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Hello and welcome to Animal Park. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:32 | |
-I'm Kate Humble. -And I'm Ben Fogle. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:34 | |
And this is the perimeter fence of the lion enclosure here at Longleat. | 0:00:34 | 0:00:38 | |
Now, it's 12-feet high and designed to keep the large powerful cats safely inside. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:44 | |
But what if the worst case scenario were to happen and a lion DID escape? | 0:00:44 | 0:00:48 | |
Well, today in a special drill, Head Warden Keith Harris will be putting the keepers to the test. | 0:00:48 | 0:00:54 | |
But will they stay calm or will they lose their heads? We'll find out later. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:58 | |
In the meantime, here's what else is coming up on today's programme. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:02 | |
There's a murder mystery to solve on Meerkat Mountain. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
And the investigation has uncovered a twist in the plot that's stranger than fiction. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:11 | |
Lady Bath knows that people will be staring at her new portrait for centuries to come. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:18 | |
So what if she doesn't like it? | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
And down on the farm, the student vet is going to find out what's what at lambing time. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:28 | |
But first, an emergency has been scheduled, and now the drama is about to begin. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:34 | |
Well, it's early morning outside the lion enclosure here. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
As you can see, it's firmly closed up. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:39 | |
I'm waiting for keeper Bob Trollope so that we can go out on patrol. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:43 | |
Within the lion enclosure, count them, and something tells me one of them is going to be missing. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:49 | |
The different areas and departments at Longleat are called sections. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:55 | |
And already the staff in each section have begun their first jobs of the day. | 0:01:55 | 0:01:59 | |
For some, that's feeding, while others start with mucking out. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
The keepers who look after the large carnivores have different priorities. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:09 | |
A lot of their routine is concerned with safety. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:12 | |
But there's going to be nothing routine about today, though so far everything seems normal. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:17 | |
I've joined Bob Trollope as he does his usual rounds. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:22 | |
So, Bob, obviously you do this every morning. We've just counted the wolves. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:26 | |
-Yeah. The first thing we do every morning is a head count. -Yep. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:30 | |
-Obviously, as we are driving around, we do a fence check as well. -Yeah. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
See if any trees or branches that have come across | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
or any other unlikely thing that might have happened. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
Is that the biggest hazard then? A tree falling and crushing the fence. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:43 | |
As you know, | 0:02:43 | 0:02:45 | |
-the safari park is built in a wood... -Mmm. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
..and no matter how well you trim the trees up, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
there's always a possibility that one might | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
fall over or a limb might come down. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
That is always a worry, that's for sure. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
While Ben's out with Bob, I'm in position to follow the action in the safari park's nerve centre - | 0:03:00 | 0:03:06 | |
the office of Head Warden Keith Harris. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
So as not to arouse suspicion at this stage, we're pretending to be here to do an interview about something else. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:16 | |
You can tell it's the Head Warden's office because it's got the biggest chair. ..Morning. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:20 | |
'The lion-escape drill has been kept secret from all the other staff, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:24 | |
'so right now we're just playing along, waiting for the emergency to begin.' | 0:03:24 | 0:03:29 | |
I'm glad that cameras are here because I can now prove that I do do some work. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
There's lots of paper and stuff about. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
'In the outer office, Deputy Head Warden Ian Turner is blissfully unaware of the impending crisis.' | 0:03:35 | 0:03:42 | |
There's only three people that know about this and that's me, Brian and Keith. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:50 | |
I've noticed Craig is coming nearer. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
-This is when I tell him what is actually going on. -OK. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:57 | |
-And, what we're doing is basically a lion-escape jail. -Right. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:04 | |
I'll let you know that all the lions are in. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:07 | |
If anyone asks you or gets in contact with you, you've got to act just as surprised as we are. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:14 | |
-OK. -All right. -Yep. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:16 | |
-So, the first thing is to double check all the lions are in? -Yes! | 0:04:16 | 0:04:19 | |
-So, which pride is this we're going into? -This is Charlie's pride. -OK. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:23 | |
Are they going to be surprised to see us? | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
The fact is that me and Brian sneaked in yesterday evening and actually put them all in. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:31 | |
-So, we know they're all there. -LOUD GROWLING | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
'Close up, you can really appreciate how dangerous these animals are. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
'Thankfully, since the safari park opened 40 years ago not one has ever escaped. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:46 | |
'Now we're about to find out what would happen if one did.' | 0:04:46 | 0:04:50 | |
-Are we ready for this? -I'm actually quite nervous, even though... | 0:04:50 | 0:04:54 | |
-A lot of planning's gone into this. -We've been planning this for weeks. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:58 | |
-Mm-hm. -It's been so hard not to let things slip. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:04 | |
-Craig, you hadn't got a clue about it, had you? -Not at until this morning! | 0:05:04 | 0:05:08 | |
That's good. That bodes well. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:10 | |
Shall we make the first call? | 0:05:10 | 0:05:12 | |
Er, 392, Brian. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
'Bob's first call is to his Head of Section, Brian Kent. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:18 | |
'Brian is in on the secret, but all the correct procedures | 0:05:18 | 0:05:22 | |
'must be followed to keep the exercise as real as possible. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
'And, of course, most of the other keepers have radios, too, so they can already hear what's going on.' | 0:05:25 | 0:05:31 | |
I've checked all the Lions in the second and we have one missing. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:36 | |
Could you have another look round just in case | 0:05:36 | 0:05:39 | |
'one's got up a tree or something? | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
'It's possible.' | 0:05:42 | 0:05:44 | |
Yeah, I will do. We have had a pretty thorough search, but we haven't seen anything yet. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:50 | |
All right, have another look again and give me a shout back. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:54 | |
Give it five minutes and I'll make another call. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
'OK. So far, the situation is still in the hands of the lion keepers. | 0:05:57 | 0:06:01 | |
'But very soon, it's going to turn into a full-scale emergency that will involve everyone in the park.' | 0:06:01 | 0:06:08 | |
Meanwhile, down at Meerkat Mountain, the keeper in charge, Darren Beasley, has his own drama to deal with. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:20 | |
Last year they brought in a new male meerkat to join | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
