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00:01They say don't ever work with babies or animals. But what if they're baby animals?
00:12I was only born this morning.
00:15On this all-new season, welcome back to the ever-changing world of Taronga.
00:24Where you'll witness things you never thought possible.
00:29You can actually hear her breathe.
00:31And meet new faces.
00:33Oh hi buddy.
00:34You'll never forget.
00:36So good.
00:37It's time to discover.
00:39Oh my god.
00:41Exactly who's who in this zoo.
00:48On this special episode.
00:50Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo.
00:52Elephants have been here at Taronga for 109 years.
00:55History in the making.
00:57These two are the last here in Sydney.
00:59As Taronga's elephants say goodbye.
01:02It's not easy to move an elephant.
01:04But just as they're preparing to leave.
01:09We realise something was up.
01:10A medical emergency.
01:12We have to try to save the site.
01:13We just have to.
01:14How many bread cement are we getting?
01:16That could not be any riskier.
01:18A drop in your mouth or in your eye will kill you within minutes.
01:22Stops everything.
01:24One hour down.
01:25This is a world first.
01:26If we go from zero to ten, ten being the hardest, we're probably at a hundred.
01:31One hour down.
01:32One hour down.
01:37Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo.
01:38Where there's an unmistakable air of expectancy.
01:40Since Taronga Zoo in Sydney opened its gates.
01:44King Kong's Australia's first gorilla.
01:46Over 100 years ago in 1916, elephants have always called the harbour city home.
01:54Elephants have been here at Taronga for 109 years actually.
01:58Originally with Jessie coming over the harbour when Taronga Zoo first opened.
02:02So it's a really amazing legacy species for Taronga Zoo.
02:06Yeah, they love the rain.
02:07They love the mud.
02:09Hey Rosie.
02:11But that's all about to end.
02:15We have two female Asian elephants here at Taronga Zoo.
02:18Sydney, we have a 32 year old called Pak Boon.
02:21Which is a Thai name that means morning glory flower.
02:28And we have a 26 year old called Tang Mo.
02:30Which is a Thai name that means watermelon.
02:32Hi Tang Mo.
02:34And these two are the last remaining elephants here in Sydney.
02:39Elephants are very social animals.
02:41Oh, it's getting hot.
02:43In the wild Asian elephants can live in sometimes large herds.
02:46Numbering dozens at a time.
02:48And they normally rely on the herd for social interactions.
02:51For play.
02:52For their day to day engagements.
02:55Here at Taronga having the two females that we have.
02:58Regardless of our best efforts with giving the elephants big bumpers or boys from the Navy.
03:03Yeah.
03:04Yeah, see that.
03:05Even the toys that we make them out of big tractor tires.
03:07And all the even the small fiddly enrichment items.
03:09The ice blocks, the peanut canisters.
03:11To occupy their time to stimulate them mentally and physically.
03:15It's still not quite enough.
03:17We're not quite meeting their social needs.
03:20We've noticed that they really do need something extra in their lives.
03:22To fill that gap.
03:24So they will be heading to Monata Safari Park to join two other females.
03:29And later this year another male.
03:31And hopefully get that social complexity that they do need in their lives.
03:35And these big girls can't make the big move to South Australia without getting in a big crate.
03:44It's not easy to move an elephant.
03:48Elephants are first of all very large.
03:50So to move an elephant involves getting them into a transport container cooperatively.
03:55So this is our transport container which is basically a modified shipping container.
03:59And this will be where they'll be for 20 plus hours on the trip down to Monata Safari Park.
04:05But getting them into the crate is a job in itself.
04:08And takes months and months of training.
04:13Good girl.
04:14So every morning before they get their main breakfast.
04:16Foot.
04:17Good.
04:18More.
04:19So we start the training sessions.
04:20Good girl.
04:22Other foot.
04:23Good.
04:24Wearing their safety bands.
04:26Go for it Johnny.
04:27All right.
04:28See you out there.
04:30And then one at a time they come into the crate.
04:32Hey mom.
04:36Safety bands around their legs.
04:38Good foot.
04:39Which are chained to lugs on the floor.
04:41And these are all very much there for the elephant's safety and their security on the trip.
04:46Hi.
04:47Yes.
04:48All right mom.
04:49Other foot.
04:50Good.
04:51These restraints are very similar to a seat belt or even those straps that you hold on a bus when you're standing.
04:58Nice.
04:59Good.
05:00Good.
05:01To make sure they have that ability to hold their position within the crate is really valuable.
05:06Back.
05:07Good girl.
05:08Back up.
05:09Back up.
05:10Back up.
05:11You can do it.
05:12Back.
05:13Back up.
05:14That's it.
05:15Good girl.
05:16Good.
05:17More.
05:18Good trunk up.
05:19Good open.
05:20All right.
05:21But to get them to that position involves a lot of small steps done over many, many months.
05:26Good boy.
05:27Good boy.
05:28Good boy.
05:29Good boy.
05:30By doing that on repetition every single day, it means that come the day of transport,
05:33it should just be another day for them.
