now and definitely for Nicole

because she didn't like walking anywhere

and now she'll walk everywhere with the dog.

She hated walking anywhere,

she always wanted to go in the car, but she loves walking now.

So, yeah, I'm quite pleased we've got a dog and I don't think we could have chose a better dog.

Just four weeks ago Meg was a dog in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Now she's found her perfect family.

She can look forward to a future which should keep both her and her owners healthy for years to come.

If you think you know of a case of wildlife crime or a creature that needs immediate protection

remember there are dedicated professionals out there who will answer your call around the clock.

They are the people we meet on Animal 24/7.

Next time, the pooches' playground packed with danger.

Well, it was all clear, but it doesn't help with Lee's mates chucking cans out the window.

No, it doesn't. God, how much beer does he get through?

The race to save a beached whale.

-We're extremely worried at the moment, she's basically in the process of drowning.

-Drowning?

She's on her side, blowhole is going in and out of the water.

And I need the gentle touch to feed these baby mice.

-We're feeding these about every hour.

-Every hour?

-Yes.

I just love his little hands gripping the end of the syringe!

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