their group of females, in the hope that they would soon start breeding. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:28 | |
But for some unknown reason, that just didn't follow. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:32 | |
And now something dreadful's happened. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:35 | |
We've had a terrible time down here at Meerkat Mountain actually. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:38 | |
Um, a few days ago, the meerkats started fighting amongst themselves. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:43 | |
We thought it was a normal, hierarchical scuffle, cos they have these falling-outs. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:48 | |
The alpha male and the alpha female keep everybody else in line. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:53 | |
And it didn't stop. The fighting went on pretty much solid for well over an hour. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:58 | |
We split them up and they were fighting through the barriers inside | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
underneath the mountain in their night house. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
And even though we administered a bit of first aid and antibiotics, | 0:07:04 | 0:07:08 | |
I'm afraid they basically murdered one of the meerkats - they killed one of their gang. | 0:07:08 | 0:07:14 | |
A gang of meerkats is properly known as a mob. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
And although they look harmless, and even cute, these animals come from a tough neighbourhood, | 0:07:18 | 0:07:24 | |
the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa, one of the harshest environments on earth. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:30 | |
But now Darren has a mystery to solve. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:33 | |
What was the motive for the murder, and will the killer strike again? | 0:07:33 | 0:07:37 | |
The victim was male, so perhaps it was a courtship or mating ritual gone horribly wrong. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:44 | |
When a little boy meerkat wants to chat up a lady meerkat, he basically will attack her. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:50 | |
He will try and overpower her, | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
if you like, to convince her that he's big and strong and she's got to do what he says. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:58 | |
It may be in this case that this male, | 0:07:58 | 0:08:01 | |
because it was a male that was killed, um... picked on the wrong girl. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:05 | |
Squabbling and fighting is a normal part of meerkat society, as animals jostle for position within the group. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:12 | |
The females are feisty, though it's usually the males who are the most confrontational. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:19 | |
So, when the new male arrived last year, Darren introduced him to the girls slowly and carefully | 0:08:19 | 0:08:26 | |
in order to avoid any trouble. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
But the group settled down in no time, and everything seemed to be going perfectly. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:36 | |
So why did it come to end in a violent tragedy? | 0:08:36 | 0:08:40 | |
Could there be another explanation? | 0:08:40 | 0:08:42 | |
Darren has taken his investigation further to pursue a startling theory. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:48 | |
Well, the one that passed away and been killed was a boy. We saw that. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:55 | |
We caught all the others to check for injuries and check for wellbeing and stuff. | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
We think we've got another male in here. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
Now that could prove to be a fatal error. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
When they arrived from another collection, we sexed them and put them in. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:08 | |
Meerkats aren't the easiest things to sex, I know. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
But we thought we had all girls and just this one boy. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
So, what we do know is, we know that the one male that we know of had a transponder in, | 0:09:14 | 0:09:19 | |
which is a tiny little microchip. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
It's a way of identifying animals. It gets injected under the skin at the back of the neck. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:26 | |
A lot of dogs and cats have it now. It's a really good idea. So, Duncan, the vet, is coming in. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:31 | |
We're going to use the transponder reader to see if any of the ones left have got a chip. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:35 | |
If they have, we know that the male in here is our original male | 0:09:35 | 0:09:40 | |
and the one that was actually murdered was an impostor or someone that shouldn't have been here. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:45 | |
If one of the remaining meerkats DOES turn out to be male, then the fatal fight | 0:09:45 | 0:09:51 | |
would have been natural behaviour to establish who was the alpha male. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:56 | |
It could all be down to a tragic case of mistaken identity. | 0:09:56 | 0:10:00 | |
We'll be back on Meerkat Mountain shortly when the vet arrives to solve the mystery. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:06 | |
Back in Lion Country, keeper Bob Trollope is about | 0:10:19 | 0:10:22 | |
to launch an emergency that could send panic across the safari park. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:26 | |
It's only Bob, his head of section, Brian Kent, | 0:10:26 | 0:10:30 | |
and Head Warden Keith Harris who know that this is a safety exercise. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:34 | |
Everyone else is about to be told that a lioness has gone missing. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:39 | |
Right now the deception is still brewing. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
Bob's going through the motions of double-checking the area normally occupied by Charlie's pride. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:48 | |
What they call the "second section" of the lion enclosure. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
-'Any luck yet? -No, not a thing. Definitely not in the second. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:56 | |
'All right, I'll check the fence along by gate four in a minute.' | 0:10:56 | 0:11:01 | |
-Brian's just going to do a perimeter check. -Right. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
BRIAN'S VOICE ON RADIO | 0:11:09 | 0:11:11 | |
-Who's he calling? -He's calling Keith now. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
Right. So, this is when things are starting to get more serious. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:17 | |
-Yeah. As soon as Keith's involved, it's a full-scale emergency. -Right. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:21 | |
'Brian has called in to talk to Head Warden Keith Harris, | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
'but it's his deputy, Ian Turner, who comes on the radio.' | 0:11:25 | 0:11:29 | |
I got a shout from Bob. There's a lion missing in the second. He's had a good look round, | 0:11:29 | 0:11:34 | |
'and, um, can't find it. I'm just going along the fence by gate four at the moment.' | 0:11:34 | 0:11:40 | |
So, that was Ian. Ian won't have a clue about what's... | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
Ian doesn't know. Keith is making out he's being filmed just so it throws Ian a little bit. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:51 | |
-OK. -So, Ian is going to have to going there and tell Keith the news. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:55 | |
A big banana split, I think it's going to be, but raw. | 0:11:55 | 0:11:58 | |
-And then, um, it's... -KNOCK ON DOOR | 0:11:58 | 0:12:02 | |
Sorry, but we've got a lion missing in the second section at the minute. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:06 | |
-Not this one that's...? -I'll keep the radio on. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
-What should we do at this point? -We'll just hang on. He's going to call Brian. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:16 | |
'Because Ian doesn't know it's a drill, it's important for Keith and me to keep up the deception.' | 0:12:16 | 0:12:22 | |
What's happened? | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
I'd just got a call from Bob. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
There's a lion missing in the second. | 0:12:27 | 0:12:29 | |
He's had a good look round, but can't find it. | 0:12:29 | 0:12:32 | |
I'm along the fence line from gate four at the moment, just having a look. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:36 | |
OK, well, give us a shout if there's a problem. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:40 | |