05:35They get in the crate and the only difference is we close the doors in front and behind them.
05:39Cool.
05:40Ready when you are.
05:41Back up.
05:42Tang Mo, back.
05:43Toy.
05:44Good girl.
05:45Back.
05:46Good girl, Maulzi.
05:47Back up.
05:48Toy.
05:49Good girl.
05:50Back.
05:51Good girl.
05:52Tang Mo and Pat Boon have been lucky enough to work with them for about nine years now.
05:54Hello.
05:55You did so well.
05:56Tang Mo, move up.
05:57The training session went very well.
05:59It's just a matter of building resilience.
06:01And as you can see, she's doing a fantastic job.
06:03Good girl, Boons.
06:04Move up.
06:06While Tang Mo is handling crate training like a pro, when it comes to Pak Boon, alarm bells
06:14are ringing.
06:15Good.
06:16Open.
06:17There you go.
06:18Very good.
06:19During one of our crate sessions, we noticed when we threw her treat to her right side that
06:22she didn't pick up on it visually.
06:24Hi, Boonie.
06:25Back up.
06:26Toy.
06:27Toy.
06:28Back.
06:29Back.
06:30Good girl.
06:31And when she was backing up as well, she kind of missed a few treats.
06:33That was the first indicator when we realised maybe something was up.
06:38I think she's done.
06:40Good.
06:41Steady, Pak Boon, how?
06:42So upon closer inspection, we noticed a slight deformation in her eyeball, which then led
06:46us to get the vets involved.
06:47From then, we noticed that there was an ulceration forming on her eye, which then consequently showed
06:52us that there was a perforation in her cornea.
06:56All right, Pak Boon, back up.
06:58Toy.
06:59When the elephant's eye is, in fact, injured, she won't be allowed to travel.
07:03Back up.
07:04And that means the elephant's move to a new life at Monato Safari Park could be placed
07:09on hold indefinitely.
07:12Good girl, Pak Boon.
07:14One of the challenges of running a zoo is feeding the different types of animals from all over
07:27the world.
07:28Good morning, Pep.
07:29You ready for your brekkie?
07:31From pellets, grains and hay, to all types of meat, every animal has a diet that Taronga
07:38staff need to accommodate.
07:40Good girl.
07:41But for the African herbivores, there's a surprisingly abundant source of their favourite foods not
07:48too far away.
07:50Today, the horticulture team is going out to the Western Sydney airport.
07:55There is basically just almost an unlimited source of olive for us.
08:03African olive is considered a noxious weed here in Australia, but for our African species,
08:08it's a food source.
08:10We are literally just collecting olive today, and that's it.
08:13That is it.
08:14And we're going to fill up this trap to its capacity and distribute it all around the zoo.
08:20We'll be giving to the giraffes, the gorillas, the chimps, some of the smaller animals as well.
08:29Okay.
08:30Hungry mouths to feed.
08:31Yes.
08:32There's a few.
08:33There's a few.
08:34Yeah.
08:36There's a new airport being built in New South Wales.
08:40Is this it?
08:41Yeah.
08:42Is that the airport?
08:43Right.
08:44Wow.
08:45It sits on 1,700 acres of land.
08:48But the airport has a huge weed problem, and Team Taronga are here to help.
08:55Our partnership with the Western Sydney airport, what that is doing is it's giving us a sustainable
09:01source of browse to feed out to our animals.
09:04And it's also going to be removing a noxious weed from their bushland and helping them regenerate
09:10the land as well.
09:11It's an all-you-can-eat buffet out there.
09:14And we're ready to go.
09:16Because that weed is about to be taken down.
09:24Back at Taronga, the future of their Asian elephants is in limbo.
09:29Steady.
09:30As their move to their new home in South Australia has been shut down.
09:34Good.
09:35And all because of Pak Boone's eye.
09:38Recently, we have noticed that Pak Boone has a small eye injury.
09:41We want to make sure she's in optimal health for the journey to Monato and for her settling
09:46in period there.
09:47Steady.
09:48Pak Boone.
09:50Good.
09:51Open.
09:52There you go.
09:53Very good.
09:54She's a very strong-willed girl, and so she has been a little bit resistant to topical
09:56treatment and taking medicine and having her eye looked at particularly closely.
10:01What the vet team do know is that if Pak Boone's eye is left untreated, it can turn into a series
10:08of serious issues for her.
10:10Infections, blindness, and she could even lose her eye.
10:15So we have decided in consultation, obviously, with our vets and ophthalmologists that we
10:20work with, that we are going to need to do a full general anaesthetic so that they can
10:24really get in there and have a really good look at her eye and provide any treatment that
10:28might be needed.
10:32And today's the day this jumbo patient goes under the anaesthetic.
10:38Start with that.
10:40It's not something that happens very often.
10:43This is a huge procedure for us.
10:45The last time we did an elephant anaesthetic was ten years ago, actually to the day.
10:52And we've got about 33 people involved.
10:56Are we going Tetris people?
10:58We've got people coming in from interstate.
