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00:02South Africa has some of the world's biggest national parks and game reserves,
00:06home to an incredibly diverse range of animals.
00:09We actually pinch ourselves and think we're living the dream.
00:12Some of which are critically endangered.
00:14You don't realise how special it is to be part of the team that's saving these animals.
00:19We're following vets and volunteers.
00:21I feel like I'm actively doing something to make a difference.
00:24If we all just do our little bits, at least we're setting the scales going the right way.
00:28All trying to save some of the animals that live here.
00:32Come on.
00:33We've watched the highs.
00:35Seeing them in their own habitats, there's nothing more beautiful.
00:38And the lows.
00:39Hold on guys, hold on. Jump.
00:41With the people who are trying to save our planet.
00:44It's tough, but we do it because we love it.
01:22With elephant numbers across Africa in decline, saving each and every one of them is crucial.
01:28He's going to kick it with his foot.
01:30Wait for it.
01:32What a tasty root.
01:33Do you want a hand?
01:36All right.
01:38Here we are.
01:39Jenna and husband Sean work closely with their seven rescued elephants to further research into the species.
01:47Us and the elephants have such a family bond because all the handlers and all of us are with the
01:53elephants every day.
01:55Beautiful.
01:55All year round, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, it's no different.
01:58You know, the elephants still need care, they still need attention, they still need their needs met.
02:02So, you know, it's not like you come to work and you just shut off at five o'clock.
02:06You know, you have that bond with the animal.
02:10With temperatures soaring, there is only one place these elephants want to be.
02:19Around midday, the elephants love to come for a swim when it's the hottest part of the day.
02:28They play, they julse, they really, really have a good time.
02:31They're like kids in the water.
02:33Although they're the largest land animals in the world, elephants are incredible swimmers.
02:38They can do it for several hours.
02:41Their bodies provide natural flotation and their trunks double up as snorkels.
02:46And you see the two babies playing with each other there, they jump on each other.
02:51It's really phenomenal to watch.
02:54When Bella, the youngest carp, had her first swim, she was tiny, maybe a couple of weeks old.
03:00And the herd went across the dam.
03:02Bella followed the herd and they got to the middle of the deep path and she just sunk under the
03:06water.
03:07The next thing mum and auntie come, they put their trunks under her tummy, they pull her up.
03:10And then instantly she figured out to use her trunk as a snorkel.
03:14And then she literally then swum across the rest of the dam.
03:17So she learned how to swim in less than a minute.
03:23Just being in their presence is the most humbling experience.
03:26You can't even put it into words.
03:27Their sheer aura, you know, makes you feel so insignificant.
03:32And being able to watch them like this is a privilege and reserve for the very few.
03:35Like we're so, so blessed to be able to do what we do every day.
03:38It's phenomenal.
03:41The elephants may be able to cool down, but for Jenna and Sean, things are about to heat up right
03:46on their doorstep.
03:55In the Eastern Cape there's never a dull moment for vets Emily, Annie and Lisa.
04:00Annie has been at Medivet for two years.
04:04I work in part domestic animals and also in wildlife.
04:07So I do half and half, which is the perfect mix for me.
04:09I get to do all the complicated medical things that you can do with small animals and horses.
04:14And then I get to jump in a chopper and dart a rhino.
04:18Living her dream, Emily emigrated here four years ago.
04:22I'm primarily a wildlife vet and at home I was doing mostly mix work.
04:27There's definitely different challenges.
04:29It's a vocation, not a job.
04:31You know, it's seven days a week on call for indefinite periods of time.
04:35I couldn't imagine leaving this job and working at home again.
04:40Working on the front line of conservation and feeling like you're making a difference in the world with what you
04:45want to do in your life is life changing.
04:51The third Brit on the team is Lisa who runs the research side of things.
04:55For me I never went into veterinary to be a clinical vet.
04:58It was always a sort of footstep into conservation.
05:03Africa and African wildlife has kind of always had a special place in my heart and I don't know why
05:07that is.
05:07And I think a lot of people have been bitten by the African bug and you can't really put words
05:12to it.
05:13One project close to her heart is the monitoring of a crash of rhino in a top secret reserve.
05:19I've always been interested in how wild animals use the space around them.
05:22With human encroachment we have smaller and smaller space left for wildlife.
05:26The more we know about that, the more we can appropriately protect the size of the space and the type
05:33of habitat and things that we need to be able to encourage viable populations.