Surely there IS a problem if a lion's out. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:43 | |
Only between the fences at the moment. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
-OK. So, there's a double layer of fences? -Yeah. -Yeah. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:49 | |
A lion is a killing machine. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
-Yes. -They're born to kill. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:53 | |
-Um, and for one to escape, there's obviously going to be a lot of fear about. -Mm-hm. | 0:12:54 | 0:13:00 | |
It will be unnatural territory for the lion. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:04 | |
-So, it's going to be frightened. -Mm-hm. -Um, for all we know, it could be hid up somewhere. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:10 | |
-Mm-hm. -Who knows? | 0:13:10 | 0:13:11 | |
KATE: The safari park is now just one step away from a full-scale emergency. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:19 | |
Brian Kent must check the perimeter fence one last time. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:24 | |
If he finds a break or hole, the entire safari park will be told | 0:13:24 | 0:13:28 | |
that there's a deadly lion on the loose somewhere on the estate. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:32 | |
Meanwhile, there's a cloud of suspicion hanging over Meerkat Mountain. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:44 | |
A young male's been killed in a fight. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:48 | |
Head of Pets Corner, Darren Beasley, assumed that he was the new male | 0:13:48 | 0:13:52 | |
who was brought in last year to join the all-female mob. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:56 | |
But now the plot thickens, because they suspect that | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
the new male is actually one of the three meerkats who are still here. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:04 | |
The problem is that these meerkats look almost identical | 0:14:04 | 0:14:08 | |
but there is one sure-fire way to identify the new male. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:11 | |
They know he's got a microchip transponder inserted beneath the skin. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:16 | |
Now vet Duncan Williams has arrived with his microchip reader. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:21 | |
You're going to solve a real mystery for us. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:26 | |
Regarding the big fight where we had a meerkat | 0:14:26 | 0:14:29 | |
picked on and killed basically by one of the others in here. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:34 | |
That shouldn't happen. There are various reasons why it may happen. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
When Val was health-checking the others, the remaining ones, we think we saw another boy | 0:14:38 | 0:14:43 | |
which would explain a lot as we're meant to have one boy and the rest girls. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:47 | |
Um, they're notoriously hard to sex. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:50 | |
So, that's good. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:51 | |
That's all three in here. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:53 | |
So, we've separated the meerkats now. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:58 | |
It's like putting your hand into a tiger pit, really, | 0:14:58 | 0:15:02 | |
cos they're so vicious. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:04 | |
All right, my love. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:05 | |
That's it. Hopefully, we won't find any chips on this one. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:13 | |
No, there's nothing there. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
That's a female. That is a female. Look at those teeth! | 0:15:15 | 0:15:19 | |
They eat insects. Goodness gracious, what do you want teeth like that for? | 0:15:19 | 0:15:23 | |
Incredible. Let's put her in there. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:27 | |
Oh, I nearly fell in. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:31 | |
Grab my ankles, Val, I'm going in. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:34 | |
It looks a bit ungainly but... | 0:15:34 | 0:15:36 | |
Nothing at all. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
-Superb. -Now, there's just one left to try. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:45 | |
If this one turns out to be the new male, it would explain why the fatal fight was so intense. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:51 | |
In the wild, a conflict to determine the alpha male can easily turn into a battle to the death. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:58 | |
-BEEPING -You've got a chip already. -You've got a chip already? -Yep. | 0:15:58 | 0:16:02 | |
So, in a way, that is good news. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:05 | |
This means, this little feisty fellow is our original male. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:09 | |
That explains a lot. That explains, the other one was an impostor. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:13 | |
It obviously was a sub-adult when it arrived. We thought it was a female. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:17 | |
It's grown up to a male and he's seen it off, but in, I'm afraid, the ultimate way. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
So, the mystery is solved. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
The victim was only a youngster when he arrived, | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
which is what made it so difficult to spot that he was actually a male. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:31 | |
As long as he was still a juvenile there was no trouble. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
But when he reached sexual maturity, he was driven to challenge the alpha male - with fatal consequences. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:42 | |
We treated it, obviously, just after a fight when it was very badly injured, but... | 0:16:42 | 0:16:46 | |
it didn't survive. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:48 | |
The injuries were too much. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:50 | |
It died a couple of days later really. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
But, you know, we know why now, which is the main thing. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
Hopefully, we won't get any more. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
Fighting, most days, most weeks, is part of this hierarchical structure. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:06 | |
It's the two top ones that want to breed and want to rule the roost. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:10 | |
Everybody else is secondary. Nature says, as you get bigger and stronger, you're going to compete. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:16 | |
In the wild, you might drive someone away or you might just live in, not harmony, but live knowing your place. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:23 | |
Obviously here, the balance... | 0:17:23 | 0:17:25 | |
Somebody somewhere decided that these two, | 0:17:25 | 0:17:27 | |
they weren't going to live in peace and harmony and they both wanted to be top cat. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:32 | |
And there can't be two top cats. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:33 | |
But something good may come from these tragic events. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:37 | |
Now that the hierarchy of the mob is stable, there's nothing to stop them from finally starting to breed. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:44 | |
We have two unrelated females with an unrelated male, all of a good age. | 0:17:44 | 0:17:48 | |
There shouldn't be any infighting now. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
They balance themselves out. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:53 | |
I'd like to be having this conversation with you in ten years' time, | 0:17:53 | 0:17:57 | |
saying we've got 40 meerkats here and we've a lovely colony. So, we'll just have to wait and see. | 0:17:57 | 0:18:02 | |
KATE: 'Back in the safari-park office only a few minutes have passed | 0:18:05 | 0:18:09 | |
'since keepers Bob Trollope and Brian Kent reported a missing lion. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:13 | |
'Head Warden Keith Harris is now waiting for news that will confirm | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
'everyone's worst fears - actual evidence of an escape.' | 0:18:17 | 0:18:21 | |
I found several holes along the fence line. I'd imagine it's possible it could have got out of there. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:27 | |
OK, Brian. We'll come straight there. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
'Could I have any available vehicles mobile?' | 0:18:37 | 0:18:42 | |
So, there probably will be some very real panic going on now. | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
