Episode 7 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.

Today on Animal 24:7...

I don't like being bossed about, me.

-Aw, no-one's pushing you about, are they?

-Tensions run high on a Leeds housing estate.

Why don't you leave people alone?

I can't leave you alone until you get your situation sorted.

Investigations into the illegal trapping of wild birds.

The net is very fine. Animals won't see this as they come through the hedgerows.

I would suggest it's for the sole purpose of catching finches.

-And a security breach.

-Driving towards me, I'm over here.

The troops are called in to catch an unlikely infiltrator. There it is.

It turns out it was us that was outflanked, not the deer.

Taking dogs away from their owners

can be mean RSPCA inspectors find themselves in tricky situations.

Sometimes they face open hostility,

others just make everything as difficult as possible.

In West Yorkshire, Emma Ellis knows a potential confrontation is only a door knock away.

A housing estate in Leeds, and RSPCA inspector Emma Ellis knows this next job is going to be difficult.

She's just arrived at a flat where she's encountered resistance before.

He's got four dogs. Some of them have got a problem with fleas.

The conditions in there are pretty grotty.

When I came last time he wasn't very receptive to advice

and quite argumentative, so hopefully he's listened, but I'll have to have a look.

With four dogs in the flat, the owner's in breach of his tenancy agreement.

The behaviour of his pets is also cause of concern.

Four dogs obviously in there. They're quite large.

Emma's met by housing officers and the police.

They're hoping to take away at least two dogs.

When I spoke to him he was like, "I'm not getting rid of any of them." So, we'll see what happens.

Failing that, I mean, we'll have to go down

-breach of tenancy and may end up losing his property.

-OK.

-So, is his tenancy agreement that he can only have one dog or...

-Two.

-Two.

-Yeah.

Emma's previous meetings with the owner, Herbert Laycock, have been tense affairs.

And their sparring continues as soon as he opens the door.

-RSPCA. Do you remember we came before?

-Oh, yes.

-Yeah?

We've come to see about getting rid of some of your dogs.

About re-homing some of your dogs.

The suggestion is that you re-home three of them and keep one.

All right.

Emma's clearly got a battle on her hands.

As they haggle over exactly how many he's going to be allowed to keep,

Herbert ushers Emma and the team inside.

Hiya! Hello.

In the living room she's faced with a barrage of noise.

BARKING Hello, hello, hello. Hiya.

Hello. Shh.

These are big unruly dogs.

They're intimidating and untrained. If allowed out on their own,

Emma's worried they could pose a threat to the public.

Come on, then, let's go.

She now has to decide which ones should be taken away.

I'd rather take the two that have the problem with fleas,

that you aren't managing. You're obviously struggling as you need to get rid of...

Well, I'm not sure that you can, OK?

Emma wants to check the dogs for fleas, but they're so unused to being around people

she can't begin to get close.

DOGS BARK

Emma isn't making any progress.

She decides to take the conversation outside.

No-one's pushing you about, we're just

doing what's right for the dogs and trying to help you at the same time.

You don't want to lose your temper.

This visit is becoming heated.

Emma gives Herbert time to cool off.

You're not around in Leeds anywhere, are you?

She's also worried that the dogs' size and lack of training

could mean they're difficult to handle. She calls for backup.

Because he said that they were likely to rear up on the lead,

I'm a little bit concerned about how they're going to react.

I'm concerned about their reaction when they come out of the house.

I don't think they leave the house much. It will be completely alien.

They'll be, potentially, a bit frightened

when they come out, so I think with two of us it'll be much better.

DOGS BARK All right, all right, all right.

Back at the house it's still chaos.

Two of the dogs are now tied up together.

-Hey! Oh, they're off!

-The other two have escaped.

But they're not used to being outside.

They're clearly very scared. As soon as they're out, they run off.

Rosie looks completely bewildered.

If we get some biscuits they'll both come in.

Right, can you go in and shut the door, please?

-Go on, sweetie.

-But finally the dogs are persuaded back into the house.

This is a form that signs them over to the RSPCA, OK?

You can't get them back, do you understand that? Yeah?

OK. Signature there, please. Yeah, there, please.

The paperwork is complete, now Emma can take the dogs.

