Episode 2 Nature's Miracle Orphans

The first few months of a baby animal's life

are often the most crucial.

So if they lose their mothers,

they're going to need help.

We're going to meet the wild orphans who are getting a second chance.

-And the dedicated people...

-Are you going to have a play?

..who devote their lives to saving them.

They need the love and the attention because they don't have parents.

Their parents are taken away from them.

In this series, we'll be witnessing the incredible stories

of animal orphans from two very different locations.

I'm in Australia, where I'll be meeting Stacey, a rescued wombat,

struggling to come to terms with her new life.

When an animal that is so dependent on its mother

in the wild for so long becomes orphaned, it is pretty tough.

Wildlife cameraman Max Hug Williams is in Costa Rica.

He's spent years filming animals in the wild,

but now he's stepping out from behind the lens to see what happens

when orphans need rescuing and rehabilitating.

I mean, he's a little fighter. I can barely hold him in one place.

He'll be catching up with Newbie, the three-toed sloth,

who's been battling with pneumonia.

All hopes of a recovery are resting on her new course of medication.

And Al the anteater

struggles to work out how to tackle his specialist diet.

Look, see? As soon as he sees ear, he's in.

Raising these vulnerable orphans can be tough.

Oh...

There will be highs...

Good boy!

..and lows.

SHE GASPS

We will follow their stories

through their most critical make-or-break months

on their difficult journeys back to the wild.

I've come to Australia -

a vast island isolated from the rest of the world

for 35 million years.

Much of its unique wildlife is found nowhere else on the planet

and has evolved in distinctive ways, none more so than the marsupials.

These iconic mammals make devoted mothers,

rearing their young in pouches

and raising them for up to a year and a half.

This means the orphans here need close physical contact

if they're to survive.

Here in Australia, the animals that get rescued need care,

not just around the clock

but for months and even years.

So instead of being looked after in specialist wildlife centres,

these wild animals become part of the family in people's homes.

In the small town of Mount Evelyn in the south of Australia,

Sue Samphier has dedicated her life and her home

to caring for one of Australia's lesser-known marsupials...

..the wombat.

Over the years, Sue has raised ten orphaned wombats.

Her newest arrival is Stacey...

..a five-month-old, bare-nosed wombat

who's been with Sue for four weeks.

Oh, yes, don't you bite. Don't you bite me.

Stacey was rescued after her mother was run over.

Let's wrap you up.

You know what's coming, don't you? Hey? There you go.

Wombats tend to often graze beside the road at night

and, unfortunately the next morning when we often go out,

there'll be roadkill beside the road.

Stacey was just four-and-a-half months old when she was rescued

and still living in her mother's pouch.

Despite her tough start, she's responding well to Sue's care

and developing quite a strong personality.

Some wombats are not so sweet,

but she certainly is

and I love the way that she's just full of life,

running around and everything, you know.

Butting stuff and bulldozing through things

is all typical wombat behaviour, which is great,

because that's what we want to see.

In the wild, Stacey would be living in a burrow with her mother.

Her long, shovel-like claws are perfect for digging.

And her strong teeth are designed for chewing roots,

bark and vegetation - well adapted for a life in the bush.

Although perhaps not best suited to Sue's living room!

She's certainly not as easy to look after in the house.

If you don't watch her, she can start chewing all the woodwork.

I've always got to be very careful

to keep an eye on her when she's out.

She tends to chew the curtains as well.

Wombats are notoriously stubborn creatures

and become quite territorial when they mature.

But for Stacey that's still a long way off -

it'll be over a year before she can be released.

So in the meantime, Sue must do everything she can

to prepare her for her return to the wild.

Today, I'm joining them for Stacey's first trip outside in Sue's garden.

Let's get the last bit of this fence up

so that Stacey doesn't do a runner.

Stacey's been living inside until now. At about this age,

they would start to emerge from the pouch.

It's important that she gets used to the outside world and to the ground.

-There she is!

-How are you going? All set up?

-She's ready.

-OK, I'll pass her over to you.

-Thanks.

-Just pass that over.

-Hello. Hee...

So this is going to be great - a bit of exploring on the grass.

-Shall I just put her down gently?

-Yeah, just put her down. Yeah.

Check it out, Stacey! What do you think?

She's not quite used to grass yet.

In the wild, Stacey would be leaving the burrow

for short exploratory trips...

..but always staying close to her mother.

So this is actually typical behaviour.

She sees me as mum.

Sue, why do they need to come outside when they're so young?

Learning sight, smells, sounds - very important from a young age.