05:43A dedicated field monitor works full time alongside Lisa.
05:48His job is to find every rhino every day, gather data on them, check how they're doing, if they've got
05:54any wounds,
05:55observe any kind of social conflict or look to see if there's any new babies, that sort of thing.
06:01The rhinos have not been dehorned and because of the high risk from poachers, they are heavily protected 24-7.
06:09The quickest way to find them is the field monitor tracking their telemetry collar, which they wear round their ankle.
06:16Unfortunately, the battery life of them is restricted by the size that you can put onto the ankle of a
06:23rhino.
06:25One of the female rhinos needs the battery changing on her collar.
06:29And Lisa is taking the opportunity to carry out some visual health checks before the procedure.
06:36We've got a bull and two females here.
06:39We've started to look at their body condition and we score them on a monthly basis.
06:44And we started doing that because we had one of the older rhinos on the reserve get very sick and
06:51sadly we lost her.
06:53The research Lisa carries out is part of the fight to save this endangered species.
06:59She really should have had probably two calves by now and she hasn't calved once.
07:03So vets have come and done some hormonal treatments on her to try and get her cycling again to see
07:09if it is that that's going on.
07:22With almost 800 killed every year, Lisa is determined to help save them.
07:28We're definitely feeling the pressure of poaching, but it's, yeah, it's not, it's not easy.
07:34It's, it's always really difficult.
07:36Um, sorry.
07:42It's tough, hey?
07:43Um, you work with, uh, these animals sometimes on a, on a daily basis, um, if we're really lucky.
07:52Um, and although in some ways it becomes the norm, you never, you're never not aware of how privileged you
08:00are to be around them.
08:03You can't really be within this team and not have developed a, um, a real place in your heart for
08:08rhino.
08:09Yeah.
08:13It's why tracking collars can be so vital in protecting rhino.
08:18But it's always a risky procedure.
08:21Go right, Connor?
08:23Going under the skin.
08:24No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
08:31no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
08:42Josie has been in South Africa since 2006. Who would have thought a quick internet search would change her life
08:49forever?
08:49I did Google this volunteering stuff and I found the Vervet Monkey Foundation. It was the first project I came
08:55across and it just sounded perfect. It was within nature. I could help monkeys.
09:00And I've always wanted to go to Africa. So the whole thing just kind of fell into place. Little did
09:06I know it would lead me to where I am now as co-director and rehabilitator of the sanctuary.
09:13And it's not just South Africa that's stolen Josie's heart.
09:18Vervet monkeys, once you get to know them and they're individual characters, they're very similar to us. So they're primates
09:25like we are.
09:26So you'll look at a child and they're playing. You can look at a Vervet Monkey and they're playing. You
09:30can look at an alpha female of a group and you can compare it to a leader within a business.
09:36They are so similar to us.
09:39It'll be Josie's leadership skills put to the test today. She needs to introduce new orphan arrival Cedric to a
09:46possible new foster family.
09:48It was that she kept as an ex-pet. It's really not good for monkeys to be kept as pets.
09:53We want them to be with their own kind. They can become really distressed and unhappy.
09:57Three and a half year old Cedric is currently in the introduction enclosure where he can get used to the
10:02sights and smells of the troop and vice versa.
10:06You do have to understand the hierarchy system of the troop and also, you know, you have to get to
10:11know the individuals as well before they come in.
10:15To try and find the perfect foster family for Cedric, Josie plans to introduce him to the troop one by
10:21one.
10:22With ex-pets we found it can take anywhere from three weeks and we've had one nine months it took
10:28us.
10:29So we're looking for positive interaction basically at this point so that he can form the bonds so they accept
10:34him better into the group.
10:39There's usually a queue forming outside with the females and there's one already.
10:44It's the alpha female Plotty that in she comes and everybody else wants to come in.
10:54He seems very confident and he's gone up to her straight away.
10:58He's mounting her first of all not mating her so it's more of a dominance thing and a playful thing
11:04at this age too.
11:05And we also vasectomise our male monkeys so that we can take in more orphans.
11:11Otherwise we'll have nowhere to put them if we've got a hundred babies born every year.
11:14Cedric's grooming Plotty and he's also lip smacking which is when they put their lips together.
11:21It's a nice gesture actually this is positive interaction.
11:29I don't think Plotty's going anywhere.
11:31And the alpha female is accepting him which is fantastic because if she accepts him then hopefully the rest of
11:37the group will follow her lead as well.