But Rosie is terrified.

Herbert agrees to carry her out.

You just bring her out, all right?

-Is she going to be all right?

-Yeah.

Yeah? Because I'm worried she's a bit timid.

-As soon as she leaves you, she might get a bit funny.

-Try to hold her.

All right, all right.

Are you going to come with us, though?

-Look.

-All right, let go.

Let go, it's all right. I've got her. There you go.

Together, Emma and Herbert keep Rosie relaxed.

-Good girl.

-Keep her going, yeah.

We'll keep them together for you, as well.

That will be nice for them, they'll know each other, then.

All right? OK.

A few minutes later backup arrives and Judy, Rosie's mother, can be taken away.

Emma makes it clear that things have to change here.

I'm going to come back and see you once the guys have come and cleaned it out.

I'll come back and see you then, and see how you're coping with the other two.

I'll see you in a couple of weeks.

Bye.

For Emma, the difficult work here today has been done.

But Herbert must improve the conditions at home, soon.

If he doesn't, his other dogs may be taken away as well.

-Coming up...

-I want to try and loosen that lead. It's just not loosening at all.

A distressing time for Rosie.

She's absolutely terrified and by trying to get away from it

she's making it tighter and tighter and tighter.

And it's D-day for a deer, but it's not a straightforward operation.

He is... He's just very nervous now.

Just getting the right opportunity, and getting us and the deer

in the right position at the same time.

Finches are the most colourful of all our birds.

Sadly, in some circles they're also the most sought after.

An increasing demand on the black market means birds are being illegally trapped and sold.

It's a cruel practice where the birds often suffer and sometimes die.

And it's a crime which wildlife officers and the RSPCA are determined will not go unpunished.

In the peaceful Lincolnshire countryside there's a serious allegation of wildlife crime.

We've intelligence suggesting that there's a male at the property

trapping wild birds by use of mist nets.

It's nine o'clock in the morning and a team of RSPCA and police officers have gathered for their briefing.

The intention is to approach the address from the wooded area to the north,

and for everybody to go on to the premises and conduct a full search.

The officers are preparing to mount a raid on a house where they suspect

wild finches are being illegally trapped.

Aiming to do the operation at 10.00 hours today.

Wildlife crime officer PC Dave Brennan is leading the operation.

The search will be carried out under the Wildlife Countryside Act '81, Section 19.3.

People who illegally take birds from the wild will often try and cover their tracks.

But Dave knows exactly what he's looking for.

We're hoping to find a mist net, set up on poles,

and potentially cages in some of the outhouses.

And we're hoping to find

some evidence of birdlife.

Trapping birds is incredibly cruel.

They can get caught up in nets and can die from stress.

At the property, the owner isn't home, but his son is.

PC Brennan, Wildlife Crime Unit, Lincolnshire police.

Under the Wildlife And Countryside Act, I'm entering the premises.

This is a large garden.

Dave begins a methodical search of every inch of it.

I'm just looking for nets within the hedgerows at the moment, or any poles that would be supporting the nets.

But obviously, coming up to aviaries now, which would strongly suggest

he's keeping some form of birds,

but I'll have a look and see what we've got, first.

The keeper has several large enclosures full of birds.

The aviaries are very dirty to the base.

It will be up to the experts to determine whether these have been taken from the wild.

For now, Dave needs to uncover some more solid evidence.

And it doesn't take him long to find what he's looking for.

There, we see there is evidence of netting here.

It's suspended between poles.

The net is very fine. Animals won't see this as they come through the hedgerows.

And I would suggest for the sole purpose of catching finches.

The back of this garden is totally shrouded in nets.

There's also bait that seems to have been deliberately positioned.

Dave has seen enough.

Numerous feeding points that will attract a number of finches and wild birds.

He'll catch all sorts. But also things like the teasels is an ideal feed for finch,

On that basis I'm going to invite the other people in, to have a look round.

He informs the RSPCA and an independent bird expert of his findings.

The RSPCA now will go down and just do a very brief resume of the area that we're looking at.

Then we'll go back to the beginning of the property

and go through the aviaries, cataloguing the birds in there,

whether they're wild or domesticated birds.