If we kept her inside right through until

she was almost ready to go outside - at 12 to 14 months old -

it would be such a shock and set her back.

These excursions will help build Stacey's confidence.

Hello! Look at my tunnel.

And already she's overcome her initial nerves.

Come on!

-She's pretty fast, isn't she?

-She is. They can do up to 40km/h

when they're adults, so it's quite fast.

Sometimes they don't particularly look where they're going

-and bulldoze into things.

-Yeah.

-She thinks that's her pouch.

-Oh, I'm sorry. It's a trick.

You're out.

How can you not love one of these?

Stacey is progressing well

and she's developed a strong bond with Sue.

But if her eventual release is going to be successful,

she really needs the company of another wombat.

It's really important to pair them up,

just establishing the fact that they're not a human,

that they're wombat.

Stacey has been alone for over two months

but at last Sue thinks she may have found the answer to Stacey's needs.

One of my carers has little Heidi,

who's a little bit bigger than Stacey

but is going to be a really good weight for her

and so we're hoping to pair them up.

If Stacey gets along with Heidi the wombat,

the plan is that they eventually

live together with Sue

and then continue their journey back to the wild together,

so the stakes are high.

But Sue is concerned.

Stacey was paired up before but it didn't work out and she was bullied.

I'm feeling a little apprehensive.

Stacey didn't get on with her last pen mate.

He was boisterous and they tend to bite - nip them on the ears.

Because she'd had such a stressful time

she actually did lose a bit of weight.

She's been on her own ever since,

so Sue is determined to find her a companion.

All marsupials are raised in pouches.

If they are orphaned, this close physical bond

has to be replicated somehow, or they may not survive the stress.

9,000 miles away in the Central American

country of Costa Rica, Max Hug Williams is finding out

how they care for the orphans from the country's rainforests.

It's one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet,

with more than a quarter of it made up of protected rainforests

and national parks.

Costa Rica is a haven for wildlife

with some of the most incredible

species on the planet.

But like anywhere where wildlife

lives alongside humans, there are problems.

And when animals and humans collide,

it's often the wildlife that pays the price.

I've come to wildlife sanctuary Kids Saving The Rainforest,

a haven on Costa Rica's Pacific coast...

..dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating

orphaned and injured animals and returning them back to the wild.

Wildlife manager Sam Trull's main responsibility

is caring for the centre's many orphaned sloths.

She shares her tiny apartment with six of these extraordinary animals

which, in spite of their laidback reputations,

are notoriously difficult to raise.

Sloths are NOT easy to take care of.

Sloths are probably the most time-intensive orphan

you could possibly ask for.

But the one who Sam and I have been worrying about the most is Newbie.

Four-month-old Newbie, a three-toed sloth,

was rescued when her mum was killed by a dog.

Not wanting to tempt fate,

Sam has refused to give her a proper name until she's sure she'll make it.

But Newbie has been suffering from pneumonia.

And after a recent dramatic relapse

it looked as though she might not pull through.

Even though she's still hanging in there, if we can't cure her,

then she'll never make it back to the wild

and she probably won't survive.

But to everyone's relief,

she's started to respond to the new medicine.

Now I'm keen to find out how she's getting on.

She's come a long, long way.

I mean, the reason you called her Newbie is cos you thought

she wasn't going to make it.

She still actually has pneumonia but she's doing a lot better.

We've been nebulising her with oxygen and antibiotics twice a day.

She also gets an antibiotic injected

and she's on supplements including vitamins.

Basically, anything and everything

we can think of that might be helpful.

Fingers crossed, I think it's working,

but I still don't want to name her anything official just yet.

-There's a lot of noises coming from her stomach.

-Yes!

She's getting full.

Her stomach gurgles a lot.

I think we're all out, I'm afraid, Newbie.

-Lunch is over.

-That was pretty good for your first time feeding a sloth.

Sat here with Newbie,

it's so easy to forget she's already been through so much.

She lost her mother, she's come in with pneumonia

and it's still a long, long way before she'll be back in the wild.

If she's EVER to complete that journey,

Sam has to make sure Newbie knows how to climb.

I like this tree because it's got a bunch of different sized branches,

but they're all pretty small, so it should be a good tree to use.

Hopefully she doesn't try and go too high,

then I might get a little nervous.

It is so nice to see her climbing around given that she's not

-been feeling like doing anything in the last few days.

-Yeah.

She wouldn't be climbing and sniffing and exploring

if she didn't feel good.

She is having fun.

They're so dexterous.

You can see how they're just completely designed for the trees,

-aren't they?

