Original subtitles

There's something very special about Sydney Harbour, blessed with pure

beauty and home to some of the most iconic landmarks in the world.

But nestled among the trees and the million -dollar mansion is another

the world,

Taronga Zoo.

And as the curtain drops on some of the zoo's biggest changes in its 101 -year

history... And our beautiful giraffe being able to drink from a waterhole,

like in Africa.

...there's never been a more exciting time to show the world what makes this

magical place tick.

To see exactly what it takes to run one of the greatest conservation success

stories in the world.

Thank you so much.

Do you want to see it?

She's a gorgeous little frog, one of Australia's most iconic species, and one

our most critically endangered.

These animals are going to thrive and do great under our care.

We'll take you inside Taronga.

On this episode, for the first time in 10 years, Taronga vets... Get up close

a silverback gorilla.

He's likely to move, cough, splutter. If he does, just hang on to him and keep

calm.

An overprotective mum refuses to let go.

Mum's made it clear that they're not allowed to come too close.

Come on, girl. The calf looks keen to go out, but mum just gets there and goes,

not today.

And can Taronga get this injured seabird airborne again?

Sweetie, you going to go in the water? Just got bashed up a bit in the storm.

And he's reluctant to swim.

One of the most popular species at Taronga is the critically endangered

Lowland Gorilla.

So our Western Lowland Gorillas here at Taronga is a family group. It consists

of eight animals at the moment and they range in age from only a few months old.

up to 38 years of age.

Gorillas are interesting to watch. There's a lot of things that you would

back to yourself.

Things like their mothering skills, so how much time and investment they put

into their youngsters, and also how important the family unit is to them.

They spend a lot of time with their family, they support each other, and I

watching that whole harem work together is very similar to how we relate with

our own family.

It is headed up by our silverback, Kabali.

He is 18 years of age. He came to us from France in 2012 and his role is

very important. He's there to oversee the family, make sure everybody's doing

what they should be doing and also to protect and support his family unit.

He's our silverback. He's a very important animal in this group and in

We brought him in several years ago specifically to improve the genetics of

gorilla population.

So as an individual, he's a very significant animal as well.

So I'll go the far side, and if you want to stay this side, sounds good, and

we'll pop the food out.

Keeping gorillas active and healthy requires a large team of dedicated

So gorillas really like smears, especially Kabali. It is one of his

especially the Vegemite.

But all of the kids love it, so they should be pretty excited when they do

out today.

They've got a good combination of different types of lettuce, which is one

their favourites. We've also got some eggplant, or aubergine for me.

We've got some sweet potato and some parsnips.

Over the last few months, gorilla keeper Amy... I'm going to stick down one of

these here.

..has noticed some worrying behaviour from Kabali.

Some days eating really well, some days not so much.

He's been drinking a little bit extra as well. We've seen a few stomach cramps

perhaps with him. It's been a bit of a roller coaster with his health. So it's

about time that we did a bit of a health check on him. The fences are on. The

bucket's in.

Tools are in.

And the food is all out. So we're ready to release him. Cool. Let's do it.

Spring is always a wonderful time of year at Taronga Zoo.

as the results of previous breeding seasons start to bear fruit.

Zookeepers can't wait to meet their new additions as babies start appearing all

over the zoo.

Can you see where her pouch is? There's a little bit of black in the middle.

That's the ear of the joey.

Tucks itself away now.

But nowhere has a birth been more significant this year than at Taronga

sister location, Western Plain Zoo at Dubbo.

Located four hours west of Sydney, Dubbo Zoo is 320 hectares of open plain

habitat and home to the critically endangered white rhino, which has just

its population increase by one, thanks to white rhino mum, Mapani.

Mathani's given birth to a little girl calf which is very exciting for our

breeding program and for the future breeding success of the white rhinos in

captivity. The little female calf is approaching two weeks of age so she's

been sticking very close to mum off display.

So at the moment we haven't named our little calf and we've put it out to the

general public to come up with a name for her. She is such a special critter

us and the breeding program that we're hoping someone will come up with a cool

nice name that we can keep forever.