Bird specialist, Roger Cayton, has investigated dozens of cases like this,

but is shocked by what he finds here.

I've never seen such a classic bird trapping site.

There's feeders here for the birds to come in and they'll get used

to coming in and feeding freely, coming and going.

Then he'll drop these mist nets down and the birds will fly into those and get caught, so this is a...

a trapping site.

The team believes it has firm evidence that wild birds are being trapped here.

Can I have a general wander round?

It's not illegal to keep finches, but an owner must be able to prove they were bred in captivity.

Roger needs to check all these birds.

He's looking to see if any are behaving in a way that suggests

they're not used to living in aviaries, and have been taken from the wild.

In here there are some greenfinches and redpolls.

These are the larger type of domesticated greenfinches.

From their behaviour and colour, etc, I'm not concerned about these.

I think these are captive bred.

But then Roger spots a group of finches displaying behaviour that suggests they might be wild.

When placed into captivity it doesn't realise that the wire cladding of the aviary

is a barrier through which it cannot pass. Therefore it spends a lot of time

trying to fly through it, and in doing so, can injure itself.

The bullfinches are very active and they're searching the mesh

for a way through.

Roger believes these birds have been taken from the wild.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team continues the search, and soon uncovers more compelling evidence.

Three traps that have been seized, all spring loaded.

The birds would land on a perch inside the trap

and then the door would just drop down.

It's perfectly legal to own them, but illegal to use them.

Two hours into the search, the owner returns home to face the allegations against him.

I need to caution you, OK? You do not have to say anything, but it may harm

your defence if you don't mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court,

and if you do so it may be given in evidence.

By passing off wild finches as captive bred, the owner could have been making considerable profits.

There's a big demand for certain finches,

and a bullfinch can fetch up to £100.

When the birds are flocking during winter, he could probably trap 20 or 30 goldfinches at one time.

The owner will now be interviewed under caution.

Meanwhile, bags and bags of evidence are removed from the site.

Numerous nets of different gauges and sizes.

The team also seizes 11 birds they suspect really belong in the wild.

They're all in good bodily condition,

but we'll get them off to our centre and get them looked after.

But the fate of these tiny birds now rests on the outcome of the criminal proceedings.

They can't be released until the keeper has been successfully convicted.

Later, more clues that these birds belong in the wild...

There is a loss of nasal bristles.

This would have been caused pushing its head through the bars of the cage in trying to escape.

..and a final act of defiance from Herbert.

-You've got two weeks to clean it up, that's what that says.

-Litter, litter!

-If it's not sorted out then, they'll be removed.

-No!

This is Fort Blockhouse on the Solent, built to repel invaders from land and sea.

But recently its defences have been breached, by an 18-month-old deer!

The fort has guarded the entrance to Portsmouth harbour for almost 600 years,

but despite all its defences designed to keep invaders out,

this daring young roe deer has somehow managed to break in.

-Wow, you get a fantastic view across the bay and everything.

-Yeah, yeah.

Ministry Of Defence Police Wildlife Officer Eddie Williams believes the deer may have swum into the base.

Well, it begs a whole load of questions, even if you say it swam in,

you know, it's a congested waterway, it's a busy waterway...

-That's correct, it is, yeah.

-Sea walls and craft everywhere.

The fact is, obviously, it's the only place it could have actually got out.

After its amphibious landing, the deer evaded capture and penetrated deeper into the base.

-They're great, these buildings, aren't they?

-Yeah.

It's finally made camp in the memorial gardens of Haslar Hospital, just next door to the main complex.

So, this was journey's end for our deer, was it, behind bars?

Yeah, it had to be because it was the only way we could have a safe location where we could capture it.

-So the deer should be in here now?

-Yeah, if he's not, he's got out since I looked this morning!

Surrounded by high walls, the young buck's been unable to escape.

-We've got a good sighting there, haven't we?

-Yeah, he's fit and well.

I was going to say, he looks very agile.

This is no place for a growing deer, and now he's been given his honourable discharge.

There, going to the right, heading to the right.

But first he needs to be caught, so Eddie's called in the reinforcements.

In command are Les Stocker from Tiggywinkle's...

Have you got cable ties there?

-..and Trevor Weeks from the Wildlife Rescue Ambulance Service.