There's going to be a lot of panic. People will be zooming in to an area. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:53 | |
Now, O'Brien is down at gate four | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
-where he's spotted a hole. -Yep. | 0:18:56 | 0:18:58 | |
I would imagine people will aim for that direction. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:01 | |
Like everyone else, Deputy Head Warden Ian Turner | 0:19:01 | 0:19:05 | |
doesn't know that this is actually an elaborate safety exercise. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:09 | |
-A lion's gone missing... -VOICE ON RADIO | 0:19:09 | 0:19:14 | |
..and there's a lioness. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
Ian, can you grab the dart kit, please? | 0:19:16 | 0:19:18 | |
-Deputy Head Warden Ian Turner is going to be going to get a...? -Dart kit. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:24 | |
He's the person that does most of the darting here. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:27 | |
You always nominate a certain person to go and do a job. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
I'm just picking up the dart stuff, really. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:32 | |
Yeah, OK. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:34 | |
I'll take the pistol. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:37 | |
We've had ones between fences before. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:40 | |
Usually, it's if a tree's come down or something. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
I hope she's just... | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
hiding somewhere, out of the way. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
If she's been bullied, that could be a reason why she's gone over. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:59 | |
Which way do you think it's gone? | 0:20:02 | 0:20:04 | |
-I think it's gone up that way. I'm not 100% sure, mind. -OK. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:07 | |
Well, if you follow what you think are the tracks along there, I'll have to give the gardeners a shout. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:13 | |
-I'll go down to the junction in a minute. -I haven't got out, being on my end. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:17 | |
But I'd imagine it's gone that way. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:19 | |
-293, Bob. -Yes? | 0:20:22 | 0:20:25 | |
Bob, can you put the rest of the lions in, if possible, please? | 0:20:25 | 0:20:31 | |
I'll meet you down by gate four. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
Yeah, me and Craig, we've already done that. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
And there is definitely one missing. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:39 | |
The rest of the lions are in. Definitely one missing. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
There's dog walkers out there. What does this mean? | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
Well, we'd got to... | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
get everybody mobile and get people like that picked up. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:52 | |
Right. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:54 | |
Tommy, I need everything shut down, mate. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
I've got a problem already. On the picnic area, there's a dog walker. | 0:20:56 | 0:21:01 | |
We need him evacuated. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:03 | |
I need to stop all traffic. One of the biggest dangers at the moment is, we know she's out, we don't know | 0:21:05 | 0:21:10 | |
where she is but there's people walking on the estate already. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:14 | |
About 4,500 acres of the estate is open for public access. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:21 | |
But now everyone has swung into action. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
Keepers, gardeners, security and house staff are all working together to lock down the whole place. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:32 | |
Darren Beasley has left Pets Corner to get to his emergency station at one of the gates. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:37 | |
-Hiya. If you go up there, they are a little bit tense up there, so... -What's going on? | 0:21:37 | 0:21:44 | |
-I'm not sure, really. It's an emergency of some sort. -OK. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
Buster, Buster, this is Safari Base. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:52 | |
Um, we have an incident. I need... | 0:21:52 | 0:21:55 | |
immediate assistance, please. | 0:21:55 | 0:21:57 | |
We've got an animal that's escaped. We know it's a lion. | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
-I do need mobile, immediate assistance, please. -Be careful. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:03 | |
We don't know where the lion is. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
-All right? -All right. -If you can take a few people with you. -OK. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:11 | |
Can you organise somebody at the safari office to close the gate and not let anybody through, Mark? | 0:22:19 | 0:22:24 | |
OK, there's just somebody. Yeah, OK. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:28 | |
So, they've closed the safari park as well. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
They're shutting the gates, so that no cars can come down. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:35 | |
You want the least amount of people as possible to be | 0:22:35 | 0:22:41 | |
-wherever this lion might be. -Mm-hm. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
Bob, could you get to Heaven's Gate proper? | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
No, the top. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
Make sure nobody comes through there. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:51 | |
I have to say, it's incredibly impressive. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:59 | |
This was only discovered about five minutes ago. | 0:22:59 | 0:23:02 | |
The whole park is mobilising very, very fast. | 0:23:02 | 0:23:05 | |
Yeah. The only thing is now, we've got to find the lion. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:07 | |
And when the lion is found, then the emergency will really go into top gear. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:12 | |
We'll be back to see what happens very soon. | 0:23:12 | 0:23:15 | |
For over 450 years, Longleat has been the home of the Thynne family, | 0:23:37 | 0:23:43 | |
dating back to Sir John Thynne, who built the house in the 16th century. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:47 | |
Since then, each generation has commissioned | 0:23:51 | 0:23:53 | |
at least one portrait of themselves, so that they could take their place on the walls, amongst the ancestors. | 0:23:53 | 0:24:00 | |
Last year, the official portrait of Lord Bath was painted by the noted artist Paul Benney, | 0:24:00 | 0:24:07 | |
and hung in the Ante Library where it would be seen by visitors at the start of their tour. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:12 | |
Lord Bath, an artist himself, was pleased with the result. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:15 | |
I think it's a good likeness. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
I think it's got the air of not being too carefully dressed. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:21 | |
It's all a bit sort of ruffled up, as I normally am. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:25 | |
Um, and an expression different than the ones...the self-portraits I've done of myself. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:33 | |
So, it's all an addition to the array. | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
Lord Bath is a colourful character and his wife, Anna, Lady Bath, | 0:24:36 | 0:24:41 | |
expected to see a little more of that in the portrait. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:45 | |
He's a real peacock. He dresses far more exotically than I do | 0:24:45 | 0:24:50 | |
and with more colours and more, more, more... | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
I'm not sure how to define it. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
More in every way. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
But now, artist Paul Benney has another picture to paint, because | 0:25:00 | 0:25:03 | |
having done the Marquess, it was felt he ought to do the Marchioness. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:09 | |
So it's Lady Bath's turn to sit for her portrait, in Paul's studio in West London. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:13 | |
This picture is a different kind of challenge. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:17 | |
To me, it's an elegant portrait. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:21 | |
Um, it's almost opposed to Lord Bath's painting, which is quite | 0:25:22 | 0:25:28 | |
flamboyant and dramatic and full of interest. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:32 | |
This one is quite sort of minimal and...restrained. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:37 | |