11:50At Umoya Kalula Wildlife Centre, a drought in South Africa is having a catastrophic effect on wildlife, especially the smaller,
11:59weaker species.
12:01We're getting quite a lot of orphans coming in. There is no water therefore the parents have nothing to eat,
12:08they're all dying.
12:08And also with the heat, the animals actually just can't cope with this heat.
12:13Getting round the clock care are new arrivals you're going to fall in love with.
12:17We have two little baby bush babies. These are thick-tailed bush babies. They came in a couple of weeks
12:24ago. We had an incredibly hot day here and so it was sweltering and there was a lot of animal
12:31casualties unfortunately because of this.
12:33So these guys we believe just got too hot in their nest, came out to cool themselves down and then
12:39fell out of the tree.
12:40So then they got brought in to us. They're doing really really well and they were very weak when they
12:45came in and dehydrated.
12:47But as you can see they're looking good, they're drinking well and they've just started to eat some solids, some
12:53grapes and mango and they're loving this.
12:56So they'll be with us a little bit longer until we have weaned them off milk and then we'll be
13:02able to get them back out into the wild.
13:08Bush babies are primates and two species found in South Africa are the lesser and the thick-tailed.
13:14This one's a thick-tailed bush baby. They're nocturnal little animals so come out at night time and feed on
13:21insects and fruits and tree sap.
13:24You'll see their big eyes glowing at night time and they're great climbers.
13:30In Afrikaans they call them nakapis, so a night monkey basically and they're very beautiful little creatures.
13:43With no mum, human interaction is vital in this early stage of their rehabilitation.
13:51Literally we are their mums for this time.
13:56They are completely dependent on us and what we are doing with them.
14:00So they do become quite tame but the minute we don't have to handle them anymore then we stop because
14:07it's easier for them to go back into the wild.
14:10So a minute that they're not drinking anymore, we'll get them into an enclosure, we'll get them catching their own
14:15bugs, getting their own food and then they can go back out.
14:21Until then it's left to Emma to play surrogate mum. No easy task.
14:27The bush babies are getting fed every two hours and that is day and night.
14:31So they're very small and they would still be completely with their mum in the nest.
14:35They have just started solids so we will be going to three hours to four hours soon but they will
14:40start crying when they're hungry.
14:42You hear them making these frog-like little noises so then you know it's time to feed.
14:52I think she might be done. Are you finished?
14:56We don't sleep much when we have these guys in but it's worth it.
15:02The minute you see them out into the wild you forget about all that stuff.
15:20It's been about ten days since Cedric met Plotty who is the alpha female.
15:25And since then we've been letting a few other females in and now we're just going to try and see
15:31who else wants to come in today so that we can get him to form more bonds and relationships before
15:35he goes out into the troop.
15:38So Cedric looks excited waiting for the females to come in so I hope this session goes okay.
15:44First at the gate is an adult male.
15:46With the adult males we won't let them in at all. He'll meet them when he actually goes out into
15:50the troop.
15:51The reason being is in a confined area they could actually corner him and attack him and if he actually
15:57goes out into the troop usually what happens is they come back and they find the door and they come
16:01in and use this as their safety so they can actually run and hide away from the males.
16:07By making those relationships with the females because the females tend to run the troop then they're kind of like
16:13the protectors if you like.
16:15Fortunately the females do arrive.
16:20Eva's coming. So this is Eva, she's an adult female and she's also fostered quite a few orphans so she's
16:26usually good with new arrivals.
16:29Cedric's just greeting her.
16:32He seems to mount each female that comes in.
16:36He's only about three and a half years old so it's more a play behaviour than anything else.
16:41So as long as they do some grooming, have some positive interactions, what we don't want obviously is for him
16:48to be injured or bitten.
16:51So I've just let one of the juveniles in as well. They're usually quite confident. He's definitely doing very well
16:56and the troops seem confident around him.
16:59So he's just got to meet a few more females because we don't want him to go out there and
17:03then get chased and bitten because they haven't spent any time interacting with him.
17:28Cedric was released eight weeks later. A few months on, Josie has come to check up on him.
17:32I think I've found him.
17:36He's just, just here.
17:39Yep, that's him.
17:43So Cedric's been in the troop now for two months.
17:47He went out into the enclosure and he was so confident. I just couldn't believe it.