11:00We've got equipment coming in from interstate.
11:02We've got equipment coming in from other hospitals.
11:05It's a massive, massive undertaking.
11:10Because the patient is the size she is, to add even more complexity to the procedure,
11:16it all has to happen at Pak Boone's place in the elephant house.
11:21And now go straight and you should be good.
11:24I am keeping my voice down because we're just outside the barn where the elephant currently is.
11:29We've got tons of specialised equipment.
11:33And now we're just setting it up here where the elephants won't be aware of it,
11:38in order to prepare ourselves so it's on hand and ready to go.
11:42Gabby are the iStat cartridges in that black bag.
11:45When people have an anaesthetic, you'll often have a tube pop down your throat to help you to breathe.
11:51This is the size ET tube that we would use for an elephant.
11:54So same thing, just a bit bigger than my throat.
11:58Here's the whole pole.
12:00There has been very high stress levels throughout.
12:03This procedure is as big as it gets.
12:05It's monumental.
12:06We do regularly do large animal and dangerous animal procedures.
12:11This is all of the challenging factors rolled into one.
12:14Add to that a very intelligent animal.
12:18They're completely onto us.
12:20Elephants are so intuitive.
12:22They absolutely would know that we're here, no matter how quiet we try and be.
12:26But we still try and minimise disturbance and keep them in their normal routine.
12:31And we don't want to cause them any stress and therefore not work as well for the trainers.
12:35And that's what we're relying on to be able to administer the medications for the anaesthetic.
12:41The last thing anyone wants today is to try and anaesthetise four tonnes of disgruntled elephant.
12:49In Sydney, Pack Boon's eye operation is about to get underway.
12:58And at the hospital, Michael, the anaesthetist, is one of the specialists brought in for today's rather delicate procedure.
13:06I'm leading the anaesthesia of the elephant, Pack Boon, today.
13:12It's a very challenging thing.
13:16She's over 3,800 kilos.
13:20So we've got to manage all that and monitor it and understand what's going on.
13:27When are you going to drop the torphene?
13:29Pretty soon. So torphene is an ultra potent opioid.
13:37Less than one half of a mil is enough to make that 3,800 kilo elephant lie down.
13:44So it's enormously powerful.
13:46But fortunately, it comes with the risk of being pretty lethal for humans as well.
13:52And so we've got to be very, very careful when we're using it to protect ourselves with that because less than a drop is going to kill a human.
14:04So we cover up as much of our skin as possible.
14:09All right. So probably just stand back a bit, I reckon.
14:13When we're using such a dangerous drug, we have protocols to keep us safe.
14:20And one of those today is having actually our ambulance personnel right here with us.
14:27So in the event of an exposure, we've got that sort of medical help just right there.
14:33With the torphene at the ready, Michael heads down to the elephant house.
14:40OK, thanks everyone for coming this morning.
14:42An army of vets, keepers and veterinary specialists have come together to take part in today's epic procedure.
14:52I just want to quickly go through the risks. I think the main things for today are masks. So the biosecurity.
14:58One thing, these masks, we were thinking once she's down and intubating and starting the ventilation, that's when we're masking on.
15:07So we're not masking on right now because she's not used to us in masks.
15:10Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that makes sense.
15:11And the other one is obviously manual handling and working around the elephant.
15:16So just being really mindful of particularly when you're in the store with her and particularly those key moments are going to be when she's going down.
15:25And then obviously when she's coming out at the end in recovery.
15:28There's a few important considerations with an elephant anesthesia.
15:33Just being really, really mindful, not crawling under her at any point to get any straps in.
15:38Number one is danger to the people, just based on her size.
15:43At any point, we may be asked just to leave and you'll have to just kind of drop everything and step out of the store.
15:49Because four tonnes is a lot. Once she's down, we can't move her.
15:52One of the other big risks with today is the use of the torphene.
15:55So I'm just going to get Flea just to quickly run through risk mitigations.
16:00One of the anesthetic drugs we're using is a torphene.
16:03The ambos are on site.
16:05A torphene is a very potent drug.
16:08It's much stronger than morphine and it can kill you if you get a drop of it on your skin.
16:13So the important things to remember is there will be an exposure spot at her rump where she's injected in the muscle.
16:21She'll get the injection. It'll be cleaned down and marked with bright green.
16:25Anything that's bright green indicates a torphene, so don't touch it.
16:29If there isn't a torphene emergency, the ambulance guys are on site, under contact to get them where they need to be immediately.
16:38We know how to provide first aid for it. Obviously they are far better at doing so than us and probably a lot quicker.
16:43A drop in your mouth or in your eye will kill you within minutes. So that's why we have ambulance here and we have a lot of procedures and protocols in place to make sure that doesn't happen.
16:55And if it does happen, that we can act on it immediately.
16:59Any questions?
17:01Just no touchy.
17:02No touchy-touchy.
17:04That's it.
17:06With the formalities out of the way, Michael heads for the elephant house, while Taronga's vet team watch on anxiously with the two specialists who have been brought in to work on Pack Boon's eye.