I kind of like that. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:39 | |
In choosing her outfit, Lady Bath has gone for a vintage classic. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:44 | |
It's an Yves St Laurent poncho from the 1960s. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:49 | |
When I meet somebody, if I don't know them, we sort of mooch around, | 0:25:49 | 0:25:53 | |
finding a place where the light will be good for them. | 0:25:53 | 0:26:00 | |
It's quite difficult in the studio. You've got skylights. You have to find the right spot. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:05 | |
That actually takes a long time and can be a bit trying. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:09 | |
A situation that didn't escape Lady Bath's attention. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:14 | |
'I noticed that the lighting was from way above the head which is not the most flattering lighting.' | 0:26:14 | 0:26:19 | |
I did tell him that last time we saw each other. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
I thought that he made me look terribly, if not sad, as having the whole world on my shoulders, | 0:26:22 | 0:26:29 | |
which of course I do, but I don't want it to show. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:31 | |
I don't. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:34 | |
So, I said, I looked a bit sad to him in his portrait. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
But the art of a portraitist is to put on the canvas something | 0:26:37 | 0:26:41 | |
of the character, not just the outward appearance of the subject. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:45 | |
And Paul is one of the most renowned painters in the field. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:49 | |
His portraits are done over several sittings and many months. | 0:26:49 | 0:26:53 | |
This particular portrait, I think, is... | 0:26:53 | 0:26:56 | |
of somebody... | 0:26:56 | 0:26:58 | |
about to get up and go. | 0:26:58 | 0:27:00 | |
And...Anna Bath is very much like that. She's always on the move. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:08 | |
Something that Lady Bath cannot deny. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
How are we doing time-wise actually | 0:27:10 | 0:27:12 | |
cos I've got a flight to catch? | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
-So... -Right. -It's all right? | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
-It's not half past yet, is it? -No. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:18 | |
'To me, when I'm painting somebody, | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
'it's somebody coming into my life for a short while | 0:27:21 | 0:27:25 | |
'who I, um...find out a lot about. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:29 | |
'and develop a relationship with. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
'And, that part of it is always fascinating. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:36 | |
'The painting is a sort of... | 0:27:37 | 0:27:39 | |
'result of the time we spend in the studio.' | 0:27:39 | 0:27:44 | |
We talk quite easily, don't we? | 0:27:44 | 0:27:46 | |
-Yeah. -And, um...no, I think it will be unnerving when you are... | 0:27:46 | 0:27:53 | |
a young girl. I had a portrait done of me when I was fairly young. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:56 | |
Then you feel very ill at ease. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
The older you grow, the more... at ease with yourself and the world you are, I suppose. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:04 | |
The less self-conscious, I would say, you are. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
There are people who just try and manipulate it | 0:28:06 | 0:28:10 | |
as it's going along because they feel like they can sort of... | 0:28:10 | 0:28:14 | |
put a little bit of spin on it, just a bit. | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
Anna's actually been very good and hasn't made too many comments about it. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:22 | |
Only today. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:25 | |
But when it's finished, what will Lady Bath really think of her portrait? | 0:28:25 | 0:28:30 | |
We'll find out later on. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
Back in the safari park, the staff are all at action stations. | 0:28:38 | 0:28:43 | |
They've been told that a lioness has escaped. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
Only the lion keepers Bob Trollope and Brian Kent, | 0:28:46 | 0:28:50 | |
along with Head Warden Keith Harris, know that this is actually a safety drill. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:55 | |
Where are you with that rifle? | 0:28:55 | 0:28:58 | |
Yeah, just going past the hippo field now towards gate four. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:03 | |
Keith is in charge now. We have to take our directions from him. | 0:29:03 | 0:29:07 | |
Obviously, if we see things that will | 0:29:07 | 0:29:09 | |
help him out, then obviously will do that. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:13 | |
What's happening now, we are doing a sweep of this area. | 0:29:13 | 0:29:16 | |
-Right. -We've had a report that it was in what we call this hanging here, underneath the hill. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:21 | |
Quite good camouflage up here, in this lion-coloured... | 0:29:21 | 0:29:25 | |
The lion's coming in from our left, and he's going along that hanging. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:29 | |
OK, let's be optimistic here. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:31 | |
We find the lion. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:33 | |
-Then what happens? -The first thing we have to is assess | 0:29:33 | 0:29:37 | |
whether it's either "dartable" or we've got to destroy the animal. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:41 | |
-Right. -When I say "dartable", it's got to be in an accessible area we can get to. | 0:29:41 | 0:29:45 | |
-Right. -In which case, we might chance darting it. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:49 | |
So, darting it would mean tranquillising it, | 0:29:49 | 0:29:51 | |
-and then you can move it back into the enclosure? -Yeah. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:54 | |
Worst-case scenario, if you had to put it down - | 0:29:54 | 0:29:58 | |
in what circumstances is that? | 0:29:58 | 0:30:01 | |
If we believe there's a risk of it escaping further, | 0:30:01 | 0:30:04 | |
-or a risk to the public, then the animal will be destroyed. -Right. | 0:30:04 | 0:30:08 | |
You wouldn't get out at this stage, still? | 0:30:11 | 0:30:14 | |
No. If you don't know where the animal is, then you don't get out. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:18 | |
It's as simple as that. Because, it could be down in that gully, and if we went marching off down there, | 0:30:18 | 0:30:25 | |
-guns in hand... -Yes. -..then you're making yourself vulnerable. | 0:30:25 | 0:30:30 | |
That's one thing you don't want to do. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:32 | |
It would be scared, frightened. | 0:30:36 | 0:30:39 | |
It would be more dangerous than normal, I'd have thought. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:43 | |
You just don't know where it would be. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:45 | |
It could be hid up, or run in sheer panic. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:49 | |
And keep running. And then suddenly stopping somewhere and hiding up. It could go for miles. | 0:30:49 | 0:30:54 | |
In fact, Brian knows exactly where the lion is hiding, because he put it there last night. | 0:30:56 | 0:31:02 | |
Now to find out how the team reacts. | 0:31:02 | 0:31:05 | |
Will they do the right thing to recapture the animal? | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
Brian starts the next phase of the exercise. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:13 | |
Yeah, found the lion, Keith. | 0:31:13 | 0:31:15 | |
-It's up here. -OK, is it "dartable"? | 0:31:15 | 0:31:17 | |
Just about see it, yeah. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
Somebody's spotted something, they reckon. | 0:31:21 | 0:31:24 | |
It might be a false alarm, but we've got to check it out to make sure. | 0:31:24 | 0:31:28 | |
-The lion's been found. -If you can withdraw a minute. Ian's behind you. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:33 | |
'If everybody else just stands still for a minute, please.' | 0:31:33 | 0:31:36 | |
-That's Brian up there, isn't it? -Brian's spotted the lion. | 0:31:36 | 0:31:40 | |
Keith has directed everyone to stand still. | 0:31:40 | 0:31:43 | |
Because, now we've spotted it, we don't want it to run off any further and potentially lose it. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:48 | |
I've worked here for 31 years. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:54 | |
It's the first time we've it physically had a lion out. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:58 | |
We've had them between fences, when we've had major storms. | 0:31:58 | 0:32:04 | |
These animals are used to vehicles. Does that make your job easier or more difficult? | 0:32:04 | 0:32:11 | |
