Original subtitles

Taronga, the zoo with the head -turning view.

But dig a little deeper. I just planted that. And you'll discover there's a lot

more to Taronga's two zoos than meets the eye.

Hello. What's it doing?

From their devoted keepers. I watched him being born, so him and I have an

amazing relationship.

To their first class vet team. So just here, that's the lump.

Taronga's passionate staff.

To be laying on that dirty floor was so worth it. Are themselves a special

breed. You're not a slobber there, bud.

Ensuring nothing but the best for the animals in their care.

So impatient.

Good girl. Hang on.

On this episode.

Do mom.

When you're making plans to sedate the world's second tallest giraffe... The

ideal situation is that he'll sit down, but they rarely do. He'll probably just

fall down.

You need to be very careful who's listening.

Oh, hey, buddy. We're talking about your scrotum.

The A -list.

The Aussie icons receiving an exclusive invite.

The bats will come round and go right round here. It'll be so cool.

And shortlisting a name for a cute new arrival.

We had Jarvis. There's Jarvis. We had Jarvis, we had Bruni, we had... Ralph.

Ralph, yes!

For Taronga Zoo, animal welfare is all -important.

Many of the 5 ,000 -plus residents can expect to live longer here than they

would have in the wild.

Generally speaking, animals do better in zoos. They obviously have a controlled

environment, they have no predators, they have excellent nutrition and health

care. It means animals like JR, the long -beaked echidna, have made it to 54

years of age.

In the wild, he's unlikely to have lived past 16.

And 43 -year -old chimpanzee Lisa is also 10 years past the average survival

rate of wild chimps.

One of the really important and critical animal welfare practices that Taronga

has pioneered over the last few years is what we call our Aged Animal Assessment

Tool, or our AAA.

So as an animal gets older, they'll start to deteriorate and they'll start

show some signs of slowing down, they'll be less active, less mobile, and then

before they reach that phase of their life, we start doing some really close

monitoring against some really...

clear criteria so that we can support them in that geriatric phase.

And what that means is it gives those animals a really dignified twilight

and their end of life.

Today on the African Savannah exhibit, giraffe Jimmy Yu is turning the ripe old

age of 17.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, buddy.

That's becoming senior. In a zoo situation, they can live about 25, 30

and in the wild, about 20 to 25.

But in saying that, I've been doing a bit of research with these guys in the

wild, and the oldest they find normally is around 16 to 18.

So him turning 17 today is a great milestone.

Jimmy has been with Jimmy Yu every step of the way. I watched him being born, so

him and I have a great, an amazing relationship.

Door.

So you'll see that I cue everything, and that's just so we don't surprise any

animals with gates shutting behind them. Nothing worse than walking through a

door and having a door slam behind you. So this is why we cue every door that we

move. And you'll find that most of us keepers will get into the habit of, even

when we're at home, cueing door just because it's a habit that we're in. So

be moving my dog and I'll be like, door!

But it works well for all species, I suppose.

Clear and trusted communication between keeper and giraffe is super important,

especially now as Jimmy Yu is being prepared for a risky general anaesthetic

procedure.

I work with him daily. A major part of my job is to keep his hooves in great

condition. So basically, if his feet were to stand like that, he's going to

up with sore joints on his knees and on his hips. So I've noted that they've

started to overgrow.

Now, in saying that, I've also noticed that his scrotal stack is starting to

swell a little bit. Now, he's a castrated male, so he doesn't have any

in that sack, but it is swelling a little bit. So that's causing a major

of mine. And also, we've noticed his breath is starting to get a little bit

smelly as well.

Now, that could be a dental problem in there. So this is why we've suggested

this general anaesthetic that's coming up, and hopefully they'll be able to do

all those things in one hit, and then we'll be able to start afresh with where

we're up to with his training plan.

The decision to sedate Jimmy Yu is not one that's taken lightly.

It's risky for the giraffe and risky for the vets and keepers.

But the benefits of the procedure outweigh these risks.

I've been nervous for his general anaesthetic since we announced that

going to do it.

He's the second tallest giraffe in the world.

So having him knocked down is going to be a major procedure.

Yeah, I've been nervous for about the last three weeks. I'm sure the rest of

team is.

but it's really vital that he doesn't pick up on our nerves. If he picks up on

any changes in our behaviour, he'll be sus and he won't want to come in and

won't want to cooperate.