For the first weeks of a newborn calf's life, Mum is understandably very

protective. Mum's recovering from a long gestation period, 16 months, so she's

been resting up and the calf's just been finding its feet as well.

Mum's made it clear to the other resident white rhinos that they're not

to come too close, they're allowed to check it out, but not come too close to

the calf.

And she'll decide when she wants to go out on exhibit with the calf and explore

further.

Getting the newborn calf to mix with the other rhino is important to their

development and confidence.

But so far, repeated attempts to introduce her to the herd have been

unsuccessful.

Come on.

And it's not because of the weather.

Come on, girl.

Maybe you're coming out.

My body, this way.

Come on.

Up until now...

Mum and the calf have really just been coming to their first gate.

They've sort of been poking their nose through, having a look, and then mum

turns around and walks off again back to their little shelter out the back here.

The calf looks keen to go out. Mum just gets there and goes, eh, not today.

But after days of trying, Nick has arrived this morning and noticed both

bub are already near the gate.

Good girl.

Daddy girl, let's go.

Come on.

Well, this looks pretty promising.

I'm hoping today's the day that mum might let little Bubba out on the

Everyone's life's about to change.

Zookeepers have noticed Kabali has been unwell.

In order to conduct a health check, they have to rely on years of pre -planning.

Since he arrived a few years ago, it's been actually quite difficult to get him

separate from the rest of the gorilla group. So there's been some intensive

training to be able to separate him and also for a hand injection for the

anaesthetic drug to be injected into him.

Giving a silverback gorilla an injection is not as straightforward as it sounds.

For the last two years, we've been training Kabali to sit at a station and

positively reinforce him with his favourite food, so things like fruit and

honey water or tea, he's really partial to.

And he's been trained to present his shoulder and push his shoulder up close

me as the trainer. And we can then slowly get him used to a blunt needle

touching him on the arm.

So we do three sessions every day.

And on the day, Larry will give us the anesthetic drug in the syringe and we

will... put that into his arm, and hopefully it'll all go smoothly and

to sleep.

And after two years of training, that day has finally come.

I mean, it's so much better that you guys inject him nice and peaceful hand

injection rather than having to dart him, which is terribly stressful,

obviously, for him and for us as well. Yeah, and he doesn't like seeing you,

so... Oh, he doesn't mind me.

He likes me.

The thing is we're doing this so that we can maintain that rapport, you know,

that's the thing.

The vets in zoos are an interesting position because obviously our goal is

ensure the animals are healthy and cure their illnesses and injuries and things

like that. But also it puts us in a situation where often there's a negative

association between us and the animals because...

You know, especially if we have to dart them, they see us as the person that

causes them discomfort.

So what we've got to do tomorrow is make sure that until he's hand -injected and

actually falling asleep, that I'm not around at all.

So I might call one of the vet nurses so that he doesn't hear your voice on the

radio either, because that can sometimes set him off. It's crazy how sensitive

they are, isn't it? It's amazing. Vets are pretty scary.

No, they're not. Keepers are much nicer.

Coming up.

How are you today?

It's touch and go for two sick birds.

Maybe he's just kind of got to the end of his journey and that's how he's ended

up coming into us.

And zoo staff are on high alert as Kabali's big day arrives.

If he senses anything different this morning to any other morning, it could

the whole thing off.

Sydney's Taronga Zoo and its sister location, Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo,

home to over 300 unique animal species, encompassing over 5 ,000 animals.

The zoo itself is not only the zoo with the best view in the world, but so many

fantastic animals as well that we are lucky enough to look after every day.

And they are world leaders in the conservation, care, and presentation of

wildlife. When you're ready, Brendan. I love being a bird keeper. They're so

amazing. I always give the other keepers in the zoo a hard time because I say

ours are better than theirs.

And keeping all these animals healthy takes a team of passionate and dedicated

staff.

Nice and steady.

Good, strong beat.

I'm Kimberly.

I'm one of the veterinary officers here at Taronga Zoo.