17:52You know, having been an ex-pet for a couple of years and now actually going into a troop, he
17:57was very confident with the other monkeys.
17:59He made really good friends with two monkeys, Denford and Gabriel.
18:03So he joined his family and he's been really good ever since.
18:09The vervets definitely stole my heart. Little did I know that that would become my total dream and doing something
18:17like this.
18:17It doesn't just give you purpose. It's giving back to the planet.
18:27As Jenna and Sean's seven rescued elephants cool down in the midday heat, the couple are called out to an
18:33emergency.
18:39Do you know what stuff to do? No, we think poaches.
18:49We have two fires at the moment which are started at the same time.
18:53In the heat of the day, with this wind, it's a massive, massive issue.
18:57If we don't sort of all come together as a community and help fight these things,
19:02then we can lose vast tracts of land and wild death to these fires, which is a huge problem.
19:11Everything about my life is different than England.
19:14England, you have police service, you have the fire brigade that are right on your doorstep.
19:19You know, you have everything. You wouldn't get the community together to fight a fire.
19:28Everybody stops what they're doing and gets to work. On the left is a big property full of lions.
19:35We've got teams running around in there trying to put out the fire on the ground with lions running around
19:41in there.
19:42Talking to various people, they think that it might be poachers starting a fire, which means all of us run
19:49to go and assist with a fire and then have a problem, you know, when they, that leaves, that leaves
19:56their animals open to poaching.
20:00This is how close it is to the house. We'll go and fight at the front end of it quickly.
20:12It's running fast and it's, it's really, really hot. So it is quite a bad fire for us. And it's
20:17running through a lot of high value game properties, which is a concern.
20:23It was, it was very, very big. Everything shut down. It was just focusing on the fire.
20:28It's the first time I've ever been nervous from fire. So we've had lots of them. I've never been worried
20:33about them. They've always been kept under control quite well.
20:35But this one was very worrying. It was pitch black. You wouldn't even know it was daylight.
20:47With the fire spreading, Sean and his team hope to stop it using a technique called backburning.
20:56Backburning is when the wind is blowing in a certain direction, the fire is going to move quickest in this,
21:01in this direction.
21:02So what you do is you find a road or an open piece of land that, that you can actually
21:07safely start a fire, put out on the one side and allow the back of that fire to back burn
21:13towards the oncoming fire.
21:15So in essence, you, the fires on its way to you, you start a fire here, it starts burning backwards.
21:21You put out the little piece that you have started on this end. So you start to make a big
21:25gap of burnt land.
21:27So when this big fire arrives, it actually puts out the, it puts itself out on that back burn.
21:33It's a gamble that must pay off.
21:51It's 6am and vets Annie and Lisa are preparing to change the battery on a tracking collar on a female
21:56rhino.
21:57The collars are important for lots of reasons. First one being protection.
22:01And then the second use of a collar is actually monitoring the rhino.
22:04We like to know where they are, whether they're using all the available habitat, whether they're eating well, whether they're
22:09communicating and working, you know, together as a group or if they're travelling solitary.
22:15Head vet Will is busy prepping the anaesthetic and reversal drugs.
22:19We're just making up darts. This is the opioid, which is the most dangerous component of it.
22:24The drugs that we use for most wildlife species are opioids, so they're in the same family as morphine.
22:29They're about 50 times stronger on average, and a drop could kill you, so you really have to be careful
22:35about where we put them and what we do with them.
22:37I've been filling darts for 17 years, haven't pricked myself yet.
22:41They also need to keep the reversal drugs close at hand.
22:43I'm not sure it's the best way to keep a syringe, but in general, we like to keep our syringes
22:49either in our cap or in our hair.
22:50And it just helps if we need to pick a reversal quickly.
22:54And we always know where it is, and we won't mix it up with anything else.
22:59Getting the equipment ready usually does take a lot of time, and it's probably almost more time-consuming than the
23:03job itself.
23:04We need ropes, we need drugs, we need blindfolds, earplugs, everything must be ready or else we're going to come
23:10into problems later.
23:12The student vets are on hand to help, but large numbers of people always increases the risk.
23:18The vet takes precedent, especially the one that's darting.
23:21It's really dangerous working the wildlife, it's really dangerous working with the drugs that we work with.
23:25You want everyone to know exactly what their roles are, so there's no confusion.
23:29The quickest and safest way to anaesthetise a rhino is by dart gun from the air.
23:41The female is soon spotted with two males.