Down on Taronga's waterfront, Brad is just beginning his relationship with

newest and still nameless addition.

He's a little male New Zealander along those first deals.

So he was born mid -December to mother Kiki.

So this is her second pup.

He's a very confident little thing, which is good. He's been really relaxed

around our keepers and around our other seals.

So we obviously spent a lot of time training and conditioning our adult

He's still drinking milk from his mum, so he doesn't really need anything from

us at this point in his life. Quite often the pups take a bit of time to

to our keepers.

But pretty much from day one, he was straight over to investigate who we were

and, yeah, get to know us, which is really good.

While Mum Kiki is out in the main habitat area having some me time, Brad

encouraging this little pup to test the waters in the shallow pool.

He's slowly building up his confidence around the water.

Come into the water.

Everyone assumes just because he's a seal he's going to be in the water

around from day one.

So it's definitely a process for them.

In the wild he'd be sitting stashed in a rock crevice or something like that and

mum would be going out fishing and he'd be splashing around in little tidal

pools, rock pools, building up that confidence in the water. What are you

down here?

The first time he had access to water mum keeps a very close eye on him.

They're very, very good at helping them out if they get into strife. So, you

know, as we start to get them used to deeper water areas, mum keeps a close

on them. And if he ever struggles, you know, we see the mums, they'll push them

up back to the edge or help them get out if they need to.

The floor on this purpose -built seal pool can be moved up and down as this

little pup gains his swimming skills.

This is all filtered seawater, and this area is designed specifically to support

the pup through its early stages of development.

So you can see the floor here, it's still shallow enough that he can stand.

When he was born, this is a complete dry area, and then as he slowly builds his

confidence, we progress to where he can now submerge and scoot around.

Over the coming weeks, this will continue to get deeper and deeper until

confident in his ability that we can actually remove the floor and he can

straight access to the water.

He's very cute, and the fur seals are a bit of a smaller species, and so...

He's going to stay pretty small for a fairly long period of time, so he's

definitely going to win the hearts of the visitors that come and see him once

he's out on exhibit.

And in fact, it's the public that are about to get a vote on what this

little pup will be called.

The dating of five and a half metre tall giraffe does not happen every day.

And a lot rides on keeper Jimmy being able to calmly lead Jimmy Yu into the

where he will be darted with a strong sedative.

I've just made up his training pouches and there's a couple of different

I've got here. So these two I've made up and you can see they have heaps of good

veggies and carrots and stuff. Depending upon the behaviour the animal will do

is depending upon what sort of reinforcement I give. So if the pouch is

mixed, I'm just giving a handful of mixed good and that's fine, but that's

really showing the animal.

what behaviour is a jackpot behaviour.

So, for example, carrots are their favourite, so I save these for when

doing something really, really good, they get their carrots as a jackpot.

For the next few weeks, Jimmy Yu will be let out on exhibit before the other

giraffes.

Let's go, Jim.

Come on, Jim.

Good boy!

Good boy!

Using red boards called targets... Jim, Jim, station.

Good boy.

Jimmy Yu will be rewarded for making his way onto the exhibit and straight into

what's called the Mock Rock Barn.

Good.

Jim, Jim, you're very distracted today, mate.

In here is where the sedation and vet procedures will take place.

Jim. Come on, bud.

Good boy. Very good boy.

Come on.

That's the boy.

That's the boy.

Nice work, darling.

Here.

Good boy.

Very nice. Let's go in here.

The hope is that by the day of the anaesthetic, Jimmy Yu will see a morning

stroll into the barn as just routine.

He's an amazing animal. Him and I have a really, really good rapport, which is

incredible for a procedure like this. So I'll equate it to money in the bank. So

him and I are very fortunate. We've been together for so long. We've been

training together for so long. I can guarantee that on the procedure day,

be taking out a withdrawal of about $10 ,000.

So it's really, really vitally important that I have a really big bank account

balance with him so that when we do take that withdrawal...

I've still got a long trust and a long bond with him.

If Jimmy Yu gets stressed going into the barn, it will make the whole sedation

process even riskier for him and the keepers.

Coming up, action stations.