17:19My name is Kelly Caruso and I'm a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist.
17:24How much time do you need to set up?
17:27We'll need probably 20 minutes.
17:29To set up?
17:30To set up.
17:31Okay.
17:32My name's William Irving. I'm also a board-certified ophthalmologist.
17:35So the pair of us together today will be hopefully fixing Pack Boon's eye.
17:39Pack Boon has a hole in her eye.
17:43And the part of the eye the hole is in is called the corneum, which is the clear front part of the eye, which is necessary for vision.
17:50It's also causing her discomfort, this hole.
17:52As soon as we get in there, we want to have quick access to the eye, to the globe itself.
17:57And then the goal is to look at the hole, look at the tissue around there, look at the cornea, see how healthy it is.
18:05The cornea is the front clear part of the eye.
18:08Look at the iris, which is the colored part of the eye that's sort of coming forward to help block the hole.
18:14Try to push everything back into its normal anatomical location, make sure it looks healthy, patch it and get out.
18:23We've got all sorts of tissue and synthetics and her own tissue that we're planning on using to repair this hole.
18:30And that's the goal.
18:31We want to try to get this fixed as quickly as possible.
18:34What we don't want to happen is we have to enucleate the eye, which means remove it.
18:37We'll make that decision pretty quickly depending on how healthy the tissue is or not.
18:42With the atorphine injection complete, Michael marks the spot with a fluoro green spray paint.
18:49Today's procedure is going to be really challenging for all of us.
18:53You can tell by the number of people that are all hands on deck today.
18:57I'll wheel this.
18:58So there's a lot going on.
19:00I think every team has their own challenges.
19:03From the ophthalmic standpoint and trying to repair this eye, if we go from zero to ten, ten being the hardest, we're probably at a hundred.
19:25Leaving the animals behind, Taronga's horticulture team have ventured out of the zoo to the Western Sydney airport site.
19:36Let's go.
19:37Great.
19:38We're there preparing to harvest an exotic treat for Taronga's African residents.
19:45So what we've got here is African olive.
19:48It does look, it is in the olive family.
19:51So it is related to the European olive.
19:54However, this is a weed from Africa.
19:56So it really takes hold here in our natural bushlands and colonizes everything, crowding out a lot of our native species.
20:04So coming out here and removing the bulk of the vegetation.
20:07We're minimizing its opportunity to spread seed and we're also feeding the animals that love to eat it.
20:16So this is a perfect hanger.
20:19But it's not one size fits all.
20:22So we're looking to cut different sizes for the different sized animals.
20:26Something like this will be going to the giraffes.
20:29Quite a large branch for quite a large animal.
20:32Something big can be used to sort of hang up and allow the giraffes to sort of feed on it.
20:38And then we do a selection of slightly smaller stuff that they bundle up and put in pots along the fence line
20:44as a different way to sort of feed it out as well.
20:46Creates a bit of interest for the animals.
20:48So I'm just going to cut like these smaller ones here.
20:51Alright.
20:52Some of the smaller branches will be given out to the primates.
20:55Some of those will be turned into little bouquets and sort of hung up as well.
21:01It's a really rewarding unique part of horticulture.
21:04Providing the food for the animals.
21:06It's great to be able to provide a safer part of their diet.
21:10This is primates.
21:12So this is grillers.
21:13Specifically that's fence.
21:14That's fence for giraffes.
21:16More primatey stuff up there.
21:18More primate and I've probably got some more fence stuff.
21:21This is the hangars.
21:22This is hangars.
21:23There's no shortage.
21:24Okey doke.
21:25We're probably close to done.
21:27We're going to be looking at filling up the truck.
21:30The truck will hold about 20 square metres of African olive there abouts.
21:36And we'll try and fit as much as possible in to bring back.
21:43With a truck full of goodies, they set off for Taronga.
21:48Where Pak Boon, the Asian elephant, is now sedated.
21:53So the entire vet team can safely enter the elephant house for today's big procedure.
21:59The risks of anesthetising an adult elephant are mainly around her size and her respiratory system.
22:06If she goes down onto her chest and we can't move her onto her side, then that makes it very, very difficult for her to breathe.
22:15So getting her to lie down when she's anesthetised is really hard in a safe way and in the position that you want her to.
22:23So there's an army of people using ropes, slings and a crane to get this big lady to hopefully lie down safely.
22:32The worst thing that can happen if she goes down and her head is forward and her trunk is underneath her and then we've only got minutes to save her and move her.
22:42Yeah.
22:45So everyone's on tenterhooks, especially for this part.
22:54Once she's down and once she's on her side, then we'll be a lot more comfortable.
23:06Can we get a rope around those far side and pull her?
23:09The brilliance of the elephant keeping team.
23:17So, you know, I can't string up a laundry line.
23:21They were able to string up an elephant in a beautiful, safe way where it looked like a ballet.
23:27So as she went to sleep, she got lifted off a little bit off her feet and those legs got pulled under and she lay down soft as anything with a nice tyre under her head.
23:38It couldn't have gone better.