23:44It's paramount the rhino is darted as quickly as possible to reduce stress.
23:52So Will takes the shot.
24:01With the new arrival bush baby babies fed and sleeping, Emma gets some time to herself and heads to get
24:08some much needed supplies, an hour away.
24:11When I do go back to England I feel so claustrophobic, it's too much, there's too many people, you have
24:15to sit in traffic.
24:16I think there's nothing better than driving all across the country, we have the most beautiful scenery here.
24:23You go from the mountains to the bush and it's a great positive of South Africa as well.
24:34We normally come in here twice a week to get all our supplies, some of the animals are on special
24:40diets so they get treated and spoilt with nice fruit and veg and grapes and nice things.
24:45You know everyone thinks in South Africa that we don't get a huge selection but we actually do, you can
24:51find most things here but what they do do which is amazing is the cakes.
24:57South Africans know how to bake.
24:59Hello. Hello. Morning.
25:02Can I please have five of the chocolate cupcakes and then one of the nice carrot ones.
25:11We don't come into town so often, you know it's sometimes a little treat, we're at the farm the whole
25:17day, we're working, we don't get to come out and dress nicely and see other people.
25:24So when we do get the opportunity, if we have a little bit of time, those small things in life
25:29are really important.
25:36A few hours later, Emma's back home after collecting the orphaned bush babies.
25:41We have had to literally designate a room in our house now for these animals and they're taking over the
25:47place.
25:48So my spare room is not my spare room anymore, it's the animal room.
25:55These little cute old men as I think they look like, you can't help but smile and how they drink
26:02with their tongues sticking out a little bit.
26:04They're absolutely adorable.
26:11I've always had this huge passion for animals and to want to do everything in my power to save them.
26:19But I think especially when you see what these animals go through and the absolutely traumatic situations, that you just
26:26want to do everything in your power to be that comfort, to be that mum, you know, to give them
26:32some kind of nurture and some kind of safety.
26:36But Emma's dedication comes at a cost.
26:40At the moment, I'm sleeping probably three or four hours if I'm lucky.
26:47You know, this glamorous lifestyle that everyone thinks you lead of saving all these animals.
26:53I mean, it's amazing and it's my perfect job, I wouldn't want to do anything else.
26:58But let me tell you, it's not so glamorous when you're getting up every two hours and it's, you know,
27:03three o'clock in the morning and you have screaming babies and all you want to do is sleep.
27:13No sleep, though, has meant Emma has released over 50 animals back into their natural habitats.
27:19There we go.
27:21He's out, he's released, he's gonna not have to see humans again.
27:28They've all gone off into the world to start their new lives.
27:33Come on, baby, you can do this.
27:39She's going to cry a little bit.
27:41This is the bit we work for.
27:43So, by being in Emma's care, these bush baby babies have a great chance of making it back to the
27:49wild.
27:50Right, tonight, guys.
28:10As the fire takes hold near Jenna and Sean's house, the community are fighting fire with fire, with back burning.
28:19It's kind of like you feel a little hopeless because it's moving so fast.
28:23Yeah, it's horrible, you know, knowing that this wind, look at this, it's terrible.
28:28And it's just rushing this fire into property after property after property.
28:32So you always feel like you're just behind it.
28:35Has it jumped?
28:37Wait, just this section?
28:41Back burning.
28:43Let's just back burn here so that we're on top of this.
28:46Back burning is a strategy that involves deliberately burning patches of land ahead of an approaching fire.
28:52Slowly, slowly, eh?
28:53We need another one just in the middle.
28:55Just go just into the middle.
28:59And just run up this side here.
29:03You never know where they're going to go, how much land they're going to consume.
29:09You're working with a whole bunch of people in the community who are desperately trying to put out these fires
29:14to prevent them jumping from farms and causing a huge amount of damage.
29:28Just slow down. Hey, we can just go across. Go across. There.
29:37We're just trying to make sure it doesn't jump into another property.
29:40If the wind is all blowing that way, if the wind changes, we don't want it to blow and start
29:44to fire on another side of a fence,
29:46then everybody has to go and chase that one.
29:48So we'll just back burn up to the top end of the road here, across a little bit,
29:52and then we'll probably go and try and help out at the other end.
29:58It looks like it's burnt across there.
30:00Then at least it's not going to get into here and go that way if the wind changes, and then
30:04we're done.
30:09Happy that the back burning is working, Sean takes to the air to get a bird's eye view of the
30:13damage.