-Once he sees the gate shut, then it stops.

-Yeah, he's not going to go, sure.

-OK.

When it comes to animal rescue, Les and Trevor are the Special Forces.

It's been charging towards the entrance gate

to get out into the bigger site,

so whether or not we can use this as a channel to try and catch it, it might be a possibility.

With their target clear, the question now is how to catch it.

-Are there any dangers to the deer itself?

-Darting is dangerous for the deer, but netting it should be OK.

It's dangerous for us.

And he will kick, he will kick like mad, but the antlers are very, very sharp, very, very dangerous.

It's a risky mission for animal and rescuer alike.

If we put nets right the way across and tie them to that tree, so we've got quite a large sweep.

Having formulated their battle plan, generals Trevor and Les lead their troops out for action.

Well, the team are splitting up a bit.

Trevor and Sharon are going to be on this side, hoping the deer is going to come this way,

and Les and the rest of the team are going to go up the far wall and hopefully flush it round.

It's D-day for the deer.

He should come out of that opening there.

Les leads his squadron off along the left flank.

I help the team prepare the trap in the centre and get into position.

It doesn't take long for the buck to break out from cover.

He's coming round now.

The deer's on its way round this side.

As predicted, he's heading straight towards the gate and the waiting net.

Someone drive him towards me, I'm over here.

But this is terrain the deer knows well, and as fast as he appeared, he's gone to ground again.

He's stopped again.

We think the deer's come round the wall,

but he likes to hide in the greenhouses behind here, it gives him a lot of cover.

Eddie acts as a beater, and the deer's flushed out of his hiding position.

There it is.

I never even saw it come through there!

But not into the net.

Catching this deer is proving difficult.

To me, I'm over here. Right into three o'clock.

He's fast and agile, and soon finds a gaping hole in our defence line.

Time for plan B.

We're just going to get another net up across this gap,

because twice the deer's come through here.

And just when the additional trap looks to have channelled the buck in the right direction,

he escapes again!

Oh, jeez!

It appears the nets are in the perfect position,

but amazingly the deer hits the brakes and avoids our ambush yet again.

He is... He's just very nervous now.

-Obviously he's been through here a few times now.

-My heart's racing, I don't know about the deer's!

While the thrill of the chase may be exhilarating for me,

it's important that the team snare this runaway soon.

If the dear gets too stressed, he could collapse and die from shock.

Coming my way. Now he's turned.

This feisty deer's proving a worthy adversary,

but then as he makes another dash for the garden's exit, our tactics finally pay off.

He's caught! Caught!

To calm him down, the deer's head is covered

and he's given an injection by the team's wildlife nurse.

Put him over my head onto my shoulders.

With the deer sedated, Les is able to transfer him into a van for relocation.

I'll just put him in here, now. Take my head out.

This is a very quick door shut, is it?

But the question now is where to release him.

Some reconnaissance work soon identifies a suitable release site

just a couple of miles away from Fort Blockhouse,

a woodland nature reserve, perfect for this young roe deer to grow up in.

-Keep coming.

-I can just... I can just see a guy beckoning me towards him!

Almost a month since it penetrated military security,

it's time for the infiltrator to go back to its natural habitat.

Hardly the worse for wear.

I like the way he almost kind of went up and turned round as if to say thank you.

And, Les, quite a success for you and the team, really. You know, you proved you could do it.

We have quite a bit of practice, but it's good because you never know what you're going to find,

you never know what's going to happen to the animal,

-and I think we all did pretty well and...

-One big team.

Coming up, the illegally trapped birds are back where they belong.

It's the exciting part, they finally get to go back to the wild, and we'll see how they go.

It's up to them after that.

In West Yorkshire, RSPCA inspector Emma Ellis has just endured a tense showdown with a pet owner,

as she took two of his dogs into possession,

and she's had to warn Herbert Laycock that she may seize the rest of his animals

if things don't improve.

In the meantime, she's struggling to keep control of the two dogs she has seized.

Emma has bought Rosie and Judy to the local kennels to be checked over.

But the two dogs have rarely been outside their home.

Come on then, sweetie pie.

Rosie in particular is finding it too much.

She doesn't want to come out. It's all right, sweetie...