23:40It was a beautiful thing.
23:42With Pak Boone comfortably down.
23:44You've got gloves on.
23:45Can you just connect that up for me?
23:47Okay.
23:48It's our lifeline.
23:49Michael and his team just need to make sure she's stable.
23:53I don't know.
23:54Do you want to do this?
23:55And then I'll stick the cacker in.
23:57Before the eye specialists can get to work.
24:00She's breathing on her own.
24:01I'm just supplementing her as she takes her breath.
24:03Okay.
24:04How many breaths a minute are we getting?
24:05About six.
24:06Six.
24:07Okay.
24:08So what's the heart rate?
24:0937.
24:1037.
24:11So that's okay.
24:12Precious being good.
24:1338.
24:14Entitable.
24:15So she's all good.
24:16Anesthesia is tough.
24:17They are a big animal.
24:20There are certain things you have to be really careful with.
24:23Michael, at what stage can the ophthalmologist come in?
24:27Oh, now, now.
24:28Okay.
24:29Access to the eye, the way that they're laying
24:32and us getting to the eye is going to probably be one
24:35of the hardest aspects of the procedure today.
24:38Their eye position might change.
24:40So you tell me what eye position is.
24:41Is that okay for you?
24:42Would you expect that what you're doing is going to be very painful?
24:46No.
24:47No.
24:48Just a little bit of stinging with the local anaesthetic maybe?
24:49Yeah.
24:50While the eye specialists often work on smaller animals.
24:54She has some unique abilities that our usual dogs and cats do not have.
24:59The sheer size and weight of an elephant makes even the simplest task extremely challenging.
25:05They have incredibly strong eyelid muscles.
25:08Even under anaesthesia, they are really difficult to open their eyelids.
25:13I would love a pair of forceps, yep.
25:15Because I'll hold it for you and you can.
25:17Can we grab that sterile, the sterile stuff over?
25:19Because I'll try and get one of those speculants in.
25:22That might help us quite a bit.
25:23Yeah.
25:24It's pretty low dose though.
25:25Yeah.
25:26Give it a try and see what we get.
25:28Oh boy.
25:29Wow.
25:30There's like all this grit in here.
25:34With the minutes ticking by.
25:36One hour down.
25:38The worst case scenario starts to look more and more likely.
25:43Are you happy?
25:44Are you there?
25:45No.
25:46If they can't get the injured eye into position, then they can't fix it.
25:50We're sort of a little bit of heart sinking moment thinking, oh, are we actually going to be able to get this done?
25:55No.
25:56I don't think so.
25:57Jesus.
25:58The horticulture team have returned from their airport run and are unloading their baggage.
26:11Back at Taronga, we've got a browse fridge and inside that we store the different fresh feed for different animals in tubs of water.
26:20The tubs, they've got every day of the week on them and they get fed out to the animals so we can keep track of what they're getting.
26:27And inside there, we'll be storing the African olive that we're bringing back today.
26:32For the primates, what we do is we try to give them a distribution of various species that have got a good variety in their diet and a minimum of three different things per day.
26:42Typically, African olive will feature almost every day as well.
26:46The browse fridge is where the horticultural team's job ends and the keeper's job begins.
26:53The keepers are responsible for delivering the browse to the hungry animals in their respective habitats.
26:59This enrichment is really important for our squirrel monkeys.
27:02So you can see they're all rummaging through these browse and they're running around a bit crazy and that's because they are very excited.
27:08But the squirrel monkey's excitement is nothing compared to what's happening in the African savannah precinct, where it's out with the old and in with the new.
27:18All right, we can drop that there.
27:21And I'll go grab some more browse.
27:27So basically, we get the hooks in all the branches and we put the chains through them and then hang them up.
27:36So we'll raise these up and the giraffes will just eat it throughout the day.
27:44The chains obviously make quite a loud sound.
27:48The giraffes can listen to the sound of the chains going up.
27:51They often come out when they hear it, they start drooling, they get very excited.
27:55We hang browse because giraffes are obviously quite tall.
27:58In the wild, they're quite an interesting species in terms of they're the only species that eat from the tops of canopies.
28:04So we need to rise these up. They've got long necks.
28:06They need to be able to stimulate their tongue.
28:08And it's just kind of mimicking the natural eating behaves as best that we can.
28:15So as you can see, they're definitely enjoying our browse.
28:17Evo!
28:18It's really rewarding to go out to the airport and collect the sustainable food source and bring it back as browse for the animals.
28:27It's a win-win situation for us all.
28:31Meanwhile, in the elephant house, the ophthalmologists need to actually see Pack Boone's damaged eye before they can even attempt to fix it.
28:42I'll just infiltrate some of her lids, Kel.
28:44Okay.
28:45So initially, we were really concerned about how we were going to get access to the eye.
28:49You can take it from there.
28:51Elephants just have such strong eye muscles, and they like to pull their eye back down into the socket.
28:57So when we started, it was almost about, you know, an inch sitting there further down into the depths of her socket.
29:04Here it is.
29:05So the globe is there.