So if he does go down, he doesn't hit it and catch his eye.

As the big day arrives for Team Taronga. Really, we don't want him under for

longer than about an hour and a half.

And which of these familiar faces are on the guest list for the brand -new

Aussie -only exhibit?

There'll be platypus, gliding species, you name it. It'll be beautiful.

A meeting has been called in the barn, where giraffe Jimmy Yu will be sedated

a week's time.

Three procedures will be done at once.

A dental health check, filing back of overgrown hooves...

and an investigation of a suspicious lump in its scrotum.

A giraffe anaesthetic is a big deal. He weighs 1 ,365 kilos, big, big animal.

Giraffe anaesthetics are always a little bit tricky in terms of the risk to the

animal and risk to people. So the planning and the preparation is really

for the animal itself and also for the people that are involved in the

procedure. Okay, let's get started then.

It will be one of the biggest vet procedures ever performed at Taronga,

nearly 30 staff and specialists involved in the risky sedation.

I'll just run through the plan that we've put together for the procedure. So

we'll be using the same drug combination which we've used before, which is

metatomidine and ketamine, and we'll dart him with that.

Hopefully it'll be just one dart, and hopefully he'll go down fairly gently,

of course...

We never know exactly how they're going to go down. We'll run oxygen into his

nostril.

There'll be a lot of monitoring going on, anaesthetic monitoring, so the nurse

team will be involved in that a lot.

Oh, hey, buddy.

We're talking about you.

We're talking about your scrotum.

Oh, that's hilarious.

So I suppose the goal, we're going to have multiple teams working

simultaneously, and an important part of this... the whole procedure to be very

efficient because really we don't want him under for longer than about an hour

and a half.

So quite a lot of people involved. Everyone just make sure they know what

jobs are and stick with that.

And we've just got to be efficient in keeping things going.

Can I just ask, just time -wise, I know you said that no longer than one and a

half hours. Can we have someone designated to go, okay, we've reached...

One hour, like a timekeeper, just so we... Sarah. Cool, great. I think Sarah

would be good. Yeah, yeah. Good.

On the morning of the sedation, head keeper Gabe wants everyone away from the

exhibit until Jimmy Yu is safely in the barn.

I think early on we will need everyone to muster over on the western side of

Chimp, so not even at the top of the zebra stairs there.

And then Ren and Jimmy are going to come down here.

and we'll have to lock in the giraffe and then bring him round for the

separation. So for that step then, we don't want him aware of the procedure

coming up. So as soon as he's down, usually I would go in and just check and

test. But unlike, you know, a big cat or a great ape where they can actually

physically get up quite quickly, he just wouldn't be able to do that anyway when

he's drugged like that, even if he did wake up to some degree.

You know, even when they are reversed and we're trying to wake them up, you

know, it's quite an effort for them to actually get up.

All right. Well, that's it.

So we will see you next Wednesday morning.

Thanks, Larry.

Right on, Ellie.

69 % of the animals at Taronga Zoo are native to Australia.

But at the moment, you can't see them all in one place.

That is all about to change with the $22 million development of a new precinct

that will be the first thing visitors see as they walk through the front gate.

Niridia, Australia is Taronga Zoo's brand new precinct that's set to open

soon. And it's designed to celebrate the habitats of Australia and the iconic

animals that live within.

Niridia comes from Sydney's first language, meaning this place, this

This place will feature a kangaroo and wallaby habitat that visitors can walk

through, a koala treetop encounter, a dingo yard, and the return, after a

three -year absence, of a nocturnal house.

And that's where we'll see the sunrise and the sunset with bilbies, platypus,

gliding species, you name it. So it'll be beautiful.

Taronga staff are itching for the construction to be completed.

so they can start moving their animals in and get them used to their new home

before the grand opening.

We have less than three months to go until grand opening and we've already

couple of hurdles.

This year in particular was filled with rain days. I think we were almost going

to grow some gill with how much rain was actually coming down this year.

So a lot of days that were cancelled and it meant that our actual due date to

open has been pushed back a couple of times.

So we've had a couple of sleep nights.

in anticipation, but I'm pretty confident the team will come together.

just really hectic.

Meanwhile, back at the Mock Rock Farm, Jimmy and the backyard crew are busy

getting everything ready for the big day.