30:21The speed that that fire ripped through the area, it's always just worrying that it might take out wildlife,
30:27it might take out people's properties and their homes, and it could just carry on and on and on.
30:33I think it was 8,000 hectare fire.
30:38So it's the closest one that's ever been to our home.
30:41It was literally just a road separating us.
30:43If it jumped, it would have been straight onto our property.
30:46You do worry. I mean, we've got 380 hectares here, which seems massive, but it's actually a tiny space.
30:52And how quickly the fires spread at 8,000 hectares, it can happen so quickly.
31:08The female rhino has been darted.
31:11Vets Annie and Lisa jump into action, ready to change her tracking collar, which has run out of battery.
31:16Do you put a rope on her?
31:18No trouble.
31:24It's really important to get a blindfold over the animal because they are slightly more dangerous if they're standing up
31:29and they can see you.
31:30It's very helpful to have a blindfold on.
31:32And also if the rhino then wakes up during the procedure, it's not orientated and it makes the procedure safer.
31:40Then that's closely followed by earplugs because they get very disturbed by the noise.
31:44At the same time, it's really important we get a catheter in to the vein so that we've got access
31:48to the vein in case there's a problem
31:50or in case the animal needs to be given drugs to make it fall asleep or to wake it up.
31:54She's behaving like she either hasn't got enough drug or it's gone under the skin.
32:01Blood pressure's not great.
32:17As soon as the rhino's down, Annie begins to monitor her vitals.
32:24It's important to have a heart rate and a respiratory rate, check the blood colour is good and that she's
32:28breathing well.
32:28Oh, it is 80.
32:30We give penicillin just in case the animal is unwell because we don't know these things when we approach them
32:36and also we're going to put them under quite a lot of stress so we need to make sure they
32:39don't get sick afterwards.
32:44The collar's changed.
32:45Does it allow him at 13 minutes?
32:52And Lisa is taking bloods to further research.
32:55We're just looking at blood gas analysis from the arteries and inside of the ear.
32:58Rhino really battle with the anaesthetic drugs that we use and they can get scaringly low blood oxygenation levels,
33:05levels that we would panic with in human anaesthetics.
33:10We don't know exactly what the after effects are but from what we know from human medicine and things,
33:17there will be some consequences.
33:20So, yeah, the best we can do for them.
33:23That's what we're aiming for.
33:25I can feel it, yeah.
33:25She's going to stay down.
33:27I can't do 15 seconds now.
33:30A heart rate of anywhere between 60 to 80 is probably what we think is normal for a rhino in
33:36wild conditions.
33:37Heart rate is 68, temperature of 37.2.
33:42If it starts going up again afterwards, then we might be worried that the animal is starting to become more
33:46awake.
33:47The new tracking collar's now on so that we can always monitor her and not lose her, especially if there's
33:51an incident.
33:52We think she might actually be pregnant, so we're going to take some blood and try and find out.
33:58She's now come into the sort of age where she's starting to mate.
34:03She has been certainly getting some attention from the bulls and she was also seen mating.
34:08Heart rate's 17.
34:15Heart rate's going up.
34:24We're going to reverse her now. She's going to wake up in about 20 to 30 seconds.
34:28And after that, she'll get up and she'll run off and we're hoping that she'll join up with the other
34:34rhino in her crash fairly shortly.
34:36Usually it's quite a quick recovery.
34:38Successful morning.
34:40As long as she gets up on her feet.
34:5012 hours after the fire was put out, Jenna and Sean are back at work.
34:55It was terrible and it was dark and that fire was coming very fast.
34:59It was very scary.
35:01It turns out that what happened was a lawnmower that was actually out there cutting grass for a fire break
35:07actually hit a rock and that caused the spark which then set the felt on fire.
35:12That just took off and before the two guys managing the tractor could actually put it out until it got
35:17too big for them.
35:18And that's where we're extremely lucky.
35:20We've got such a strong community in the area.
35:22And you've got a bunch of people who will come to your aid.
35:25At the drop of a hat.
35:26At the drop of a hat, they'll drop everything.
35:29Panic over, Jenna and Sean get back to their seven rescued elephants.
35:36Just that piece when you're just watching them in the bush and being with them is something you can hardly
35:41explain.
35:41You know, it's very difficult to sum up how special that is.
35:49Vet Annie's successful replacement of a tracking collar could turn to disaster if the rhino doesn't get up.