I'm originally from New York.

That's part of the job.

I live in Australia.

I still can't believe it. I pinched myself.

Everyone works together and brilliantly.

We have to face emergencies together.

I don't want to cry, but we have to go through highs and lows.

And sometimes that's really hard. I've had such a long week, it's going to make

me actually a bit emotional.

But everyone's there for each other, which is the beautiful thing.

What's your wife? 6 .4. 6 .4. It's just a big family.

Amazing family. So it's not only teamwork within my division that I work,

it's teamwork throughout the whole zoo.

Best job in the world. Hands down.

It is the best job in the world.

No buyer.

Yeah, look, it's definitely up there with one of the coolest jobs, I think.

I feel really lucky to be able to work with these incredible animals every day.

I pinch myself every morning to think that this is what I'm doing.

And it's not just the animals on display that they care about. It's all animals.

Side of Taronga Zoo that's rarely seen by the public is its rehab center.

They take in sick and injured animals found by the public and offer them

care and rehabilitation until they are well enough to be released back into the

wild.

We do get attached to some of the animals that come into care, especially

they've been here for a long time.

But we know that they're going to go back out into the wild, so it's one of

greatest joys to release these animals.

While they care for a lot of common animals found all over Sydney, like

turtles and owl, they're also called on to help wildlife rarely seen in the

area.

We believe we have a shy albatross here.

He was brought in on the weekend with another albatross.

He's been in intensive care for the past couple of days.

How are you today?

A wildlife rescue team found two albatrosses battered on the rocks after

particularly violent storm forced the birds ashore.

The younger albatross was in good condition and sent straight to

But things don't look as good for the older bird.

We're not quite sure of the diagnosis of why he's actually here yet.

We have taken x -rays and he has no foreign bodies inside him, so that's one

good thing that we've seen.

He does look maybe like quite an old bird. His feathers are quite tatty and

as nice and new as a juvenile or a adult bird would be. So, you know, maybe he's

just kind of got to the end of his journey and he just wasn't strong enough

you know, battle the storms that are out there and that's how he's ended up

coming into us.

While Sarah keeps a watchful eye on the sick albatross... Hey, girls.

...Vet Kimberly is down in rehab checking on the younger bird.

So we need to have a look at it today, check if it's eating okay, because it

been force -fed for a couple of days already, right?

Yes. And is it eating anything on its own yet? No, not yet. Not yet. Okay,

happen. It'll happen.

How's he going?

He's right here. They're gorgeous. Okay, I'm just going to grab you. Don't go

into the water, please. You can see how he's really grey.

Don't go into the water, darling. Baby.

It's your friend that feeds you.

Oh, no.

It's okay.

Okay.

The reason this albatross came in was he was found in really high seas, so

during a stormy time, it's probably juvenile. It just got backed up a bit in

storm.

For a bird that spends its life in the vast and inhospitable Southern Ocean,

making sure he's 100 % before release is critical.

Okay, let me look at his feet.

Very strong. Perfect.

This guy should be on the water most of the time, but because he's on the ground

in here, he's starting to get slight abrasions under that middle toe.

We don't want that to develop into a bumblefoot or infection lesion.

Let's feed him, and then we'll let him down because he's starting to get

stressed.

So he hasn't eaten on his own for about 24 hours, so we're giving him some

assisted feeding now.

Life in the Southern Ocean is brutal, and the fact that this bird isn't

on his own is a real concern.

So if you see as he's putting the fish in, he's swallowing on his own, so he

wants that fish.

Can you see how he's swallowing when the fish goes in? Look under here. You can

see him gulping it.

See how he's swallowing?

Watch this right in here.

Last one.

He's swallowing that nicely. Gulping it down.

We just need to get him to eat it on his own.

You see how the water's just rolling off him?

That's a good indication that he's waterproof.

Sometimes birds that get stuck in oil or have things on them will lose their

waterproofing, and you can see then the feathers are really wet.