This morning we've got the guys in to do a house change for us because we want

it nice and clean and as the cleanest environment possible for him when he

go down and there's all the veterinary work going on.

And we also need the sawdust really, really thick.

He's a five and a half metre animal so when he does go down he's going to go

down with a thud.

So this is a full pallet of sawdust.

In normal house changes, we'd only go half a pallet, and that would be enough

fill up that barn nice and thick.

But because of the procedure, and as I said earlier, we do want it really,

really thick, we're going to use the whole bale today. So it's an expensive

procedure because these bales of sawdust are cheap, but it's definitely going to

be worth it.

Ben, is there any chance we can get Nathan to come back and remove a bracket

us? Bailey's going to bring the cage down while there's no sawdust in the

We want the barn as smooth as possible. If he goes down and there's anything

protruding out the wall, he's at risk of ripping his face or damaging himself.

I've got one more bracket up there I can see. And Jimmy is tall enough that if

he goes down, he may hit that bracket.

So I've just asked if Bailey can possibly go and get a cage lift for us.

and remove that bracket.

Yeah, that one.

That's Joseph. He does go down. He doesn't hit it and catch his eye or his

Nothing is too much trouble to give Jimmy Yu as soft a landing as possible.

We have to take everything into consideration. So even waking him up,

chance he'll splay, and splaying's not really good for them. So in his

we'll put him in a recumbent position.

There'll be someone holding his head, and as his head starts to get a bit of

weight about it, they'll let go of the head, and then hopefully he'll support

his own body and then just get up with like this.

Worst case scenario, he'll splay.

Giraffe are suspect to everything that's going on. So normally when Jimmy would

come out, we'd have brows all along this fence line and we'd have a few more

toys up and things.

Today will be the first day there's a few changes that we just have to make

that he's comfortable with and that he knows what's going on.

Even having everyone in the paddock this morning with all the vehicles and time

being spent in that Mock Rock barn, he'll be wise to it. You can see he

taken his eyes off what's going on in there. You can see he's just a little

sus on what's going on in the paddock. But that's right, I'm just going to tell

him it's his birthday celebration as we're setting up his surprise party.

Army Jim, good boy.

Next. Let's go, buddy.

No matter how well they plan... We blew Jimmy U into the mock rock barn and he's

actually really calm in there. ..no -one knows just how Jimmy U will go down

once sedated. He'll probably just fall down and that's always a bit nerve

-wracking.

Daybreak and there's an anxious buzz building around Taronga Zoo.

After three months of planning, final preparations for one of the biggest

general anaesthetic procedures ever attempted on a giraffe are in full

We've got the ladder in the van and the dental X -ray generator there.

This is a portable X -ray machine.

So it's all portable.

Basically what we're doing today is that we'll be taking the whole hospital to

Jimmy U.

Okay, let's sort of check the rifle.

Even senior vet Larry is on edge.

I hope it rests with us. It's always, you know, when you're doing these big

procedures and relatively high risk, I suppose,

always, you know, thinking about it a bit overnight.

I'm just checking the rifle, which I'll use to fire the dart.

into the giraffe.

The last thing you want is something not working when you're ready to go.

Generally, the giraffe go down in about 20 minutes or so. The ideal situation is

that he'll sit down, but they rarely do.

He'll probably just fall down and that's always a bit nerve -wracking.

As you can imagine, giraffe with a big long neck falling down. Then we'll go in

and once he's asleep, we're going to move him into a good position for the

procedure.

Keeper Jimmy is feeling the nerves more than most.

He's one of my favourite animals and I'd class him as one of my best friends as

well. So it was a very...

A very stressful situation for everyone, but I'd say more so for me. I'm also

one of his primary trainers, so there's a lot of trust involved.

So I don't want to lose any of that trust because I still need this

to keep going because I'm still going to have to maintain those hooves. So

there's a lot of things that we still need to do as a team. So at this stage,

it'll be Maz and Ren on the head.

It'll be Gabe, Jacob and Corey on the neck.

There'll be myself and Beth will be bringing in the neck board.

The hooves, Darcy will assist the farriers when they need assistance with

hooves. But chances are, if he does go down in an awkward position, we'll need

everyone in straight away.