To try and make her feel more at ease, her mother Judy is brought out first.

-Who's this?

-Come on, little one.

-Come and see her.

-Hello.

Who's this?

I think, because he said they hadn't been outside, she's absolutely terrified.

She feels quite safe in that little enclosed space because that's what she's used to,

and she doesn't want to come out, and even with her around she doesn't want to come out.

Emma needs to get Rosie out of the van, but when she is finally persuaded out...

Good girl, good girl.

She makes a powerful attempt to break free.

It's all right. Come here, come here, come here, come here, come here, come here, come here.

You're all right. You're all right.

With such a violent reaction, there's a real danger she could hurt herself.

It's obvious Rosie's never been on a lead.

-Ssssh!

-This resistance will certainly count against her

when it comes to assessing whether she's safe to be re-homed.

I just want to try and loosen that lead off, it's just not loosening at all.

Just hang on. Come here, come here, come here...

The more she writhes, the greater the danger of choking.

Calm down.

Emma knows by covering her eyes, she will begin to calm down.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

She's absolutely terrified, and she's never been on a lead before,

so she's just going ballistic and trying to get away from it,

and then by trying to get away from it, she's making it tighter and tighter and tighter.

Emma gives up trying to lead Rosie, and decides to carry her instead.

Come on, sweetie.

And now the two dogs make their way towards their new home.

Three weeks later, Emma is back at the kennels to find out how both dogs are settling in.

Judy is a model pupil, but Rosie is still causing problems.

Hello.

Dog welfare manager Jo Wall is worried that she's struggling to adjust.

I think the majority of this is that she's scared, and I think that's why...

I think with having the cage in between us, that's why she's bearing her teeth,

whereas if we were to walk in, she wouldn't necessarily do that.

She would just run off and run into the kennel.

But still, we can't get close enough to her to get a lead on her,

and when we have tried putting a lead on her before, she's got that stressed,

she's passed out in her kennel.

This is the behaviour she was displaying in the house.

She was all barky, barky, and then as soon as you went towards her, she would hide behind the couch.

It's very, very much fear aggression which she has got.

-Yeah.

-As I say, it is improving, but not to the point where we could put her in a family home.

Whereas she's completely the opposite.

She's wagging her tail. Hiya! You're happy.

Although comfortable in each other's company,

it is inevitable that mother and daughter will soon be split up.

Mum Judy is ready to be found a new home,

but Rosie's wild nature means that prospect seems to be getting further away.

And the way she's behaving has left Emma even more worried about the two dogs left behind at the house.

A week later, Emma is back to see Herbert.

Hiya. RSPCA, again.

I'm back.

At the door, she's given another frosty reception.

I want to see come and see how you're doing with your dogs.

Your two dogs.

Is it all right if I come in?

Inside, she's confronted with a mess, and a familiar wall of noise.

DOGS BARK

-Do you want to get them in the corner for us?

-Eh?

Do you want to get them in for us?

Do you want to get them in for us?

Look at the conditions in this room.

Well, they shouldn't be doing it inside, should they?

Yeah, and they should be allowed to go outside.

This dirt on the floor shows things appear to have got worse.

I thought you were supposed to be getting the house cleaned?

OK.

No, I thought it was being done...

It's not my job to clean your house for you.

OK, let's go outside, because I can't hear you.

Conditions are worsening. It's time for an ultimatum.

As it stands, if you don't get that sorted out in there, OK,

and you don't get those dogs out of that room,

and get them exercised, and allow them to go out...

Let me finish, let me finish.

Allow them to get outside, OK, you risk losing them,

because I will take them off you if you don't. It's not hygienic.

I don't believe you.

Well, I'm afraid I do, so you've

got two choices here, Mr Laycock,

you get it sorted, or you end up losing them.

I can't leave you alone until you get your situation sorted.

Herbert is unwilling to change. The argument reaches stalemate.

I can't stand it when, firstly, people ignore you,

and, secondly, they can't see what you're saying, it just drives me absolutely mad, it really does.

He's just shouting at me for no reason, yet he won't listen to anything anyone's telling him.

Emma's patience is starting to wear thin.

Then Herbert shows another reason why this is a priority case.

Don't kick her.