So what they have, they have an oil gland at the base of their tail, and

use that, they get some oil with their beak, and then they preen their

and that puts the oil on the feathers.

That's how they waterproof themselves.

He's so pretty, isn't he?

An ocean bird needs more space than a zoo can provide, so the race is on to

him fit for release.

He's in good condition. He wasn't skinny when he came in. He just needs a little

bit of rehab, so we want to get him out.

Kabali, Taronga's silverback gorilla, has been sick, and the only way for vets

to work out why is a full examination under a general anesthetic.

Knocking out or anaesthetising a large gorilla is certainly, you know, a pretty

significant undertaking.

Just got to draw it out into the syringe.

Very convenient drug because it does come as a powder, so we have that

to make it into a very concentrated form.

So the smaller the volume, the better it is for the keepers to be able to inject

him.

Kibale, you know, he weighs really about 190 kilos, so he's a big, heavy animal,

powerful animal, and if he wakes up during the procedure, that would be a

difficult thing to deal with and, of course, very frightening for everyone.

You good to go?

Yeah. You pumped?

Yeah, we're ready.

Took a bit of effort to concentrate it into the...

The volumes.

Oh, really? Yeah.

Oh, thank you, though.

Molly will appreciate it. All right. Thanks, guys. OK, well, see you soon.

See you soon. Bye. With a sleepy gorilla.

Hopefully.

Handling a dangerous animal is extremely risky, and Taronga Zoo plans all

procedures of this nature outside of zoo opening hours.

A large gorilla procedure is fairly significant. A lot of people are

Obviously, we've got our vet team here, three vet nurses and myself, plus a few

other staff that are going to be helping out during the morning. And, of course,

the keeper team. They've got several people there. But we're going to need a

people to carry him as well. So we've recruited some big burly blokes from our

works team.

Whenever we do these dangerous procedures, and particularly if you're

transporting the animal through the zoo, we always have a gun person present.

Thankfully, we've never had to use it, but it's always important to have it as

backup just in case something goes wrong.

All right, we're good to go?

Yep. Excellent. Let's go.

A team of 17 vets, hospital and support staff are on standby, positioned far

from the gorilla enclosure, giving the keepers all the space needed to

administer the injection.

Basically, we just want to make sure there's no disturbance in that area,

nothing unusual.

They're very sensitive animals and if he senses anything different this morning

to any other morning, it could put the whole thing off.

Kabali and his family have been moved from the enclosure into a holding area.

The head of primates, Mel Shipway, can administer the anaesthetic.

It's always a bit nerve -wracking going into a procedure like this. Obviously,

you want it to go so smoothly. You've been planning it for so long.

As

the

anxious zookeepers and vets wait outside...

It's only the years of trust Mel has built up with Kabali that will determine

today will be a success.

It all comes down to this moment.

Taronga silverback gorilla Kabali has been unwell.

He has had a few issues over the last few months.

Drinking too much and his appetite has been up and down.

And Kabali needs to be completely anaesthetised to properly examine him.

We're doing a full health check on him.

We've got some specialists coming in to examine his heart because heart disease

is something that is seen relatively commonly in gorillas.

But first he needs to be put to sleep.

Excellent.

Excellent, that's great. I'll head on down.

So we're just coming up to six and a half minutes now, guys.

Okay. Good boy.

We're just waiting for the keepers to get the other gorillas out of the house.

Obviously, they're not with Kibale because he's been separated from them,

all the activity in there will disturb the other gorillas, so it's better that

they're just outside while we are removing Kibale from the gorilla house.

You can head on down now.

Okay, we'll be there shortly. All right, let's go.

Good to come in.

Good to come in.

On the count of three, we'll be lifting. So on the count of three, one, two, and

three, we lift together.

Yep.

Don't worry about the foot bar. Straight out.

While Kabali may be asleep...

The sedative is only temporary.

Straight to the stretcher over here.

So they need to move quickly to transport this nearly 200kg silverback

to the hospital.

Nicely on the stretcher.

OK. OK, cool.

Drop him down.

Now I'm just going to come over here, cover him with the net.