Once Jimmy Yu is sedated and falls to the ground, the clock is ticking.

All three procedures must be done inside an hour and a half.

Wow, there's a lot of people.

Right now, though...

Everything hinges on Keeper Jimmy getting his five and a half metre tall

to follow him into the Mock Rock barn.

Hello, darling boy.

Action.

Good.

Good boy.

Let's go, buddy.

Let's go, darling boy.

You can check it out. There's nothing there. Good boy.

Good.

Good.

Door.

Good.

Okay, Jimmy, copy that. We'll head over.

Okay, guys, so Jimmy is locked in.

So if we can get the darting gear and the van.

It's a promising start.

Jimmy Yu is in the barn and doesn't appear stressed about it.

How is he, mate?

He's calmer than he has been.

So we've lured Jimmy Yu into the Mock Rock barn, which we've been working on

the last two weeks, and he's actually at this present moment really calm in

there. So this is the first day he's been fully shut in, and he's really,

calm in there, which is fantastic for Larry because it just allows the drone

work quicker for starters because his adrenaline won't be pumping, and it also

allows Larry probably a clearer shot than if he's actually pacing up and down

the barn.

At this present moment, if we maintain this level of energy and quietness, he

should maintain nice and calm until Larry darts him.

We use a very long dart needle.

We need to make sure the drug that's injected in through the dart is

deep into the muscle.

There's been quite a lot of work done on the effectiveness of the length of

darts in anaesthesia, and it's well documented now that the deeper you can

the drug into the muscle, the better.

Larry's dart hits its mark.

Now, the anxious wait for the sedatives to kick in. Yeah, it's gone.

Sanders to all staff, he's been darted and it's gone off, so we just wait for

him to take effect.

Even though today's sedation is necessary to help Jimmy Yu, watching

large animal fall to the ground is confronting.

Jimmy Yu, Taronga's 17 -year -old giraffe, has been darted successfully.

The cocktail of drugs should keep him sedated while three important procedures

take place.

So as soon as we can, as soon as it's safe, what we're going to do is elevate

his head well above his room and so you'll see he'll be lying with his head

at quite a steep angle and we'll prop it up there for the procedure.

Once Larry confirms Jimmy Yu is unconscious...

the keeper team can move him into a better position.

OK, so as soon as you guys are ready to pull, we need to stabilise his head.

Probably need another pair of hands on the head.

Yeah,

that'd be great, mate. OK, one, two, three, pull.

With crucial dental and hoof work happening simultaneously with an

a worrying scrotal lump, space around the giraffe will be at a premium.

That was a good one.

Okay, that's perfect, guys. Okay, let's get his head up. Let's get this order.

At no point can Jimmy Yu's head rest below his stomach, so a board is placed

under his neck.

A big risk with ruminant anesthetics, and particularly giraffe, is that when

they go down, liquid from the stomach comes up their esophagus and ends up in

their mouth, and then, of course, that can go into the airway.

And that's a very bad thing, and we definitely want to avoid that.

A bit more. Okay. Beautiful.

And for the next hour and a half, a keeper will at all times hold his 20

-kilogram head in the same position.

Okay. Relevant teams, start.

Start. So anyone that's not needed now, please step outside.

Jimmy Yu is out to it now.

But there is a real risk he may wake up at some point. I like to keep them a

little bit light. I don't want them really, really deep under anaesthesia

because then, you know, you start getting complications with the

and things like that.

Expert farrier Michael and his team know time is already slipping away, so get

straight to work on the hooves. He went down nicely. He was in a good position

to be able to access his limbs to be able to trim him.

We normally have radiographs, and we can look at the radiographs, but we didn't

have the radiographs beforehand because we've been laying down.

So what we've done, we've gone in with an old technique of what we call the

finger and thumb feeling for your soul to yield and get movement, and then we

just do a final couple of shaves. It's a bit like cutting yourself with a razor

blade. You get a little scratch, and you'll be tender on it for the first

of days. We've medicated with Betadine to make sure there's no infection or

anything like that, and we know we're absolutely right down to the maximum

that we can trim it back.

All right, let's get the drip going, guys.

Jimmy Yu is now on oxygen and fluids. Let's rip, rip. And will be given

additional sedation drugs if he starts to stir.