Sometimes. It works both ways. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:13 | |
What we don't want is this lion to be scared and pushed away. | 0:32:13 | 0:32:17 | |
Brian is assessing the situation. We know we've got the darting equipment here. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:21 | |
Ian would have been making up a dart. | 0:32:21 | 0:32:23 | |
-'Is Ian on his way up?' -Yep, Ian's just coming through now. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:28 | |
'So now the safari park is locked down, the lion is cornered | 0:32:30 | 0:32:33 | |
'and Ian is standing by in position to shoot it with a tranquilliser dart. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:38 | |
'Time for Keith to end the exercise.' | 0:32:38 | 0:32:41 | |
OK, Safari Base to a Safari Park. | 0:32:41 | 0:32:44 | |
OK, stand down now. We've caught the lion. | 0:32:44 | 0:32:46 | |
-'Thank you very much for everybody's assistance.' -Let's reveal our lion. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:52 | |
It was exhausting... | 0:32:57 | 0:32:59 | |
and all...for that. | 0:32:59 | 0:33:03 | |
A cardboard lion. | 0:33:03 | 0:33:05 | |
Gets the old adrenaline going, doesn't it, eh? | 0:33:05 | 0:33:08 | |
-Did you know it was a drill? -Not at all. No, didn't have a clue. | 0:33:11 | 0:33:14 | |
It seems like an elaborate joke, but, actually, this was a serious matter. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:19 | |
Yes, whether there are cameras here or not, this is the sort of thing we have to practise, | 0:33:19 | 0:33:24 | |
and this time we've involved everybody on the whole estate, | 0:33:24 | 0:33:27 | |
to see how the whole estate would cope in an emergency. | 0:33:27 | 0:33:30 | |
So, guys, can I quickly ask. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:32 | |
did you all realise that this was perhaps an exercise, or were you...? | 0:33:32 | 0:33:36 | |
-No, not at all. -Really? -We took it very seriously. -Yes, of course. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:40 | |
Because I knew... We realised it was an exercise, but, even I... | 0:33:40 | 0:33:46 | |
-All the hairs stood up on my arms. -Yeah! | 0:33:46 | 0:33:49 | |
What went through your minds? | 0:33:49 | 0:33:50 | |
Still pumping away there. | 0:33:50 | 0:33:53 | |
We jumped in the trucks, and... | 0:33:53 | 0:33:55 | |
we just followed the procedures and orders, and here we are. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:59 | |
Deputy Head Warden, would you mind coming and having a word with us, please? | 0:33:59 | 0:34:04 | |
Probably not the ideal way to start your day! | 0:34:04 | 0:34:08 | |
How do you feel about Keith at this precise moment? | 0:34:08 | 0:34:12 | |
What's so funny is, it never entered my head it was a test. | 0:34:12 | 0:34:15 | |
Not once. Because we've got a little bit of trouble with lions. And I thought, no, no. | 0:34:15 | 0:34:19 | |
And, literally, it's still going now. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:22 | |
-You are trembling, aren't you? -I said to the other lot, | 0:34:22 | 0:34:25 | |
"That's the only way to do it. You can't let everybody know." | 0:34:25 | 0:34:29 | |
So, are you both pleased, as Head Warden and Deputy Head Warden, with how the operation went today? | 0:34:29 | 0:34:35 | |
We're going to have a debrief now and talk it over. | 0:34:35 | 0:34:38 | |
As far as I can see from what I was looking at, it went very well. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:42 | |
'The emergency ends with the recaptured lion taken safely into custody.' | 0:34:42 | 0:34:47 | |
-What a morning! -It certainly...! | 0:34:47 | 0:34:50 | |
'Now the staff all over the safari park can go back to their routine duties, | 0:34:50 | 0:34:54 | |
'safe in the knowledge that if the worst WAS ever to happen, they would all know what to do.' | 0:34:54 | 0:35:00 | |
Still to come on today's programme... | 0:35:27 | 0:35:29 | |
The new portrait of Lady Bath causes quite a stir when it arrives at Longleat. | 0:35:29 | 0:35:35 | |
We'll be getting a bug's eye view of the world's most beautiful bugs. | 0:35:35 | 0:35:39 | |
And down on the farm, the student vet finds out just how the orphaned lambs get fostered. | 0:35:39 | 0:35:46 | |
But, now, in the West London studio of the artist Paul Benney, the last sitting is just coming to a close. | 0:35:50 | 0:35:57 | |
The new portrait of Lady Bath is almost complete, though the finishing touches are yet to be done. | 0:35:57 | 0:36:03 | |
-I will say, au revoir. -You're going to get changed? | 0:36:03 | 0:36:08 | |
Shall I? Yeah. I'm frightened of catching the rush hour, you see. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:11 | |
I'm going to...finish off the... | 0:36:11 | 0:36:15 | |
hands - there's a little bit more to do on those. | 0:36:15 | 0:36:18 | |
Just a bit of tidying up, tickling it up a little bit. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:22 | |
I'm relatively pleased with it now. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:24 | |
As always with these portraits, I have to wait a long time | 0:36:24 | 0:36:27 | |
before I can actually really look at it and decide whether it's any good. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:31 | |
Normally about two years later when I can look at it, without... | 0:36:31 | 0:36:36 | |
me thinking, "Oh God, I should have done some little thing." | 0:36:36 | 0:36:40 | |
Right after I've just finished it, I'm always thinking I could have done this, could have done that. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:44 | |
But later on, you see it as a whole when you look at it again. | 0:36:44 | 0:36:49 | |
You can decide whether it's any good or not. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:52 | |
At the moment, I'm fairly pleased, yeah. | 0:36:52 | 0:36:56 | |
Back at Longleat, the portraits of the six previous Marquesses of Bath, | 0:36:59 | 0:37:04 | |
along with their Marchionesses, are hung together in one room. | 0:37:04 | 0:37:09 | |
But the present Lord Bath, the Seventh Marquess, is currently elsewhere. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:13 | |
The hope was that when Lady Bath's portrait is finished, | 0:37:13 | 0:37:16 | |
they could both come in here to take their places amongst the ancestors. | 0:37:16 | 0:37:20 | |
But there's a problem, as estate manager Tim Moore is only too aware. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:25 | |
We're in the breakfast room at Longleat, which is a room where most of the family | 0:37:28 | 0:37:34 | |
portraits are, with a sequence of the marquesses and marchionesses, from the first through to the sixth. | 0:37:34 | 0:37:41 | |
And, as you can see, there's not a lot of wall space left. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:46 | |
First, over there, with a wig, looking pretty learned. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:50 | |
Second, probably Knight of the Garter or something - a big and important portrait. | 0:37:50 | 0:37:55 | |
Third in this corner here. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:57 | |
And then we've got cracking picture of the Fourth. | 0:37:57 | 0:38:01 | |
And then Fifth over the fireplace. | 0:38:01 | 0:38:04 | |
And then Sixth, the present Lord Bath's father. | 0:38:04 | 0:38:07 | |
Tim hasn't seen the new painting yet, but he's very excited about it. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:12 | |
It's fantastic in a house like this, it continues a tradition. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:15 | |
But you know, footballers ought to be commissioning portraits flat out. | 0:38:15 | 0:38:19 | |
Anybody with wealth should be commissioning portraits. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:22 | |
They're just so much more special than photographs, photographic images. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:27 | |
And then you'd have a whole resurgence of portraiture. | 0:38:27 | 0:38:30 | |
There is quite a one. There are some good younger artists. I think that's a really good way to spend money. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:35 | |
So everyone's expecting great things from the new portrait of Lady Bath. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:40 | |
We'll find out just how it's received when it arrives at Longleat later on. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:46 | |
As well as the house and safari park, | 0:38:52 | 0:38:55 | |
the Longleat estate also includes several thousand acres of farmland. | 0:38:55 | 0:38:59 | |
And right now, it's lambing season. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:02 | |
Sheep farmer Simon Baggs is expecting 2,800 lambs to be born, | 0:39:02 | 0:39:07 | |
and many of the ewes will need a helping hand. | 0:39:07 | 0:39:10 | |
It's an enormous task, and this year Simon's recruited | 0:39:10 | 0:39:14 | |
Naia Knight, a student from the Bristol Veterinary School, to help. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:19 | |
I'm in my first year, so I've done two terms. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:23 | |
And I've got four years to go. | 0:39:23 | 0:39:26 | |
As part of my extra-mural studies, we have to do 12 weeks in the first two years, | 0:39:26 | 0:39:32 | |