I saw you, so don't do it.

Emma decides to issue a written warning,

but her attempts to get Herbert to accept it fall on stony ground.

Can I give you this paperwork?

With all hopes of compromise slammed in her face,

Emma is given no option but to post the warning through the door.

And as she briefs the head office...

I've not explained it because he's too busy shouting.

..Herbert emerges from the house, with a final act of defiance.

-You've got two weeks to clean it up, that's what that says that you've just ripped up.

-Litter, litter!

-If it's not sorted out, then they'll be removed.

-No!

It's a futile gesture, and Emma has the final word.

He's not meeting their needs, and if he's given a chance and he doesn't do it,

then we do have the power to get the police to come and take them,

and we will do that, because the way they're currently being kept is not acceptable.

Still to come, Judy finds her perfect partner.

Oh, she means a lot to me because I can talk to her,

and I'm sure she understands a lot of what I say.

Now we're back to Lincolnshire,

where the police and RSPCA are searching a house for evidence of bird trapping.

They've found nets, traps and 11 finches.

The birds are now being cared for at a local RSPCA centre,

and they're about to be examined to find out where they came from.

The seized finches have been living in this aviary for almost three weeks now.

Today, bird expert Roger Cayton will begin his assessments

to decide whether these are, in fact, wild birds.

He will monitor and record every aspect of their behaviour.

He will also check each bird individually for clues as to where they've come from.

First, he positions himself, ready to watch their every move.

Well, the birds are very active, flying about. They're not perching for any length of time.

They're flying on to the aviary mesh, investigating the mesh,

looking through it, pecking at it,

and going into the corners to see if there's somewhere where they can escape.

The way these birds are reacting suggests they're not used to living in captivity.

These birds are pretty active, as they were when they were seized.

It would appear to me that they were recently taken wild birds.

But Roger still needs more evidence.

So, the birds are caught and moved inside.

Now Roger can begin more detailed examinations of each and every finch.

This is a male goldfinch.

You can see that there is a loss of nasal bristles.

Now, this would have been caused shortly after the bird was taken from the wild,

pushing its head through the bars of the cage in trying to escape.

Now, looking at the primary feathers, the first primary is broken at the tip,

and the following two are in fact frayed.

This is one of the features that I'm looking for, which is plumage damage.

Roger believes the finch injured itself after flying around the cage looking for a way out.

He's confident he now has all the evidence he needs

to prove that these birds were taken from the wild.

But the finches still face more time in captivity.

Their fate now hangs on a successful prosecution.

Four months later, George Littlewood appeared in court.

He pleaded guilty to possessing 11 wild birds and the nets and traps used to take them from the wild.

He was ordered to pay fines totalling £675.

For the police and the RSPCA,

this case was a chance to show that crimes like this will not go unpunished.

The successful conviction means the finches can now go back to the wild.

They've been moved from the rescue centre to the manager Alison Charles' own back garden.

After such a long time in captivity, these birds need a helping hand.

This is a perfect location for them to finally spread their wings again.

They've been in here for ten days. They've acclimatised, and hopefully they think this is home.

This is the exciting part, they finally get back to the wild, and we'll see how they go.

It's up to them after that.

After being forced to live as captives, these finches can finally be free again.

Alison leaves the door open, so the birds can fly out in their own time.

And our cameras stay well back, so as not to spook them.

At first, they seem unsure.

-They'll go when they're ready.

-But it's not long before one brave soul makes a break for freedom.

Living in captivity has been a tough ordeal for these finches, but now,

as they make a dash for the trees, they're back where they belong.

So, they're out there! It's up to them, it's great stuff!

Finally today, we're back in West Yorkshire, where it's decision day.

Herbert Laycock has already had two of his dogs seized,

and has been given plenty of warnings on how to look after the rest.

Now the RSPCA will decide if there's been enough improvement.

This is Herbert's last chance to show he can change.

We've given him a few weeks now to see if he improves the conditions there.

I've heard from housing that there has been cleaning done here,

so hopefully today we'll see a vast improvement on the conditions last time.

Emma's previous visits here have ended with heated exchanges,

and today's knock at the door is met with a lukewarm response.

Hiya. Me again.

-How are we doing?