29:06We want to get back in here.
29:07We've got spinals.
29:08We can really pass it around the back there.
29:11That would be great.
29:12And finally, after 18 agonising minutes...
29:16So I think we're in.
29:18...the result they were all hoping for.
29:20Oh, that felt...
29:21Oh, yeah.
29:22That felt really good.
29:23You can do this.
29:24Perfect.
29:25When the blocks started going in with the local anesthetic, her muscles started relaxing.
29:30How's your access?
29:31Yeah.
29:32Not bad.
29:33It's okay? Good.
29:34You're not getting any response, so I guess you've blocked it now.
29:36Yeah.
29:37Yeah.
29:38We were able to get the eye into a really nice position, where we could do what we needed to do.
29:43Okay.
29:44Just think we're going to get a little bit.
29:46You want us to look?
29:47Let's do it.
29:48Up there.
29:49Yep.
29:50I'll put a gown on.
29:51The moment she laid down and we got in there, I thought, we have to try to save this eye.
29:55We just have to.
29:56What do you think?
29:57Surgery?
29:58Surgery.
29:59Hopefully we'll be able to get a graft in and get the patch in as well.
30:02No ego here, but we just wanted to save her eye.
30:05We're good.
30:06I think we're good.
30:07Let's do it.
30:08Because we thought that would be her best possible outcome.
30:11They think the best repair is possible, so we're going to go for plan A.
30:18I love it.
30:19They're not talking about taking the eye out, so I'm happy with that.
30:21Let's have a look.
30:22What do you think?
30:23Excellent.
30:24I think a zebra eye.
30:25Yeah, that's great.
30:26Obviously we had a few different plans in place.
30:29The worst case scenario was that Pat Boone had to have her eye removed.
30:33Okay.
30:34Perfect.
30:35I think that's good for the moment.
30:37Okay.
30:38We might not even need stay sutures.
30:40Let's just do it.
30:42But we got our plan A in, so we got the best case scenario of what we could do, the type of graft we wanted to get in there to just give her the best possible chances of healing, having a good outcome and having vision.
30:53So plan A was like the sliding corneal graft.
30:57Yeah, they're going to integrate the synthetic graft, the pork graft into the corneal layer.
31:04So at least you'll have two layers if that comes down.
31:08Fingers crossed.
31:11Can we have a six punch biopsy?
31:13Let's cut a six.
31:14Six punch biopsy and the biosis.
31:17And can I have a 64 beaver blade, please?
31:20It was go, go, go from the start.
31:23What do you think, down the bottom?
31:24I'm thinking it's going to be hard with this.
31:27We kind of didn't know what we were getting ourselves into going into it.
31:30At the limbus?
31:31Yeah.
31:32That one's going to be a beautiful graft.
31:35It's really not wanting to come away from the glue, is it?
31:38Okay, we're going to get it.
31:40It's almost there.
31:42And then we're going to put four stitches in.
31:47It was all just quick decisions being made.
31:49How are you guys progressing?
31:51Good.
31:52We just retrieved the graft.
31:53Yep.
31:54We're about to dissect the area around the hole and plug it.
31:59And then we can pull the graft into place.
32:01So we're probably, if everything goes perfectly, we're about 40 minutes.
32:0440 minutes.
32:05All right.
32:06Although the eye surgeons are making quick progress, it's a race against the clock.
32:11Because the longer Pak Boone is under anesthetic, the more her life is at risk.
32:16And no one cares more about this beautiful beast than her faithful keepers.
32:21The keepers have been working with her for about 20 years.
32:25And they work with her every day.
32:27And she's, you know, she's part of a family.
32:30She's not just a zoo animal.
32:32She's an extremely important animal to all of us and a massive part of our lives.
32:40And it weighs on everybody's head and heart that if something happens to her today, it will be just tragic.
32:51You know, we're trying not to think about that.
32:53But it's definitely a possibility and something we have to consider.
32:57So we're all gunning for her.
33:00It will be devastating if something bad happens.
33:04What sort of time length do you reckon you guys are up?
33:08So we're suturing in the synthetic graft right now.
33:11Yep.
33:12So...
33:1330 minutes.
33:1430.
33:1530 minutes.
33:16Okay.
33:17We're working quickly, I promise.
33:18Anesthesia is risky for any animal, let alone a four-ton elephant.
33:23So the eye surgeons are under pressure to get Pak Boone's eye fixed as fast as they possibly can.
33:30The eye's rolling back down.
33:32Yep.
33:33I thought earlier that on a scale of zero to ten, ten being the hardest we were at a hundred, we were at a thousand.
33:40It's okay.
33:42Dorn, dorn.
33:43She seems lighter.
33:44She could be a little bit lighter, like she's trying to pull her eye a little bit.
33:49You feel like you've got this huge adrenaline rush.
33:52I'll give her a little bolus of determination, I think.
33:55The team here was spectacular.
33:58You noticed that she's a bit deeper now?
34:00Yeah.
34:01I think she seems pretty good.
34:02She seems pretty good.