-They are.

She looks so natural up there.

Sloths are slow but expert climbers

and can even sleep hanging from branches.

To cope with this upside-down lifestyle,

their skeleton is different to that

of any other animal on Earth with extra vertebrae

in their necks so they can look around while they're upside down.

Even their hair grows in the opposite direction,

which helps the rainwater run off.

SNAP Whoa!

She looked a bit shocked when that little branch broke off then,

but they have to learn not to climb dead branches,

otherwise they're going to be in a lot of trouble.

They definitely have to learn what's safe to touch and what's not.

In the wild, sloths use their excellent sense of smell

to detect dangerous, decaying branches.

I think Newbie's got herself in a bit of a pickle here.

She's sort of spread-eagled between two branches

and she's sniffing at this one

and almost seems to know that it's dead, but she hasn't got much option.

She's only got two tiny little twigs in front of her

and I think we're moving in just in case we need to catch.

She's stuck.

She's only got this tiny little... CRACKING

Whoa! Did you...

-Newbie!

-Whoa! That was close!

She definitely wasn't wanting to go to that branch,

so she was just like,

"I guess I have no choice."

But that's one reason why their mums are still supposed to be there.

I suppose that's a good lesson to learn.

Newbs! You scared Mummy.

Despite a few stumbles, Newbie is making steady progress,

but pneumonia in sloths is notoriously hard to cure,

so Sam will remain apprehensive about Newbie's future

until the vet gives her the all clear.

Here in the south of Australia,

carer Sue is also feeling apprehensive.

Her six-month-old orphaned wombat Stacey

is about to meet a potential companion.

Elise is part of a local network of volunteer wildlife carers

and they hope that Heidi, her seven-month-old

orphaned wombat, will prove the perfect match for Stacey.

Look, here's a buddy for you.

Sue is worried that Stacey's experience of being

bullied by the last wombat she was paired up with, might put her off...

She's not too sure.

It's a little bit like leaving a creche for the first time.

She says, "Don't leave, Mum."

STACEY HISSES

Yeah.

STACEY HISSES

Despite Stacey's alarm calls...

-Yeah, it's OK.

-..Sue can't interfere.

Both Stacey and Heidi's chances of being released successfully

will be much higher if Sue can raise them together.

She's not adverse to her, she's just not too sure.

Come on. Say hello.

She just wants a bit of reassurance, don't you? It's all right.

Yeah, it's all right.

THEY LAUGH

A bit of shoving.

And you can see already

she's starting to gain a bit of confidence.

-It's harmless shoving though.

-Go on, Stacey.

Stacey's confidence may have improved

but she's still not comfortable around Heidi.

STACEY HISSES

I think Stacey's not quite ready yet.

Slowly but surely,

a slow introduction is going to be what's best for her.

If I were really, really confident,

then I might have been tempted to try and match them up sooner,

but this has just shown that, for Stacey,

she needs a little bit more time to grow up on her own.

Come on.

The plan is to continue to introduce Stacey to Heidi with short visits

so the two gradually bond, but for now it's all too much too soon.

I know.

Fortunately time is on their side

and Sue can afford to take things at Stacey's pace.

Patience and perseverance are essential qualities

for anyone looking after rescued wildlife.

Here in Costa Rica, Newbie the orphaned sloth

has been testing both of these traits in carer Sam to the limit.

Her battle with pneumonia has been a long ordeal for both of them.

If she can't beat this infection,

Newbie will never go back to the wild.

Today she has an appointment with the vet

to see if all of that perseverance has paid off.

-How is she?

-Well, she's kind of back and forth.

Personality wise I think she's doing really well,

I just want to see how you think her lungs sound.

-And are you doing nebulisations too?

-Mm-hm.

-Twice a day.

-Mm-hm.

Her eyes look bright.

I don't see any secretion, I don't see any decolouration either.

So she doesn't look dehydrated.

Her colour, I think it's better than before.

-She's strong. She's very active.

-She is very active.

Sam thinks the stress of being orphaned triggered the disease,

so she has done all that she can to nurture

and reassure this baby sloth ever since.

-Good?

-She sounds very good.

I can definitely hear both lungs very clear.

I think that since last time her lungs are clear.

-Sam, you are doing a good job.

-Thank you.

It's the best possible news.

With Sam's help, Newbie has finally beaten the pneumonia.

Some days you feel like you're just always losing

and why are you even doing this to begin with? But today is a good day

because Newbie sounds good.

This news changes everything, and at last Sam feels confident enough

to give Newbie a proper name.