-Eh?

How are you doing?

Have you been cleaned up in here, have you?

-Eh?

-Have you got everything cleaned up in here, have you?

Emma wants to do all she can to make sure that Herbert and his remaining pets are kept together.

The discussions continue, but behind closed doors.

We're trying to sort out the best thing for these dogs, aren't we?

We both want what's right for the dogs. I'm sure that's what you want.

The house is cleaner and Emma's confident the dogs are being treated for fleas.

Their skin... Certainly the fur looks a little bit better.

Herbert is at least making an effort.

-No, I can see from here it's much better.

-Emma leaves happy.

All I want to say is, you've got to keep on top of it, because you know what will happen if you don't.

Although there are still improvements that could be made, he is at least making some progress.

Being here has certainly made a massive difference to the dogs' welfare.

He's better able to cope with two rather than the four he originally had.

He can keep on top of that a lot better.

We've worked with the housing company to improve conditions in there.

Hopefully I've annoyed him enough that he's changed things a little bit

and, you know, that's an improvement from my point of view.

Away from Herbert's house, the two dogs, Judy and Rosie, are now facing very different futures.

This was Rosie two months ago when Emma first tried to bring her under control.

Today, having been given plenty of TLC, she's become much calmer.

When she first came here we wouldn't have been able to get this close at all.

We struggled to get in the kennel with her, she'd run away from us.

Whereas now, although she's still scared, she is letting us sit and stroke her.

And she quite enjoys it, after a little while.

-Clever girl.

-It may be taking time, but there's definitely progress with Rosie.

She's slowly becoming much more relaxed.

She's also been learning to socialise,

developing a close bond with a kindred spirit called Charlie.

Charlie's a lot more outgoing than Rosie is, now.

A few months ago, when he first came in he was...

he was just the same as her. He wouldn't come to us or anything.

He's quite cheeky. He'll come and bring us toys and things like that. They're quite close.

They'll lie next to each other and give each other a little bit of company at least.

Hi, Rosie.

The new chums make a charming pair,

and Rosie has certainly mellowed since she found someone else to share her bed.

And it's not just Rosie who's made a new friend.

Her mother has found the perfect partner, too.

Judy, come on.

As Judy enters the autumn of her life she's linked up

with new owner, Marjorie Milne, who was looking for a friendly retirement companion.

We liked the look of her and thought she looked a nice dog.

A nice, quiet kind of dog.

Not a young one that would want me to run after it a lot! Ha-ha!

Marjorie lost her husband recently.

Judy is providing her with just the tonic she needs.

I wanted her for a bit of company and,

you know, he'd have liked Judy.

He liked dogs. He did.

Oh, she means a lot to me because I can talk to her

and I'm sure she understands a lot of what I say.

Judy.

And to make sure Judy and Marjorie are coping,

they're also getting an occasional visit from a few old friends.

Jo Wall is the RSPCA's Dog Welfare Officer in Leeds.

She's come to check on Judy and see how well she's settling in.

How's she been, has she been OK?

-Yes, yes.

-Yeah, settled in well?

She has. Straight away, she did.

She soon gets tired after she's played. Mind you, she's nine year old, isn't she!

Yeah, she's very good,

aren't you, lass?

With Marjorie and Judy both the retiring type this is a perfect match.

Judy looks to have improved so much and she seems so settled,

which is what I hoped to achieve, today. I really wanted to come in and see Judy in a happy home,

feeling very comfortable and relaxed, which is what she has. So it's been very, very positive.

After all she's been through, this is really, really rewarding,

so it's a happy ending for Judy.

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

remember, there are people out there who will answer your call right around the clock.

They are who we meet on Animal 24:7.

Next time on Animal 24:7,

rescue for a big dog locked in a dirty stairwell.

In my opinion it is pretty skinny.

You can see the definition of its rib cage. He needs to come out.

A seal release in a very unlikely setting.

You seem to have brought me to the heart of an industrial estate-cum-estuary!

I suppose if you look that way, over there, you'd think, "where are seals going to go?".

But look over that way, there's open sea and then the Farn Islands, over there.

And who will love this strange looking stray?

I didn't expect her ears to have been completely removed.

It was a bit of an initial shock!

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