34:03The collaboration was the best, like bar none, absolutely extraordinary.
34:09She had a large hole within her cornea sitting about here.
34:13So what we did, we stitched adjacent cornea that we've harvested here and then slid that forwards.
34:18So that brings a nice blood supply with it.
34:21And we've got healthy cornea sitting in the center, where she'll do most of her scene.
34:25So I think those last two should do us well.
34:29Beautiful.
34:30Lovely.
34:31Lovely.
34:33Lovely.
34:35So that wasโฆ that was intense.
34:37Okay.
34:38So do finished.
34:39Finished.
34:40And we did everything we thought we were going to be able to do.
34:47This, I think, is a world first for a corneal conjunctival transpositional graft.
34:51So a big, long, fancy word for her own tissue and sort of a seamless integration into her cornea.
34:58I hate you.
34:59Okay.
35:00We're done.
35:01Thanks, Gab.
35:02Okay.
35:03We think they're counting over for y'all.
35:04Yeah.
35:05Did you grab the light?
35:06All things considered, it went better than we had expected.
35:11We just need to pack up all this stuff.
35:12Okay, sorry, we're done.
35:13You're done?
35:14We're done.
35:15She's going to be up in ten minutes.
35:16Yep.
35:17All Pack Boone needs to do now is wake up.
35:28Adipemazole?
35:29Good.
35:30Okay, that's an important time.
35:3212-11.
35:33So Pack Boone's vision is going to take a little bit of time to come back as she heals.
35:38So there's going to be a lot of inflammation within the eye while she's healing.
35:42There's going to be lots of blood vessels growing in to kind of heal the area in the cornea.
35:46And that's all good, good part of healing.
35:50And we should start to see some really good vision return.
35:56Looking forward, in roughly 21 to 28 days, the big stitches that they put in will start to dissolve.
36:02For the first couple of weeks, she might close her eyes to give her a good protection.
36:06But once she hits that 21 days and the stitches start to dissolve,
36:09she'll have her eye a little bit more open, which is very exciting.
36:13And hopefully in the future, the graft will be seen less and less as the years go on.
36:19So it's a really positive outcome.
36:21Such a good girl.
36:22Come on girl.
36:23That's it. That's it.
36:25Very good.
36:26Good girl.
36:27Good girl.
36:28Good girl.
36:29Good girl.
36:30Good girl, Bonnie.
36:31It's been a couple of weeks since the surgery and we've been checking out
36:47every single day in the bath to see how her eye is going and progressing.
36:52Good girl.
36:54She's slowly been opening it more and more every day
36:56as she gets more and more comfortable with what went on through the procedure.
37:00And as the stitches dissolve and it becomes more comfortable for her,
37:02we're expecting the eye to open even further.
37:04But just by looking at her eye today,
37:06we can see that the beautiful iris colors back.
37:09We can see that the eye is healing really nicely and we're very happy with the progress.
37:12Lean in.
37:13Lean in.
37:14Lean in.
37:15Good.
37:16Steady.
37:17Lean in.
37:18Good.
37:19Steady.
37:20Good.
37:21And with her eye being partly healed or very much on its way to being healed,
37:26we can resume the crate training and the transport training,
37:28which means that we're getting her in the crate every morning,
37:31making sure that she's comfortable in there again
37:33and back to where she was before as quick as possible.
37:36Right.
37:37Love you.
37:39It's not only the keepers that are happy with her recovery.
37:43The ophthalmologist came in to check Pak Boone's eye
37:46and it's not very easy because she likes to keep it shut,
37:49but they managed to get a very quick but good look at her eye
37:53and they were really thrilled.
37:55The eye is healing as well as it could hope to,
37:58and so she's okay to travel.
38:00And so after months of uncertainty,
38:04Pak Boone and Tang Mo finally have the all clear
38:08to head off to their new home in South Australia.
38:14It's been about six weeks since Pak Boone had her eye operation.
38:18She's been given a clean bill of health by the vets
38:21and deemed fit to travel to her new home in South Australia.
38:26And today, after a century of calling Sydney home,
38:30Taronga's elephants are finally saying goodbye.
38:35Get Pak Boone out.
38:36But then when Tang Mo's loading, of course,
38:38that's when we'll really need to make sure people aren't coming by.
38:41Today we're moving our elephants and my role here today
38:44is overall coordination with the team.
38:48A moment in history?
38:49Yeah, it really is.
38:51Amongst all the logistics and the stuff,
38:53it's like, oh, actually, this is quite a big day.
38:56Yeah, I think we are literally all running on Adrenaline today,
38:59and everything feels like it's really coming together.
39:02Twenty, thirty minutes.
39:03The first crate will go past Gorillaz.
39:07We're pumped, we're excited, we're nervous,
39:09we're anxious, we're everything.
39:11Pak Boone, move up.
39:12Go, Pak Boone.
39:14The first thing we need to do
39:15is get Tang Mo and Pak Boone to load into their crate
39:17so we can get on the road.
39:19Same as yesterday, okay, Boone?