-I know you only gave her the temporary name Newbie...

-Mm-hm.

..originally because you were too scared to name her properly

because it didn't look like she was going to make it.

I couldn't bring myself to actually pick a proper name for her

because I just was worried it would jinx her.

-She needs a proper name now. Look at her!

-She deserves a proper name.

-Top of the tree.

-I know.

She is, she's ready for a name.

Do you know the name Modoc? M-O-D-O-C.

This is the story behind it.

When I was a little girl, I wrote a book about an elephant named Modoc.

It's a good story of overcoming obstacles

and it's also the story of why you shouldn't give up.

Oh, it sounds perfect for her.

What more fitting name than Modoc for Newbie here,

because she's well on the way to fighting through what seemed

an impossible task and now, one day,

she's going to be back out in the wild where she belongs.

Modoc the sloth, like most of the animals at KSTR,

would not have survived without Sam and the team's incredible dedication.

But she can't celebrate for long.

New orphans arrive almost every week

and it's not long before there's another emergency.

It's crazy, you really can't plan anything around here.

We've just had a call from the fire department

saying they've found a baby sloth.

-Hey, Sam.

-Hey, Max. They say it's a newborn baby sloth.

I don't know if it's two-toed or three-toed.

I don't know anything other than we have to go and meet them now.

Let's jump in.

Luckily it's only a 20-minute drive to the fire station

in the nearby town of Quepos.

It's crazy. I mean, sometimes it's such a whirlwind.

But when a new animal comes in,

especially something like a baby sloth,

you have to react really quickly, go right away,

because every day, every hour, every minute can make a difference

in whether they survive or not.

You'd better give me some directions,

I've no idea where the fire station is.

Just keep going. You're going the right way.

Wow!

-Aw...

-It's barely got any hair!

-It's right there.

Aw! It's a two-toed.

-It looks brand-new.

-It's absolutely tiny, isn't it?

-Is it OK if I...?

-Hi!

-How many days old do you think this little guy could be?

I'll do a better exam once we get to the clinic, but mere days old.

Thank you.

OK.

What did the guy say? Where did they find him?

Apparently there was a couple

walking along the beach this morning and they heard him crying.

They make a really loud crying noise when they're not with their mothers.

So they found him and they looked everywhere for the mum

but they couldn't find her anywhere, and that's when they called 911.

This is definitely a newborn

that we're dealing with here. This is going to be tricky.

The first stop is the centre's clinic for a thorough check over.

So I'm just going to look over his body a little bit and see

if we see any kind of wounds or anything that's abnormal.

He looks good. I don't see any wounds at all, so that's good.

Let's turn him over and look at his belly.

So his belly button -

the umbilical cord is gone but it's still inflamed.

So it looks like the umbilical cord came off very recently.

-He's really gripping on though.

-The last thing that goes is their grip.

The fact that he still has an extremely strong grip,

that's really, really good.

He's actually 275 grams - very small -

and he's at the bottom of the normal weight range for two-toed sloths.

Honestly, he's just so tiny that before we give him a proper name,

I think we'll just call him Tiny.

Tiny is the smallest sloth that Sam has ever looked after.

And at this age, one of the biggest risks is dehydration.

All right, bud, here we go.

It's critical that Sam can get fluids into him fast.

Oh, my gosh! Look!

Good job, bud.

That's amazing.

This is...like the best result that we could possible hope for,

because not only does he want to drink,

but he clearly knows what he's doing.

He's just so ridiculously tiny.

How much fluid do you need to get inside him?

If I could get 5ml in him,

then I think that that would be a pretty good place to start

for now. And at the next feeding in a couple of hours I'll try again

and just keep going like that throughout the day.

Tiny is just so small.

I don't think I've ever seen a baby animal this vulnerable.

And now, for Sam, it's going to be a massive commitment.

She's got to look after him 24/7, feeding him every few hours

and she's probably not going to get much sleep.

Sam has finally got him stabilised.

Now Tiny just needs warmth and comfort.

So is he just going to rest now? He's had fluids, so he just needs to...

He just needs to cling onto you

-and be warm and feel safe.

-Hello, little fella.

Just keep him like that and hold him kind of tight so he doesn't start

climbing all over you, cos that actually means he's kind of scared.

He's tiny but he's strong. You'll be OK. I'll be back soon.

Are you on the radio if anything...

I am on the radio if anything happens. Thank you.

He's half the size of my hand

but he's got an awful lot of fight in him and I just hope

he keeps that up and gets through these first few difficult days.

After such a traumatic start to his young life,

the odds of survival are stacked against him.