so I'm doing three weeks on a sheep farm here, and learning basically sheep husbandry. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:37 | |
Lambing time is not just a matter of letting the ewes get on with it. | 0:39:37 | 0:39:41 | |
A couple of months ago, all these sheep were scanned to find out how many lambs they're carrying. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:47 | |
The problem is that ewes have only two teats. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:51 | |
In the ideal world, every sheep we want to send out wants to have two lambs. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:55 | |
So we have the ones carrying triplets, which are the threes with the red dots in here. | 0:39:55 | 0:40:01 | |
And then the singles are in the other shed. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:04 | |
What we can do then, when the singles lamb and the triplets lamb, | 0:40:04 | 0:40:08 | |
we can take a triplet off and put it straight on to a single ewe. | 0:40:08 | 0:40:12 | |
As it's unlikely for all the triplets to be born at | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
the same time as the singles, there's a holding pen for the extra lambs awaiting mothers. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:21 | |
This is our shepherdess that we use to feed the orphan lambs. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:25 | |
It's much easier than bottle-feeding them. | 0:40:25 | 0:40:26 | |
So, in here's a bucket of milk. | 0:40:26 | 0:40:29 | |
The machine keeps it warm. And they drink out of these teats. | 0:40:29 | 0:40:34 | |
We teach them to drink like this. | 0:40:34 | 0:40:37 | |
Hopefully, we'll orphan them off on to a single - a sheep that's only got one lamb. | 0:40:39 | 0:40:44 | |
And then they'll go out into the fields. | 0:40:44 | 0:40:46 | |
It remains to be seen whether mothers can be found for all the orphaned lambs. | 0:40:48 | 0:40:53 | |
Their survival depends on it, and it has to happen soon. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:57 | |
Now we're going to investigate a mysterious world, | 0:40:59 | 0:41:03 | |
as we find out about one of Longleat's most unusual collections. | 0:41:03 | 0:41:09 | |
The tropical butterfly house is filled with exotic species from all across the globe. | 0:41:09 | 0:41:14 | |
Because of their size, it can be difficult to appreciate these fabulous insects, | 0:41:14 | 0:41:19 | |
so we've invited wildlife cameraman Steve Downer to bring in his specialist lenses | 0:41:19 | 0:41:24 | |
and equipment to see if he can take us right into this miniature world. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:29 | |
In fact, we've set him a challenge, to show us the entire life cycle of the butterfly. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:36 | |
Fortunately, Longleat's own butterfly expert, Derek Longuet, has just spotted shot number one. | 0:41:36 | 0:41:43 | |
This is the first stage in reproduction, the mating of the owl butterfly. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:50 | |
Three or four days after this, they start egg-laying. | 0:41:50 | 0:41:54 | |
And then there'll be a series of eggs, they'll lay them in a chain down the rib of a banana leaf. | 0:41:54 | 0:42:00 | |
That's just what's happening nearby. | 0:42:03 | 0:42:06 | |
The owl butterfly gets its name | 0:42:06 | 0:42:08 | |
from the markings on the wings, | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
"eyes" to confuse predators. | 0:42:10 | 0:42:12 | |
We spotted her laying her first egg. | 0:42:12 | 0:42:14 | |
And now she's laying the second egg. | 0:42:14 | 0:42:17 | |
In many cases, she'll go on and lay a string of eggs | 0:42:17 | 0:42:21 | |
along the mid-section of the leaf. | 0:42:21 | 0:42:24 | |
We can get good shots with OUR camera, | 0:42:26 | 0:42:29 | |
but then Steve moves in to show what he can do. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:32 | |
These eggs are quite interesting. | 0:42:36 | 0:42:38 | |
They're not smooth like some I've seen. They're ridged. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:41 | |
-May I have a look? -Yes, certainly. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:43 | |
The detail on that - the banding is so clear. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:50 | |
Eggs come in many different shapes and sizes, | 0:42:53 | 0:42:56 | |
but they all hatch out | 0:42:56 | 0:42:57 | |
within two to four days to reveal small caterpillars. | 0:42:57 | 0:43:02 | |
The front pads or legs are for propulsion. | 0:43:02 | 0:43:06 | |
They have a couple of sticky pads at the back, | 0:43:06 | 0:43:10 | |
which they use for grip. | 0:43:10 | 0:43:12 | |
These are interesting, they're swallowtail caterpillars. | 0:43:12 | 0:43:16 | |
At this stage, they look like... | 0:43:16 | 0:43:19 | |
small bird droppings. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:21 | |
These caterpillars eat almost continuously and grow very fast. | 0:43:24 | 0:43:29 | |
If a human baby weighing about nine pounds grew at the same rate, | 0:43:29 | 0:43:33 | |
it would tip the scales at 11 metric tonnes as an adult. | 0:43:33 | 0:43:37 | |
After two to three weeks of stuffing themselves silly, | 0:43:40 | 0:43:43 | |
the growing caterpillars develop a hard outer case | 0:43:43 | 0:43:47 | |
as they enter the pupal stage. | 0:43:47 | 0:43:49 | |
This does happen naturally in the butterfly house, | 0:43:49 | 0:43:51 | |
but Derek boosts the numbers with more pupae from the Far East. | 0:43:51 | 0:43:56 | |
It's another delivery of pupae. | 0:43:56 | 0:43:58 | |
Twice a week, I get pupa coming in to supplement what I'm breeding here. | 0:43:58 | 0:44:05 | |
It's just like Christmas. | 0:44:05 | 0:44:06 | |
It never loses its appeal and I never know exactly what's coming in and the selection. | 0:44:09 | 0:44:16 | |
Some beautiful chrysalis here, | 0:44:16 | 0:44:19 | |
that mimic a leaf insect, complete with pretend legs. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:26 | |
And little silver spots. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:29 | |
That warns predators to keep away. | 0:44:29 | 0:44:32 | |
And there we are, some of nature's jewels. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:36 | |
Pretty enough to be worn as earrings. Golden colour. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:40 | |
Nature's protection, that. | 0:44:40 | 0:44:43 | |
I think I can get some amazing detail from some of these. | 0:44:43 | 0:44:48 | |
Some of these that look leaves. | 0:44:48 | 0:44:50 | |
I can try some back lighting | 0:44:50 | 0:44:52 | |
and maybe see what's inside. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:55 | |
Maybe we can see details of what's inside the chrysalis. | 0:44:55 | 0:44:58 | |
The next stage is for the fully formed butterfly to emerge | 0:45:08 | 0:45:12 | |
from the pupa, but we may have to wait a bit for that. | 0:45:12 | 0:45:16 | |
It's quite difficult to know exactly when a butterfly is going to emerge from its case. | 0:45:16 | 0:45:21 | |
And I've often had to wait for a couple of days | 0:45:21 | 0:45:25 | |
for the emergence. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:27 | |
But luck is on our side. | 0:45:31 | 0:45:33 | |
Soon after Steve sets up the camera by the butterfly emerging cabinet. | 0:45:33 | 0:45:38 | |
There's one butterfly which has just emerged and I'm going to get | 0:45:38 | 0:45:42 | |
some really tight close-ups of its head and its eyes and its tongue. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:47 | |
Once they've emerged, the wings are folded and what's going to happen | 0:45:52 | 0:45:56 | |
over the next hour, is that the blood is going to pump through the wings | 0:45:56 | 0:46:00 | |
and they'll gradually expand until they're this size. | 0:46:00 | 0:46:03 | |
I've set up on a big close-up of its eye and its proboscis, Derek. | 0:46:03 | 0:46:07 | |
Do you want to have a look through the viewfinder? | 0:46:07 | 0:46:09 | |
Wow! That's amazing. | 0:46:12 | 0:46:14 | |
Butterflies don't bite and chew their food like we do. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:22 | |
Instead, they have a long straw-like feature called a proboscis, | 0:46:22 | 0:46:26 | |
which they use to drink nectar and juices. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:29 | |
When they're not using it, it coils up just like a garden hose. | 0:46:29 | 0:46:35 | |
I've never seen detail like that. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:37 | |
I mean, I'm obviously looking at them each day, but I'm speechless. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:43 | |
You can see where they get the strength in the wing, allied to the lightness. | 0:46:50 | 0:46:56 | |
That really is amazing. | 0:46:56 | 0:46:58 | |
I find all stages interesting, from discovering eggs, | 0:46:58 | 0:47:03 | |
caterpillars splitting their skin | 0:47:03 | 0:47:06 | |
and going on to the next stage of the cycle. | 0:47:06 | 0:47:09 | |
Coming in each morning and spotting something just about to hatch, | 0:47:09 | 0:47:13 | |
watching it unfold like a parachute. It's all magic. | 0:47:13 | 0:47:17 | |
Back in Longleat House, the new portrait of Lady Bath has arrived. | 0:47:25 | 0:47:30 | |
Estate manager Tim Moore has been looking forward to this for some time. | 0:47:30 | 0:47:35 | |
Yes, at last we've got it in the house, which is a thrill | 0:47:35 | 0:47:41 | |