39:20We've done so much preparation,
39:22training has been going really, really well.
39:24Look at that beautiful eye.
39:26Gorgeous.
39:27So it's kind of up to the girls now,
39:29we need them to get in their crate.
39:31Alright, very good.
39:33Alright, see you outside.
39:34See you soon.
39:35One of the key things for today going really smoothly
39:38is ready when you are.
39:39He's keeping things really normal for Pak Boone and Tang Mo.
39:42Good girl, Boone.
39:44The keepers have been doing these training sessions
39:46right about this time every day for months on end.
39:49Move up.
39:50So it's really important today
39:51that we keep everything really normal.
39:53Alright, very good.
39:55I've just found out from our keepers
39:57that they have managed to get Pak Boone securely craters
40:00so she's in a crate and she'll be ready to go really soon.
40:04And that's the cue for the crane to come in
40:06and, well, do the heavy lifting.
40:09It's a really great first step for this morning.
40:11Really positive news.
40:13And with Pak Boone making her way through the zoo,
40:16it's Tang Mo's turn to step up to the crate.
40:21Good girl, Tang Mo.
40:23Good girl, Mo.
40:25Hey, Mozy.
40:26That's it, Mozy. Move up.
40:27The elephant's going to Monata Safari Park.
40:29It's going to be very different here at Taronga Zoo
40:31without elephants here for the first time
40:33since the zoo opened in 1916.
40:35For us, keepers as well.
40:37A lot of us have worked with them for many, many years.
40:56We are part of their family.
40:58They're part of our families.
41:00We are very much one unit together.
41:02And that one unit is embarking on one huge 24-hour journey
41:08to South Australia for the last time all together.
41:13Drive safe!
41:17Each truck has a support vehicle.
41:19Keepers in each support vehicle with vets as well and vet nurses.
41:24So we'll be stopping at regular intervals along the way
41:27to make sure we can check on the elephants.
41:28All right, let me record your truck down.
41:31Can I back up the truck?
41:32Good.
41:34Give them food, give them water, make sure they're doing okay.
41:36We also have cameras in the crate
41:38to monitor them as we're traveling.
41:40So if there is ever any situation
41:41when we need to stop the trucks,
41:42we will do that in a heartbeat.
41:46Their safety is paramount to us.
41:48We'll do everything with them in mind
41:50and their welfare as the forefront of our concerns.
41:52And eventually, Pak Boon and Tang Mo
41:59reach their new home safe and sound.
42:03This move to Monato is very much the next step
42:05in what they need in their lives.
42:08Something that's got to get done for their benefit,
42:10their welfare, it's all about them.
42:13Oh, it's our animals.
42:15She's doing very well so far.
42:16She's just smelling all the different elephant smells
42:19in the barn.
42:24She's very alert and looking around,
42:27but the fact that she's eating is a really good sign.
42:30We as keepers are going to stay there
42:32for as long as we need to, to settle the girls in,
42:34not only to their new home,
42:35but also to bond them
42:36and to get them used to their new barnmates.
42:39I don't know.
42:40And we'll hopefully fill the gap in their lives
42:42that they need by having other elephants around them.
42:44Please come in, too.
42:46I don't think we'll ever get over them leaving.
42:49I think they are a massive part of our lives,
42:51but it's all about giving them the best future possible.
42:54While Pak Boon and Tang Mo adapt to life
42:57in the Monato Safari Park,
43:00back in Sydney,
43:02preparations are well underway
43:03for the next residents
43:05to move into the now empty elephant habitat.
43:08Once our keepers return from Monato Safari Park
43:12and helping Pak Boon and Tang Mo settle in,
43:14our focus will really shift
43:15to what's happening later in the year here,
43:17which is Hari,
43:18the greater one-horned rhino
43:20and three water buffalo
43:21are coming from Taronga Western Plains Zoo.
43:24So Hari is about four years old now
43:26and he's definitely,
43:27it's time for him to leave his mum and dad.
43:29So he needs to move off
43:32and find his own territory and his own space.
43:34So it is really quite lovely timing.
43:36So he'll be moving here later in the year
43:39and our elephant keepers
43:40will be looking after him
43:41and the water buffalo.
43:43It's too early to say
43:45whether these new residents
43:46will call Taronga home
43:48for the next hundred years as well,
43:50but irrespective,
43:52they have some pretty big shoes to fill.
43:56And it's almost like a regular
43:57hurricane strike and surprise
43:58Is it possible?
44:00Is it possible?
44:00No you want to be
44:01a big buy.
44:02Oh, we are all about the
44:02์๋ine trail.
44:03Oh, we're not tysikkie.
44:04And it's all about taronga,
44:05and it's so good to find,
44:05but we know that
44:05are all about passing
44:06from his people.
44:06So I'm sure
44:07you're watching
44:07all these new ladies
44:08who are notalar
44:08to choose to get
44:09from Taronga,
44:10as well as the world,
44:11and it's all about
44:12it-
44:12It's all about
44:13it.
44:13What about Trolls,
44:14me
44:15comm
44:18you
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