OK.

Just so we need access to his head at all times.

All right, now in the van.

With the zoo opening in less than an hour, the clock is ticking.

Okay, let's get out of here.

Two injured albatrosses have been brought into Taronga Zoo's wildlife

after a large storm washed them ashore.

But unfortunately for the senior of the two birds, fighting the storm just took

too much out of him, and overnight he had to be euthanized.

Yeah, it's very sad because we're really hoping to be able to fix it up and get

it back out to the wild.

So sometimes we're not able to do that, and this can be the result.

But down in rehab, it's a different story for the younger albatross.

This bird's actually feeding itself. It is, unusually, for an albatross.

Happy with his progress over the last eight days and keen to get the bird back

out in the wild as soon as possible, seabird expert Libby and Taronga vet

Francis are doing what they hope will be their final exam.

While it's in the wildlife hospital, it's in the rehab pool, which is a

area where it has a deep pool to swim in and a very soft, spongy floor that will

help to alleviate pressure sores on its feet.

Wish me luck.

Don't get wet.

I'm not too wet.

So you see the way he's sitting on his... Yeah, yeah, I do. Sitting back on

cocks a little bit.

Albatross...

Probably my favourite species, and that's saying something, having worked

so many animals over so many years.

I'll just kind of wait till we have him.

That's quiet.

Albatross have been known to fly thousands of miles, only landing on the

surface to feed before taking off to the skies once more.

The thinner we get him out, the more comfortable the bird's going to be.

So before they'll give this bird the all -clear, Libby and Francis need to be

certain he'll be able to survive and thrive in the harsh southern ocean.

The bird certainly seems waterproofed.

We must be very careful with their feathers so that we don't damage any of

feathers. They live in such a cold environment, so they must have perfect

feathers on release.

So we've just done a quick check over of the bird to make sure that we're happy

with his condition and make sure that it's ready for release. We want to get

back out into the ocean as soon as possible.

He's come along so well, very happy.

Yeah, I think it would be fantastic to get him back out there.

He's coming to bite me.

That's a face washing.

He's washing his face, and now he's going to start pruning, which is

But what I want him to do is swim around, and he doesn't. He's reluctant

swim.

So I'm just going to encourage the bird into the water.

This is an important step in seabird rehabilitation.

Do you think he's going to go in the water?

It's a great sound, isn't it?

The best.

The best sound in the world, albatross.

If he won't swim, then he can't be released.

I want him swimming and I want him preening in the water.

Obviously, there's not going to be any land where he's going. He's going to

in the open ocean.

And he needs to preen to make sure all his feathers are in perfect condition.

Otherwise, he'll get very, very cold in the water.

Albatross are endangered.

They're in serious trouble.

Their numbers are dropping dramatically, all species.

So these are special birds, so every one of these birds counts.

Coming up... Hello, little one.

Will Taronga's baby rhino finally take the plunge?

They look pretty keen.

Rightio, girls, here we go.

Vets get up close with Kabali.

A procedure like today where you get to touch and you smell and feel this

magnificent creature is mind -blowing.

And will another storm put the brakes on the albatross release?

Come on then, girl.

Hello, little one.

Let's go.

Out at Taronga's western plain zoo, a newborn white rhinoceros calf is taking

her first steps to joining the herd on exhibit.

Come on, Mopani.

Let's go.

For two weeks, protective mum Mopani has been keeping her calf in the back of

house area.

Good girls.

But Keeper Nick is hoping the time has come for Mum to bring her calf into the

open where everyone can see her.

They haven't ventured out on exhibit yet. Hopefully today's the day.

They look pretty keen.

Let's go.

They'll eventually go straight through and the lives will change for the girls

out on exhibit and the calf obviously will grow bigger and stronger and more

confident. Here we go.

Good girl.

Come on, little one.

Good girl.

This is pretty cool, isn't it?

They're going to go out and explore their exhibit.

Bit of rain out there yesterday.

There's a few muddy patches for the little girl to test out her feeding.