because it's been such a long time since the project first started. | 0:47:41 | 0:47:45 | |
And...even better is we think we've got the right place to hang it, | 0:47:45 | 0:47:51 | |
but, of course, that'll depend on Lady Bath's views. | 0:47:51 | 0:47:55 | |
Where to hang the portrait has been a big problem. | 0:47:55 | 0:47:58 | |
There's no space for either Lord or Lady Bath in the Breakfast Room | 0:47:58 | 0:48:02 | |
amongst the other marquesses and marchionesses. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:05 | |
And there's no place for her next to where he's hung in the Ante Library. | 0:48:05 | 0:48:09 | |
Like husband and wife, the interest is in the association, isn't it? | 0:48:09 | 0:48:14 | |
There you are as a personality and then there you are with your partner, It's different, isn't it? | 0:48:14 | 0:48:19 | |
They're not a pair to be hung together, although they would, I think, hang very happily together. | 0:48:19 | 0:48:24 | |
I think, in some ways, they may be better apart, which is the suggestion. | 0:48:24 | 0:48:29 | |
So for now the new portrait is up in the room next door, the Red Library. | 0:48:30 | 0:48:35 | |
It was acting house steward Steve Blyth's idea to put it here. | 0:48:35 | 0:48:39 | |
It all goes, doesn't it? The red on the shawl goes with the wallpaper in the Red Library. | 0:48:41 | 0:48:47 | |
The frame goes pretty much with the ceiling and the gold, | 0:48:47 | 0:48:52 | |
so, yeah, built to hang there, I think. | 0:48:52 | 0:48:56 | |
Just hope Lady Bath's pleased with it, yeah, which I'm sure she will be. | 0:48:56 | 0:49:00 | |
Lady Bath has been away, so she hasn't yet seen the finished painting, in position. | 0:49:01 | 0:49:06 | |
But Lord Bath, who's an artist himself, has had a chance to appraise the portrait. | 0:49:06 | 0:49:11 | |
I think it's an excellent portrait, | 0:49:14 | 0:49:18 | |
but I'm slightly critical on the...the size. | 0:49:18 | 0:49:22 | |
I feel that with that figure there, it should have been a slightly smaller painting, | 0:49:22 | 0:49:28 | |
but I see the answer is it's made to match the one that was done of me. | 0:49:28 | 0:49:33 | |
I mean just shrink everything, the background down, | 0:49:33 | 0:49:36 | |
I think it would have been... I think it IS a lovely portrait. | 0:49:36 | 0:49:40 | |
But my feeling is she's... They've made her lost in space a bit. | 0:49:40 | 0:49:45 | |
But, now, what will Lady Bath think? | 0:49:47 | 0:49:50 | |
So, let's have a look at it all. | 0:49:50 | 0:49:53 | |
I can see it right from here, that it's just right, Steve. | 0:49:55 | 0:49:59 | |
It fits in just right. It's perfect, isn't it? | 0:49:59 | 0:50:01 | |
-It is. A perfect spot for it. -Perfect. There's nothing to say. | 0:50:01 | 0:50:05 | |
You had a stroke of genius. | 0:50:05 | 0:50:07 | |
Stroke of luck. | 0:50:07 | 0:50:10 | |
Anyhow, well done, you. | 0:50:10 | 0:50:12 | |
Well, often genius is luck and luck is genius, who knows? | 0:50:12 | 0:50:15 | |
-Who knows? Maybe Einstein said that. -Quite likely. | 0:50:15 | 0:50:19 | |
I'm happy. I'm relieved to find a place for it. | 0:50:19 | 0:50:22 | |
I'm relieved I don't have to do any more sittings because I came in from Paris, went to the sitting, | 0:50:22 | 0:50:28 | |
came down to Longleat and it went on for practically a year. | 0:50:28 | 0:50:32 | |
So, it's a lot of hassle and, as I say, | 0:50:32 | 0:50:34 | |
I thought there were plenty enough of souvenirs of me around the place. | 0:50:34 | 0:50:39 | |
But there you are. Now you're happy, yeah. | 0:50:39 | 0:50:42 | |
It's nice. Probably it makes me better-looking than I am, but that's good. | 0:50:42 | 0:50:47 | |
It's no harm. Why not? | 0:50:47 | 0:50:50 | |
Probably flattering a bit, but I don't know, you know, slightly. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:53 | |
I did tell him. I said, "I don't want to be savaged. | 0:50:53 | 0:50:56 | |
"Please make me look all right and if anything, better than I am." | 0:50:56 | 0:51:00 | |
Why not go down to posterity looking as well as you can? | 0:51:00 | 0:51:05 | |
But I don't know. He's a good painter. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:07 | |
Back at Simon Bagg's estate farm, | 0:51:12 | 0:51:14 | |
student vet Naia is looking after the lambs awaiting foster mothers. | 0:51:14 | 0:51:21 | |
Naia, we've just got a single given birth, so I think we can put one of these lambs on her hopefully. | 0:51:21 | 0:51:26 | |
Right, we'll tie his legs up. | 0:51:29 | 0:51:31 | |
The reason why we're tying them up now is so obviously when we've got the lamb all wet, | 0:51:31 | 0:51:37 | |
he doesn't run off, because he's older than the ones being born over here obviously. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:42 | |
So then she thinks it's sort of new-born. | 0:51:42 | 0:51:45 | |
Got to just orphan this lamb on so we need to... | 0:52:21 | 0:52:24 | |
HER lamb, we need to put in the bucket to get all the fluids, | 0:52:24 | 0:52:28 | |
so we can wash the lamb we're going to orphan off. | 0:52:28 | 0:52:31 | |
Just leave that one over there. | 0:52:31 | 0:52:33 | |
What we do now is put this orphan on to her. Cheers. | 0:52:42 | 0:52:48 | |
Just lie down now. That's it. | 0:52:49 | 0:52:52 | |
She's got to start licking now. | 0:52:53 | 0:52:55 | |
Now put her own...there as well. | 0:52:59 | 0:53:01 | |
Licking sort of cleans them because they're a bit slimy when they come out, | 0:53:01 | 0:53:07 | |
and she gets all that off their fur dries out and they warm up. | 0:53:07 | 0:53:12 | |
It's a bonding process. You can hear her making chuckling noises to them. | 0:53:12 | 0:53:16 | |
And she's smelling them, and they're getting to know her and that's how they bond. | 0:53:16 | 0:53:21 | |
She's quite a good one. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:23 | |
She'll be a good mum. | 0:53:23 | 0:53:25 | |
Basically, it's a really good sign that she's letting it suck | 0:53:29 | 0:53:33 | |
because if she wasn't going to accept it as her lamb, | 0:53:33 | 0:53:36 | |
she wouldn't be letting him suck from her, | 0:53:36 | 0:53:39 | |
like he's doing now. | 0:53:39 | 0:53:40 | |
Once it looks as though the lambs have been safely adopted, | 0:53:42 | 0:53:47 | |
they need to be protected against infection and disease with iodine and antibiotics. | 0:53:47 | 0:53:53 | |
The ewes are now left to recover for a day. | 0:53:53 | 0:53:56 | |
The lambs will get stronger, too, and bond with their new mothers, | 0:53:56 | 0:54:00 | |
with whom they now share a number, so they can be reunited if they lose each other. | 0:54:00 | 0:54:06 | |
All the lambs obviously that were in the pens 24 hours ago, they're in here. | 0:54:06 | 0:54:11 | |
So we're going to take these out to the field, so we've wrote down the ewe numbers | 0:54:11 | 0:54:15 | |
and we've got the lambs, put them in the top deck and we'll put the ewes in afterwards. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:20 | |
OK, so we've got to catch the lambs, then the ewes can go on up in. | 0:54:20 | 0:54:26 | |
But that could be easier said than done. | 0:54:29 | 0:54:32 | |
SHEEP BLEAT | 0:54:32 | 0:54:35 | |
BLEATING | 0:54:35 | 0:54:38 | |
BLEATING | 0:54:50 | 0:54:57 | |
Only 24 hours after an orphan lamb is introduced to its new mother, | 0:54:58 | 0:55:05 | |
it joins the rest of its playmates on the hills above Longleat House, | 0:55:05 | 0:55:09 | |
just as its ancestors have done for hundreds of years. | 0:55:09 | 0:55:13 | |
Thankfully, it's very unlikely that any lion will ever escape at Longleat. | 0:55:23 | 0:55:28 | |
But should it happen, after today's exercise, the staff now know what to do. | 0:55:30 | 0:55:35 | |
Well, that's the end of another day here at Longleat, but not any old day. | 0:55:42 | 0:55:46 | |
It was a fairly high-octane sort of day, wasn't it? | 0:55:46 | 0:55:49 | |
In all my years working at Longleat, I haven't seen such excitement, | 0:55:49 | 0:55:53 | |
but really impressive how everyone just pulled together basically. | 0:55:53 | 0:55:56 | |
I know, it was an incredible operation, given that, you know, | 0:55:56 | 0:56:00 | |
really nobody knew what was happening apart from a few key people. | 0:56:00 | 0:56:04 | |
-Exactly. -It was a really impressive reaction. Everyone very quick, everyone working together. | 0:56:04 | 0:56:09 | |
-Makes you feel very safe. -It really does. Let's just hope a real lion never escapes. -Let's hope so. | 0:56:09 | 0:56:14 | |
Well, that is all on today's programme, but we've got lots more coming up on the next Animal Park. | 0:56:14 | 0:56:19 | |
It is time to declare the venue...open! | 0:56:19 | 0:56:25 | |
Lord Bath has a warm welcome for the vultures. | 0:56:26 | 0:56:29 | |
We'll see how they settle into their new home. | 0:56:29 | 0:56:32 | |
The great house has many secrets, and now he's retiring, | 0:56:34 | 0:56:39 | |
Ken the house steward must reveal all. | 0:56:39 | 0:56:43 | |
Don't use that in the event of a fire escape. | 0:56:43 | 0:56:45 | |
And two of the park's staff go to extraordinary heights | 0:56:45 | 0:56:50 | |
to help save the endangered mountain gorilla. | 0:56:50 | 0:56:53 | |
We'll have all that and more next time on Animal Park. | 0:56:53 | 0:56:58 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd - 2006 | 0:57:30 | 0:57:34 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:57:34 | 0:57:38 |