For now, Tiny will join Modoc

and the rest of the small band of orphaned sloths.

And Sam will need to draw on all of her experience

if she's to keep him going.

Tiny is the latest arrival here,

but the team cares for a HUGE variety of Costa Rican wildlife.

Each animal needing specialised care.

In 15 years they have raised over 300 orphans,

but they are still faced with new challenges.

Al is a 10-month-old northern tamandua.

He's a type of tree-climbing anteater

and the first of his species that KSTR have ever raised.

I've met a lot of different animals over the years,

but there's something about anteaters.

They're just such quirky, amazing creatures,

but I had no idea how much character they had.

It's a natural instinct to just explore, I think,

and just tap into everything. Start sticking your nose into anything.

Look, see. As soon as he sees ear, he's in.

I'm afraid there's no termites in there, fella.

HE LAUGHS

Al was rescued when he was just four weeks old

after his mother was run over.

Now, nine months on, he's being raised by KSTR wildlife carer Hannah.

But caring for Al is a huge challenge.

He has a highly specialised diet, which requires Hannah to collect

thousands of termites for him every day.

Here you go. Breakfast in bed.

Al is well adapted to this fast moving meal,

with powerful claws to break open the nest.

His mouth only opens to the size of a pencil

but inside is one of the longest tongues in the animal kingdom...

..up to 40cm long and covered with tiny spines and sticky saliva -

it's perfect for hoovering up ants and termites.

Despite the challenges, Hannah has a strong bond with Al.

Al is one of a kind

and so is the relationship that I have with him.

It's a very tricky business

here with these orphans - they need the love

and the attention because they don't have parents.

Their parents are taken away from them

and we try and step in and fill that role.

It's really very difficult raising and rehabbing orphans

to try and get them back to the wild.

And with Al, Hannah's main problem is the amount of food he needs.

There is no way she can collect the 8,000 termites

he must eat every day,

so instead, she supplements his diet with goats milk.

At the age Al is at right now,

he actually wouldn't be getting milk from his mother in the wild,

but to sustain not only his weight, but also growth,

he needs to be given milk on a daily basis.

You like your milk, Al?

SLURPING

Looks like it.

When I put termites and milk in his cage at the same time,

he always goes for the milk first,

so it's definitely his favourite and I think he's going to miss it.

Al is growing well, and he's getting to an age where he could be

released back into the wild, but Hannah has a serious concern.

I don't think he really knows how much he has to forage in order

to keep weight on him and continue to grow,

so he's got a lot to learn.

If Al's going to make it back to the wild, she will have to get him

off the milk and learning to forage in earnest.

Feeding is critical for successfully raising wild orphans.

But every animal has a specific diet

and it's often one of the hardest things to get right.

Al's appetite for milk may be holding him back,

but it's a very different story in Australia.

Here on the outskirts of Melbourne, Stacey the wombat

has been with carer Sue for five months now,

but a major problem has developed -

Stacey has been flatly refusing to drink her milk

and Sue fears the worst.

Come on. You can see what's going on. Refusing.

A wombat that can't eat can't be released.

In Victoria the laws are quite strict. So, unfortunately,

if they are compromised at all, they can't be kept in captivity.

And personally I think a life in captivity for an animal

like this is not fair.

As you can hear in my voice,

it is hard not to be attached to these guys

and, um, hopefully the outcome will be good.

I'm not a vet so I can't make that call.

Turning down her milk could indicate a serious underlying problem

so Stacey's off to the local wildlife hospital.

-What have you brought in for us today?

-I've got Stacey.

I noticed that in the last week or so

she's been fiddling with the bottle,

not drinking very well, sometimes not drinking at all.

It'll be easier for us to get a good look if we knock her out.

-We'll let you know what we find.

-Yeah.

In order to thoroughly examine her, head vet Paul Eden

will need to anaesthetise Stacey.

-All right. How's she going, Kelly?

-Good.

I think we're deep enough to have a good look.

The first place to check is Stacey's mouth, in case there is

something physical preventing her drinking.

If they are not able to get that food into their mouth

normally or to chew their food normally, they'll essentially

just waste away and die and it tends to be a bit of

a slow kind of death, which is pretty horrible.

Yeah, there's certainly no signs of ulceration there.

Hey, little girl, let's have a look inside your other teeth.

-They're actually quite normal.

-Yeah.

So I think that all looks normal. There's no ulceration there,

the teeth look like they are in good condition

and so, yeah, I don't think it's anything to be too concerned about.

It's good news, for a groggy Stacey.