She's not going to get too far away from mum. They're going to be side by side.

White rhinos, calves, out in the wild always just stay in front of their mum.

Their mums have always got their eyes.

Firmly fixed on their little calf. There'll be a lot of communication

mum and the older rhino girls on exhibit, letting them know their

where they're allowed to go.

It's very exciting. Now mum and calf are out on exhibit.

We've been waiting 16 months for gestation period for white rhino calf.

It's a great opportunity for us to educate and engage, I guess, the

public about white rhinos and how we need to help them out in the wild.

So an exciting day for us.

Relief as well as excitement.

Back in Sydney, Kabali has just arrived at the wildlife hospital.

A team of vets and specialists are all on hand for this once -in -a -decade

procedure.

OK, on the scale.

200. 200 kilos. Okay, so we've got to weigh all that other stuff. The

today, even though it's part of an investigation of his mild illness over

last few weeks, it is part of our preventative medicine program. We're

give him a full health check, take samples, you know, routine blood

We're going to vaccinate him. But particularly, I suppose, with an animal

gorilla, it's an endangered species. They play a significant role in

conservation of the species.

So we want to make sure that they are in peak health at all times.

So, he's likely to move, cough, splutter. If he does, just hang on to

keep calm.

Probably the most stressful part of the whole procedure is knocking him down,

getting him up here, and getting a tube into the airway.

Wide open.

He's a massive animal, big head.

You know, you have to prise his jaws open.

Get him on the gas.

It's nice of him not to cough and splutter.

Always scares the hell out of us.

Okay, you guys can relax a little bit.

Now we want him on his back, okay?

So, that good there, guys?

Maybe bring the whole thing up this way a little bit.

36 .2, Larry.

Okay, 36 .2, so it's a bit low.

There are a few important diseases of gorillas that we need to look out for.

Infections, bacterial infections, parasitic infections in his

tract. It's actually interesting, I've just discovered he's got a little injury

on this eye, something that's happened in the past. There's a little scar on

there. It must have been quite a deep wound because it scarred his iris as

Heart disease is a well -recognised problem in gorillas.

Similar sorts of problems that people get, in fact, which is interesting,

considering that the risk factors for heart disease in people, such as, you

know, obviously smoking, high blood pressure, poor diet, are not risk

for gorillas.

But still, they are a species where heart disease is seen.

Hey, mate, how are you? I'll shake your hand after, OK?

With heart disease such a major concern, The Taronga vets have called in a

cardiac specialist to examine Kabali.

So at the moment, what we're doing is looking at the heart with ultrasound.

So we're trying to determine if the heart is normal or abnormal.

And if it is abnormal, what disease is present and what we need to do about it.

So what we're looking at here is blood flow.

So this is something called Doppler echocardiography, but basically it's

ultrasound.

to look at blood flow through the heart.

They're getting some great images.

So just a couple more things to do after this and then take him back home.

With the examination coming to an end and no obvious signs of why Kabali is

unwell... Checking his hip joints and his knee joints.

The team now has to rely on the scans and blood work to find out what's really

going on. OK, we're going to move him out now.

OK.

Open the doors.

A procedure like today, where you get to touch and you smell and feel this

magnificent creature, is mind -blowing, in fact. And you walk away from it and

you go, my God, it's just unbelievable that we have this opportunity to work

with such amazing animals.

With Kabali back with his family and fully recovered from his exam, Larry and

Mel are keen to go over the results of all of his tests.

Good, I'm just actually looking at his results now and, you know, everything

checked out normal.

Great. His blood work was normal, all the, you know, we did some cultures from

his gastrointestinal tract, that was all normal. The cardiology report was

great. No abnormalities found there.

How is he? Is he recovered okay? Yeah, he has.

He recovered quite well. His water consumption that we were concerned about

definitely decreased again, so that seems to have gone back to normal.

So that's good. And we're just keeping a really close eye on his appetite still,

and I guess we'll just stay in touch with you.

Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.

Obviously, we saw...

Got nothing to explain these odd sort of signs that Kibale's been showing over

the last few weeks or so.