It's quite light, guys. OK, I want to get the other catheter in. OK,

Beautiful work, guys.

It's big, isn't it?

30 minutes in, and early indications on the ultrasound of Jimmy Yu's worrying

scrotal lump are that it's not a hernia.

He's struggling.

The seat's, like, right here, where we probably need to sit.

There's not a big bucket of fluid or anything like that, is there?

I just wonder if it's fat.

It's very, like, homogeneous as well, which makes me wonder if it is fat.

Both. Well, as he's light, obviously.

OK, guys, just step back. If Jimmy Yu wakes up any further, he could start

kicking those around him, so Larry needs to act fast.

Over at the construction site that will soon be known as Neuridea Australia, Mel

is getting an update from project manager Peter.

We're making good progress.

The western entry macropods are looking pretty good, getting a clean -up today.

And then the guys are over in koalas and dingoes. A few machines in there just

digging through, getting the levels ready.

The exhibit under the most pressure to finish is the nocturnal house.

Here we are.

So this is all the exit section.

So you can see we've just started doing the new platypus exhibit.

So the guys have been saw -cutting, jackhammering away.

In here, night will be day and day will be night for the many critters under the

care of devoted senior keeper Paul.

And Paul, how many bilbies have you got going in? Seven that will be going in.

Seven males? All males, so they're quite big.

This is some of people's only chance to see bilbies, so the design consideration

is really important.

New homes are also being built for platypus, bettongs, spinifex hopping

gliders and bats.

Wow. Look at that rock. I tell you, it's amazing.

I love the stalactites and the stalagmites. I'm so glad we got them.

So are you expecting the bats to want to hang in this exhibit?

We're trying to...

design it so that the areas we don't want to go as smooth and the rough areas

that we've left are going to make them more visible if for any reason when we

put them in they have other ideas we're just going to have to yeah we'll have to

adapt yeah but they'll love it they'll love it i've dreamt of this i've dreamt

this this is years of dreaming about having a new nocturnal house So how many

ghost bats do you think you'll have in this exhibit? Well, we'll start with

and I think we could probably go ten,

eight to ten, allowing for pups.

So the glass is here, the bats are going to come round and go straight round

here. They'll sort of, they'll be so cool.

But there's still a lot to do before the exhibit opens in just a few short

weeks.

Coming up... Can you get five mils of ketamine?

An anxious moment in the barn.

Just let me know if there's any sign of movement there and we'll pull back.

Pull. Rise is light, obviously.

Jimmy Yu is starting to wake up.

Away from the hooves, Kimberly. Sorry.

He's too light.

Okay. Can you get five mils of ketamine?

The cocktail of sedative drugs he was given nearly an hour ago.

are starting to wear off.

He's a bit light, so just be mindful, guys.

So when he starts to get light, it means he starts to hold his own body weight.

So he'll be able to kick, and so we've got obviously a lot of people working

down around the feet, and also we just don't want him to get up. So there's a

fine line between being heavy and being light. We just have to have everyone

prepared because if he's light and he does get up, everyone needs to be out of

here as soon as possible.

Liz, come on.

Okay, and just bring the ketamine and...

Okay, getting 5 mils of ketamine.

52, 5 mil ketamine.

We'll just see how he goes with that 5 mils.

Looks like he has relaxed a bit. Okay,

I think we can resume. Just gently get in there.

Yep. Okay, get into it, guys. Let's get into it with x -rays.

The farriers have trimmed Jimmy Yu's hooves so the vet team can now get

for the x -rays.

There's less than half an hour till Larry must give Jimmy Yu the reversal

and they're nowhere near finished.

How's the scrotum team going?

OK. Do you want to start on the mouth, Hayley? Yeah.

Have a look here.

He's got a... Look, his canine tooth is... Look at that.

This damaged canine tooth... May solves the mystery of Jimmy Yu's recent bad

breath. I don't feel any ulcers.

So there's some spurs? Just a little bit of sharp edges.

Lingo on the bottom and buckle on the upper.

Just let me know if there's any sign of movement there.

And we'll pull back.

An endoscope camera is used to examine all the teeth.

The pump's not on that way. You have to push the pump button.

It's really quick.

They look pretty good.

There's a little bit of gingival recession, but not horrible.

But it looks like that canine is the only one that needs removing.