They've given her a good health check all over, checked her bones

and everything and everything looks really good

so I'm really pleased. I'm very relieved, I have to say!

There may be nothing medically wrong with Stacey,

but the fact remains that she is off her milk.

She's refusing to drink no matter what.

When I give her the bottle

she's just spitting it out most of the time.

Wombats are very stubborn and Stacey probably is a very typical wombat.

Despite Stacey's reluctance, she is only nine months old

and needs the high fat content in the milk to grow.

In the wild, joeys drink their mothers milk for up to

15 months, so Sue has decided to try a new technique.

Come on.

Try that. Yeah, there's some there on the plate.

Come on.

Oops!

True to form, Stacey is as stubborn as ever.

Now you've tipped it all out.

Time for a clean up.

You don't want milk around their mouth

because the fur comes away.

So you have to keep them quite clean.

She's been having baths

since she was quite young.

In the wild, mum would lick her and keep her clean.

Hygiene is even important out in the wild

and mums naturally would lick them,

but I'm not going to lick her!

So this is the way that we would do it.

And she doesn't mind a bath.

She quite likes having a bath, don't you?

She just thinks this is a time that she can play. Yes!

OK. All clean?

All Sue can do is try and maintain Stacey's weight on vegetables alone.

If she can do this, then Stacey can start having regular play dates

with Heidi, the potential new companion Sue has lined up for her.

Here in Costa Rica, Sam is also fighting a battle over food.

Tiny, the rescued newborn sloth, must start feeding

if he's going to survive.

He definitely has been acting hungry ever since he came,

and, um, acts like he wants to nurse,

but he still is having some issues kind of getting the hang of it

and really kind of learning how to feed.

Without milk he has no chance of living.

I mean, he is a newborn, and even a newborn with his actual mum

can sometimes have an adjustment period

in learning how to feed properly.

In the wild, Tiny would lie on his mother's chest to feed

while she hangs upside down from the branches.

So Sam is doing her best to simulate that same effect.

Basically he has to drink this if he wants to survive.

Even in the right position,

Tiny is still reluctant to feed from the plastic tube.

Wakey wakey.

Yeah. Come on.

There's just kind of something about rubbing skin in front of his face

that seems to make him want to suckle.

Wow! Look at that.

He's sucking pretty quickly.

There you go.

Getting any newborn wild animal to accept substitute milk

can be difficult.

I mean, he's a newborn, he falls asleep at the drop of a hat.

He's only managed to drink a few millilitres of milk,

but it's a start.

If he continues to feed, there is a chance he could survive.

Tiny isn't the only resident at KSTR who's having trouble feeding.

I'm back with Al, who lives a charmed life with termites

and milk delivered daily.

But to survive in the wild he'll have to learn how to feed himself.

He's got to use these claws and that tongue to get 8,000 ants a day.

He's got a lot to learn before he's a proper wild anteater again,

and that's not going to be easy.

I think he's going to get a bit of a shock.

To help him learn to forage for himself, Hannah takes him

out to the trees around the centre every day.

Go on, Al.

He is learning how to eat as much as he needs to

to continue gaining weight,

because he's not full size right now.

He should be about three times this size

when he's completely full-grown.

Without his mother to teach him,

young Al has to pick up his climbing technique through trial...

..and error!

Fortunately he's well adapted to life in the trees,

with a strong prehensile tail that can EASILY support his body weight.

A wild adult tamandua would have to find

up to 80 ant and termite nests every day!

So Al really has his work cut out.

He can't figure out how to get enough nutrition

from being outside and foraging himself.

He's going to have a serious problem.

Until now, Hannah has only brought Al termites,

but to get sufficient food he'll also need to eat ants -

which in Costa Rica tend to come with a rather painful bite.

Hannah has brought him to one of the biggest ant nests in the forest.

In the wild, tamanduas only spend a short time

feeding at an individual ant nest before moving on.

It's a behaviour which allows the nest to regenerate,

and ensures a constant supply of food.

And a quick visit also means you can get out of there

before the ants overwhelm you.

But Al has left it far too late.

If he's ever going to survive in the wild,

Al will have to learn the knack for tackling this feisty food.

Al may need encouragement to feed, but here in Southern Australia

Stacey the bare-nosed wombat has given up on milk altogether.

Sue has been feeding her vegetables

and it's vital that she monitors Stacey's weight regularly.

For some home carers,

weigh day means a trip to the local post office!

Come on.

-Look at you!

-She's getting too hard to weigh at home now,

so let's try one more time.

-4.3. Good girl.