36:00The reversal process is quite important. If you mess it up, the animal's not going to get up.
36:09It's really important that we've given us some space when we wake up.
36:19During any procedure there's a certain amount of stress.
36:22And then you get that moment where the animal gets woken up and then they walk out back into the
36:27wild.
36:28And it's those golden moments that I think we live for.
36:31It just reminds us what we're doing here and the small part we can play to make a difference in
36:37this world.
36:38And the big question is, is the rhino pregnant?
36:42From what we've seen today, we don't think she's pregnant.
36:45You know, that's all right. Nobody gets it first time.
36:50These are dinosaurs. You won't see them anywhere else in the world.
36:53Like, these animals won't live, like, ten years from now if we don't protect them.
36:57But they are the most incredible species that I've ever worked with.
37:12The rains have arrived in South Africa, and there's not as many injured orphans needing care.
37:18It's a huge relief for Emma.
37:29We've had a few days now of good rain, so fingers crossed there will be more to come.
37:33All the green little shoots are coming out.
37:37We're smiling. The animals are smiling and getting ready to have a good old feast.
37:42And that means we can start releasing the animals that we need to.
37:47The two bush babies Emma's been giving 24-hour care to are on the list of animals to be released
37:53after rehabilitation.
37:54Emma's off to scout for a potential release site, but all alone today, she can't leave the babies.
38:00With these guys, as they get fed every two hours, they have to come with me wherever I go, which
38:05can be a little bit hard, because I'm using my hands for everything.
38:08So, the best thing we've found is our hair.
38:12I pop them in a little bun in my hair. It's great for me, and it's also really great for
38:17them.
38:17They feel very comforted by my hair. It's the same as holding onto their mummy in their nest.
38:22So, I'm just going to pop them in now.
38:27And then I make a little bun around them, so I'm basically forming a little nest for them to feel
38:33really comforted in.
38:35And then they'll go fast to sleep in that nest, so they can come along wherever I need to go.
38:42You get so used to having animals on you, in your hair, everything, that you forget they're there some of
38:50the time.
38:50Until they start wriggling around, or yes, you can feel maybe a little peepee or something.
38:56So, it becomes so normal, and then, to other people, I think we must look like absolutely crazy fools.
39:04But to us, this is actually normal life, to have things hanging off you.
39:15This is an absolutely perfect spot for a thick-tailed bush baby.
39:20We've got the nice fig trees, we've got wild fruit, we've got water, we've got nice trees that they can
39:25have a nest in.
39:29Emma checks if there's a supply of bugs to complement their diet.
39:33Most of the hunting is in the trees, but they do come down to the floor,
39:37and do kind of have a look what's down here as well.
39:41Okay, we can see here, some little beetles.
39:45This is a good sign. These guys love these.
39:48They're not ready to eat these just yet, but this shows me that it's a good food source in the
39:53insects as well.
39:54It's a little cockroachy-type beetle.
39:57Everyone's a bit squeamish about cockroaches, but for these guys, they absolutely love them.
40:01So this is perfect.
40:05Mmm, dinner sorted.
40:08It's vital though that there are no other bush babies here, so they can settle and mark their own territory.
40:13I really can't see any feces of any other bush babies here.
40:17I've had a good old look in the trees, can't really see any nests.
40:21So that's, again, another big tick on our list.
40:24So these are all the things we're having a little look at before we actually fully go into a release.
40:30So I think we've been lucky and we've found a really nice spot for these guys.
40:42Six months later...
40:45They are doing absolutely amazing now.
40:48They're in one of our enclosures and will be ready to release soon.
40:53So this is little duck here and this is Clive.
40:56Very, very hungry, as you can see.
41:00Duck is a little bit smaller than Clive.
41:01I don't know if he was just the runt of the litter, but he's doing super well now.
41:06Compared to when they came in, these little dehydrated babies to what they are now.
41:11It's absolutely amazing, the change in them.
41:13And we're so happy that we could be there to help them and get them to this condition where we
41:18can get them back out into the wild.
41:20It's absolutely amazing.
41:22I love my job more than anything in the world.
41:25Even with all the hardships, with the sleepless nights, with the broken hearts, with the broken limbs sometimes and black
41:31eyes and scratches from the animals.
41:34I absolutely love this job and this is what I was meant to do and I honestly wouldn't change anything.
41:41Thank you very much.
41:42Thank you very much.
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