And it doesn't take much.

So his right canine has been pulled out.

Wow.

The rest of the incisors look okay.

So far his teeth actually look good.

As well as dental x -rays, Larry takes this rare opportunity to also get

baseline images.

of the giraffe's whole head. Steal the x -ray machine.

You want the x -ray now?

Yes, please.

Sarah, how are we going to time? What's the time?

Hour and 15.

That means everyone has just 15 minutes to finish.

Is there one for me? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You like grey?

So this angle?

Sarah just said it's been an hour and 23 minutes. We're nearly done.

Seven minutes to go.

Everyone out of the way. Can I see the last few shots?

So the first one.

Yeah, I think we're going to start taking excess sawdust bags out.

Straps.

Start moving equipment that we don't need.

As the barn is cleared, Larry prepares the reversal drug. Please start helping

take this stuff out.

Frances, are you done?

Yep. With everything you need to do?

It will be the final hurdle, Jimmy Yu being able to stand up safely as he

out of the anaesthetic. Let's just get him reversed. The position for recovery

is not brilliant.

If there is a chance, he might be light, he might be too light, but just swivel

him around a bit so he's got a bit more room on his head here.

We'll give him the adipamazole and then we'll watch him as he's getting lighter

then. At whatever point, we will bugger off.

All right, fluid stop. We'll shut that door behind you, Larry, now. Close the

doors.

OK, guys, so now we want to lower his head.

Ready? Yeah. One, two, three.

OK.

OK, guys, the adipamazole's going in now, OK?

Jimmy Yu may still regurgitate contents from his stomach.

so the keepers need to hold his head up for as long as possible.

Okay, put him down. Okay, okay.

Okay, he's moving, guys. Put his head down.

Okay.

Is that earplug gone?

Yep, take it off.

It's nowhere near as stressful a start to the day for Jose and Brad as they

check in on their new fur seal pup and his mum.

So this is the pup's mum, this is Kiki.

So she's a great little mum. This is her second pup she's had here at Taronga.

She was actually found in Sydney Harbour and she was brought into our wildlife

hospital with a suspected boat strike.

The length of Kiki's recovery from injury meant she could not be released.

as she'd become too accustomed to human care.

So her puppy's about a month and a half old now.

So progressively doing very well.

He's close to six kilos in weight at the moment. I'll drop the floor down a bit

if you want to move those two over.

Cool. Let's see what we get.

Kiki's looking pretty hungry.

Mum's really supportive in this process. She keeps a real close eye on him.

Excellent work.

Most importantly, in this area, we want to know that he knows his way to get

back out again.

So that way, if he gets a bit tired and needs a rest, we know he can get out and

haul out and have a bit of a snooze up this end.

It won't be long until this little pup is out on the main marine habitat.

So the team need to come up with a list of names that will go to a public vote.

So Kiki's pup needs a name.

Now, there's going to be a naming competition, but we need to come up with

short list.

to go out.

So, who's got ideas?

Well, we were thinking maybe a combination of Bondi and Kiki and

together. So one of the names we thought of was Kobe.

So the K -E from Kiki and the B -O from Bondi and then put them together and we

get Kobe.

I like. What were some of the other options that we had?

Yindi was one.

Ben.

Raoul.

After a very loved keeper here on the device.

Thanks, Ben. We'll put that one in the vault.

Put a P in that one.

We had Jarvis.

Jarvis. We had Jarvis. We had Bruni.

We had... Raoul.

Raoul, yes.

Is this going out to competition then?

This will go out to, yeah.

public naming competition.

Yeah, right. All of the names being compiled? Well, you need to give them a

short list just to narrow it down a little bit. So we'll kind of narrow it

to those top three and then, yeah, it'll go out to vote and see what we get.

Next. Okay, he's moving, guys.

The reversal drug kicks in.

But once Jimmy Yu stands up, will he be able to stay up?

Okay, guys, the adipamazole's going in now, okay?

The three procedures on giraffe Jimmy Yu have gone like clockwork, and right on

the 90 -minute mark, he's given the reversal drug.

OK, put him down. OK.

The effects are almost immediate.

OK, he's moving, guys.

It's a struggle getting up.

But the uneven flooring under Jimmy Yu's feet gives him some traction.