-Good girl.

Whoops! Good girl.

Good girl.

That's good, isn't it? Hey?

Since last time I weighed her, which is a few weeks,

she's put on about 300 grams, so that's good.

With Sue's fears allayed,

the much needed play dates with Heidi can resume.

And a few weeks later, Sue has got them both living with her.

Oh, she's so GORGEOUS.

Look at this.

-She's really grown well, hasn't she?

-She has, she's doing really well.

Hello, hello.

And so now she's joined by Heidi. How's that going?

Well, I wouldn't say they love each other yet,

but they're certainly showing signs,

they're not aggressive towards each other so that's good.

These two don't need to get along brilliantly,

but they do need the company of their own species.

What's the next step for Stacey?

What we're hoping to do is take them for a walk,

and so this is just to get them used to each other.

And is there a risk that these two are just going to scarper?

Definitely. That's the biggest worry,

so I hope you've got your running shoes on.

-We're going to have to keep our wits about us, aren't we?

-Yes.

Let's put you to work. This is such a ruse, isn't it?

Stacey's looking really sleepy, but she's just going to go, I know it.

-That's right!

-So whereabouts, here?

-Yeah, just here.

-All right, ready?

Ooh...

THEY LAUGH

Hey, that's not what you're supposed to do.

Let's just get her before she...

I'm going to do a bit of a quick rescue here.

Let's go again. This way. Stacey? Come on.

Come on. Stacey, what's this?

SHE LAUGHS

Stacey, come back!

There's an awful lot to interest them in this garden.

But they haven't gone too far.

We haven't lost them to the neighbours, have we?

Not yet.

Optimist.

Stacey's confidence and energy are testimony to Sue's hard work.

In the wild, wombats can travel up to two miles a day looking for food.

So it's vital that these two youngsters build up their stamina.

When she puts on a turn of speed,

it's quite incredible how quickly she catches up with you.

Come on. Come on, Heidi.

Come on, Heidi. Come on.

Come on.

Aw.

Come on.

Tired! Tired Stacey.

-She's not very tired, is she?

-She's still going.

-She's still going.

-Was that a success?

-We didn't lose them so that's a bonus!

-They're not in the neighbour's garden.

-No, that's right.

Look how tired she is.

-Time to go back for a rest.

-Yes, I think so.

All right, Stacey, you've done a good job.

Now that the two of them are comfortable with each other,

Sue can start preparing for the next stage of their journey

back to the wild.

Soon they will leave the comfort of their cot

and move outdoors permanently,

and that's when their developing bond will come into its own.

At the wildlife sanctuary here on Costa Rica's Pacific coast,

staff are also planning for the future

as preparations for Al's release gather pace.

But after his painful encounter at the giant ants' nest,

Hannah still feels that there's work to be done.

Al eats two things - termites and ants -

and ants are definitely the more aggressive of the two.

He is not going to be able to be picky and choosy in the wild,

so we need to make sure that he can handle

all his possible food sources.

To help him gain vital experience, Hannah has been exposing Al

to more manageable sized ants' nests every day.

The secret is to quit while you're ahead.

Something Al is learning the hard way!

Let's check out your foraging skills today, Al.

For Hannah, it's vital that she can be sure

that Al has learnt his lesson.

So today, she's taking him back to the big ants' nest.

We want to expose him to the most severe stuff he's going to encounter

in the wild and see if he can still overcome it and keep eating.

Obviously some of the ants are getting to him.

I mean, there's a million swarming everywhere,

but he looks like he's getting some good ants,

and, um... keeping pretty ant-free himself.

But will Al leave the nest in time?

Al just wandered off from the ants' nest.

He's taken a little break to clean off the ants

and stop them from biting him so he can go back,

which is actually really encouraging to me

because a lot of times what he'd do before,

is he would just charge right out of the tree and leave it.

And for him to staying in the tree to clean himself off

and going to come back to it, that's a big step for him.

Al has proved to Hannah that he is ready to live independently.

It is fantastic news and means the team can now make

final preparations to return Al to the wild.

But not everyone at KSTR is celebrating.

Tiny's fight for survival has taken a sudden

and dramatic turn for the worse.

How's he doing, Sam?

Not good.

I mean it was literally like one minute he was fine

and the next minute he was just completely limp and not hanging on.

-He just wasn't clinging on to you at all?

-Mm-mm.

Tiny's complete lack of strength is an extremely bad sign

and could indicate a life-threatening condition.

So what are you doing now?

We've got him on oxygen and we've started fluids,

and we're going to start antibiotics.