So let's hope that, you know, whatever was happening is passing and he'll make

full recover.

OK, great. Thank you.

Despite early concern, the keepers will continue to monitor Kibale over the

coming months.

Hopeful that this very important gorilla continues to lead and support his

family for many years to come.

The usual sparkling Sydney harbour has been replaced with grey skies and rough

weather.

Normally people avoid going out on a day like this, but for seabird expert

Libby, no amount of rain will dampen her mood.

We're all fit now.

After ten days of rehabilitation, the juvenile albatross is finally swimming

his own. So the decision has been made to release him back into the wild.

These days are the best days because we're getting the bird ready to go out

sea, which is the best part of my job. So I'm really happy this morning.

Surprisingly, the stormy conditions may even help with the release of the

juvenile albatross.

So the ideal conditions for an albatross are big seas and lots of wind.

Albatrosses need about 25 knots to fly.

That's where they live.

So for us... It might be rough on the boat, but for the albatross, it'll be

perfect.

Beautiful.

Are you all right?

Don't slip on the poo.

But before the albatross takes freedom again, he needs to be fitted with an

identity band.

to help scientists learn even more about the life and travels of these amazing

birds. These are metal bands which we put on the albatross, and this will stay

on the albatross for life.

You have to check this with me, Tony.

489. 489.

65. 65. Yep, correct.

So we always check the bands.

It's important to enable the birds to be monitored when they're released into

the wild. This is an Australian band.

And globally, we understand what happens with birds around the world through

these bands.

So spiky, Kemi.

Okay,

perfect. That's his band on his leg, ready to go.

Complaining to the end.

Okay.

Just taking him up into the hospital to put him on the scales to weigh him for

the final time.

Special bird that all animals get weighed, banded, looked at before they

into the wild.

Final weight.

Yay.

3 .9.

What's a nine?

3 .9, which is great.

He's put on 0 .9 of a kilo since he's been here, which is really great.

He's been weighed, he's got his band on him, he's all ready to go.

He's going into our hospital van and then he's going on the water police boat

and out through Sydney Harbour, out into the wild.

Okay, loaded and ready to go.

Great.

Releasing an animal back into the wild is often a multi -agency event.

The water police have come to pick us up at the wharf to take the albatross out

to sea, so very kind of them. They help us out with releases of birds and

turtles.

How are you? Yeah, good.

Yeah, I'm really excited.

It's a really good day.

It's release day for the juvenile albatross that has spent the last week

Taronga's rehabilitation centre gaining strength after being forced ashore

during a wild storm.

How long has the albatross been with you guys?

About 10 days.

So shorter time as possible for these birds.

For seabird expert Libby, today is what makes her job at Taronga Zoo so special.

It's looking good.

I'm sure he doesn't know what's happening, so he's just being still and

A lot of noise in the boat, so not long now.

It's a good day, though. I'm happy with the day.

I don't like those blue days. It's really still.

They just sit in the water.

And then we've got to wait for like an hour and a half till they fly away.

So today we're going about three kilometres offshore.

Are we 3K?

OK, thanks.

With the boat well off the coast and an abundance of other seabirds in the

area... So albatross are all around now.

..it's finally time for this young albatross to return to the great

Ocean, where he has at least 50 years of living, hunting and breeding ahead of

him.

his box and release him into the wind.

It's pretty rough out here so we get what we get really.

Hi beautiful.

Isn't that beautiful?

Not very graceful was it?

Perfect day for an albatross.

Well, where he goes, we won't know.

He'll roam the oceans for years and years before he comes ashore again.

Fantastic day.

This is definitely the best part of my job and I have an amazing job in the

hospital at Taronga.

Being out at sea, releasing an albatross.

Doesn't get much better than that.

Next Saturday, a very special event.

Taronga's heroes come to the rescue.

It's a lot of work, but you ought to save everybody.

How they're saving our precious koalas. One of the greatest joys to release

these animals.

Taronga's bushfire special event, next Saturday on 9.

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