Keeper Jimmy and senior vet Larry are incredibly relieved he's got up so well.

Well, I think so. Yeah. Yeah, everything's set up out there. Yep. So

to let him out, guys.

So, guys, we're not expecting him to come out fast or hot, but there is a

that he will come out fast and hot.

I'll unlock the gate, but I'm going to push the gate and I'll use the door as a

protector as we're going across. So that will just protect us if he does come

out hot.

Good boy, Jim.

Hey, Jim.

And a little bit wobbly.

Good boy, buddy.

Good boy, bud.

Oh, darling.

Oh, you're happy if he eats, like, anything now, or no pellets or anything?

No pellets. Don't give him pellets. You haven't put pellets out? No, no. No

pellets. Just browse and hay. All right. We'll just take it slowly and just feed

him.

Hey, buddy.

And how long, Larry, do you expect the drug to stay in the system? Oh, I think

most of it will be gone by now. Cool. Yeah.

Might be a little bit left, but...

You know, also just him lying on his side, he'd be a bit sore. I'd imagine

a bit sore as well.

Still looks pretty spacey, doesn't he? He looks a bit doughy. Very vague.

I reckon it'll probably be okay to let the other guys in, you know? Yeah. And

it'd probably stimulate him a bit as well. Yeah. All right, should we do it?

That'd be good. Cool.

A full day of lazing by the pool can take it out of you.

So Taronga's new fur seal pup is feeling the need for some sustenance from mum.

Suckling is a very big part of what's going on. These guys are doing a lot of

growth at the moment. Since he was born, at four kilos, I think, he's now almost

doubled his weight.

Meanwhile, the results are in, as to which name got the nod from his adoring

public.

Oh, no, we're on.

Hey, Dan.

I was in competition clothes last night for the Steel Park.

Yeah. I've got a winning name for you. You ready?

I'm ready.

Kobe. Oh, okay.

Do I win anything?

Awesome. I'll talk to you later. Thanks, Dan. Bye.

All right. Well, we have our name.

We'll Kirby it in.

Awesome. Sorry if anyone hated it.

I think this is Kirby. I think he does. Yeah.

With his name sorted, Kobe can concentrate on improving his swimming

before heading out to the main habitat with Mum in a few months' time.

Hello, Jim. How are you, buddy?

How was it?

How's your feet, bud?

Jimmy Yu is now back on home turf.

A bit wobbly on his feet, but looking pretty good.

You all right, buddy?

Hey, you want to go and see your girlfriends, hey?

Are you a good boy? You are.

Good boy, Jim. So they're all probably going to investigate him.

See why he smells like that? He smells weird.

Hayley has some pleasing results to share.

So my best guess from the scrotal swelling is that it's probably fat

something worrisome like a hernia.

In his mouth, actually for his age, his teeth looked excellent.

No sorenesses in his mouth, no mobile teeth.

There was one tooth that was rotated that was already wanting to come out, so

just helped it on its way and pulled it out, and otherwise everything looked

good. The farrier also reported the feet and hooves to be in good condition.

A credit to the regular trends keeper Jimmy does with the team.

Yeah, for a 17 - and two -day -old giraffe.

He's doing all right. He's doing all right. Excellent.

Yeah.

But at least now, you know, this will be a good start to, you know, the process

of assessing him as an aged animal.

Like a baseline.

Yeah, just a baseline. And then as he gets older, then we can, you know, just

have the annual meeting and monitor, you know, his quality of life.

You know, being a male giraffe, he's probably only got, you know, I don't

what do you reckon, another five years or so in him? Yeah, I wouldn't say ten,

but there's a few years. Yeah, ten is the extreme. But, you know, so, yeah,

a really good start baseline for that process. Yeah, perfect.

Now the procedure is actually over, I'm feeling a major sense of relief. So this

has been in the planning for probably the last three months in my mind, but

maybe longer in the vet's mind.

But now definitely a big major sense of relief that he's up, it's all done,

dusted, and we've got Jimmy back and healthy and on his feet.

Because Jimmy and I have such a strong relationship, he reacted brilliantly to

me. So it was like nothing had happened at all.

To have that trust that I have with him and to know that trust wasn't broken

throughout that procedure, that was a great thing, great outcome for both of

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