Could you hold this, actually?

-Good boy. Good boy.

-TINY WHINES

I know. I've never seen a baby sloth do this before. I don't know what...

I don't know what's going on.

-TINY WHINES

-Oh, bud.

This guy yesterday looked really good,

he was climbing all over Sam, and now, completely out of the blue,

he's gone downhill and he's in a real bad way now.

Sometimes, in situations like this,

all that's left to do is just hold him

and if and when he goes, he at least isn't alone and is comfortable.

Losing his mother so early in life,

the odds were always stacked against him.

The way Tiny has gone downhill like this,

it just brings it home what these guys are up against

every single day because he looked like he was a real fighter.

He looked like he was pulling through and now, suddenly overnight,

everything has changed and that must be so tough.

Sadly Tiny has given up the fight.

Looking after wild orphans is not for the faint hearted,

but what makes the tragedies bearable for the carers

are the days when you are able to make a difference.

Here in Australia, it's a much more positive story.

Thanks to Sue's hard work, Stacey and Heidi are now ready to take

the biggest step so far on their journey back to the wild.

Time for a new home.

They are moving permanently into the outdoor enclosure.

-We'll just have a last hold before they go in.

-Yeah, baby's growing up.

Up until now, Stacey has been living in the house full-time

with Sue acting as her foster mum.

So this is the dehumanising stage,

so they're getting big enough to be fending for themselves now.

So...

So you won't have as much contact.

So I won't have as much, so it's a bit bittersweet, actually.

-Oh, yeah, it is.

-This is the time when they become independent.

It's been a commitment of many months for you so far.

Oh, yeah, it's been a long time.

And from now on, they'll still be here for a while longer.

-Yeah, probably another 10 to 12 months.

-What a long journey.

-It is.

It certainly is.

I feel sad about letting Stacey go.

But you've got to go, haven't you, Stacey?

-So we just pop them down?

-Yeah.

-Will do.

There you go.

New home.

-You've done a fabulous job with them.

-Oh, look, I love doing it.

You've got to be passionate about this to keep doing it.

I can't believe that she was that little, insecure wombat.

The first time she met Heidi she, you know, Heidi ignored her

and Stacey was quite scared, but now nothing should go wrong.

Over the next ten months,

Stacey and Heidi will break their bond with Sue.

A safe release site will be found for both of them

and her job will be done.

Until the next wild orphan comes her way.

On the other side of the world, the carers here at the Costa Rica

sanctuary are sharing the same hopes for their orphans as Sue.

Al the tamandua is one of the longest residents at KSTR

and has been with them since he was a tiny four-week-old orphan.

That was a year ago, and now they hope that all the hard work

will pay off when he goes back to the wild.

Hi, Al.

In preparation, he has been marked with non-toxic paint,

so that the team can identify him out in the forest.

Last time you're ever going to be in that cage.

Every morning I take him out of his cage and I come

and sit on these steps with him and this is the last time.

I've done everything I could to prepare him to get out there.

I hope that there's nothing I could have done better.

Animals want to be wild and that's what's best for them.

The site the team has chosen for Al's release

is a remote forest in the Central Pacific side of Costa Rica,

miles away from any roads or human settlements.

If ever there is a place that is ideal to let Al

become an anteater in the wild again, this is it.

It's absolutely pristine. He's going to be safe here.

This is what's it's about, getting these orphans back out in the wild,

but it's definitely mixed emotions.

Once we open the door there is no way

we can control his future any more, which is the scariest part.

But if he stayed in the sanctuary

he'd live in a cage his whole life and what kind of life is that?

Al will be left with his familiar sleeping box,

in case he needs a safe retreat.

So this is it.

Yeah, this is it. This is the moment

we've been waiting for for such a long time

and it's really surreal to think that it's finally here.

So what are you going to do,

put him straight in the box and then just step back?

And then he can do whatever he wants and we won't stop him.

This is a big, big world, Al, you be careful.

-Oh, amazing!

-Oh, my God!

His first foraging as a free anteater!

Look at him - he's already hoovering up ants.

Look at him, he looks great.

This is what it's all about.

He's halfway up the biggest tree in the forest

and he's foraging away like a wild anteater again.

Amazing!

-Good job, Hannah.

-Thank you.

It does make the hairs on the back of your neck really tingle

because these guys have put in so much to get Al to this stage

and so many of these orphans don't make it.

I don't know if I could keep going the way that they do,

but it's moments like this that you can see it makes it all worthwhile

because he's now a wild anteater again.

And it doesn't get any better than that.