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

Hello. What's your tea?

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. A lot of slobber there, bud.

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

So impatient.

Good girl. Hang on.

On this episode.

Wow. From this.

36, 37, 38.

Do this. It was a really magical time.

But if at first you don't succeed... We're actually going to do a sea relief

give them a better chance.

Well, try again.

I'm pretty stoked to be a part of this project.

No pressure.

There we go. There's some nose to nose. The first date a year in the making.

Oh, how cute.

That's so cute.

And all rise.

King Holla's in the house. Okay, steady.

On the entire planet, there's probably no more than 40 king cheetahs, and she's

one of them.

It's critical that keepers at Taronga Zoo know the correct way to cater to the

physical needs of the animals in their care.

There's a huge amount of love between keepers and their animals.

but how they express it might not necessarily be how you express it with

cat or your dog. But what can be a grey area is whether forming emotional bonds

with what are essentially wild creatures is appropriate.

You can have a little bit extra because it's your birthday.

Here.

We tend not to encourage very human attributes such as kissing. We tend not

encourage hugging.

It's very much we like... I guess, the animals to lead some of the relationship

development as well. And so what's rewarding for the animal? And so often a

tactile relationship for many species is rewarding and we would encourage that

in some instances. But for other species that aren't tactile, that might be more

scent driven, you know, that wouldn't be appropriate behaviour.

All animals have intrinsic value and should be treated with dignity and

Some animals are easy for Taronga keepers to build a rapport with. Hello,

Ed. Yes, hello, Dusky.

Zalika, a notoriously shy female fennec fox, is not one of them.

Fingers are crossed that she can be coaxed out of her shell by a new friend

who's just arrived at Taronga's quarantine facility.

So we've got Kararu, a fennec fox that's come to us from another zoo over in

Japan. He'll be spending at least 30 days with us until the vets do a full

health assessment.

It's hoped when Kareru meets Salika, they will hit it off and start a family.

But for now, Nurse Annie wants to fatten him up with a bit of breakfast.

Where's this little man's food?

As you can tell, we all love him. We've got his name on it with Fennec Fox and I

love Hot. How cute is that?

All right, so Mousy Mouse.

It's Fennec Fox -style Weet -Bix this morning, as you can see.

I normally will leave this out on the bench and just let it get to room

temperature so it's not too cold. And, yeah, he loves his mice.

But so far, it seems Kareru is even more shy than Zalika.

He's a very shy boy.

I didn't believe we actually had a fennec fox for quite some time because I

could never find him or see him for that matter. So I made it a point of trying

to form a bond with him. So little by little, I was just getting him used to

hearing my voice. Just talk to him loudly, as silly as that sounds. It's

he got used to the sound of my voice and knowing that I was coming in. I didn't

want to scare him or anything else.

Where's my little man?

and stuff.

And day by day, I would just spend that little bit more time with him. Even if

it was just doing my notes, I would be writing up his records, so I would do

that in the enclosure with him. He would never come out, but I would sit there

doing a little treat.

Hello, my darling boy.

Hi.

I can see those little ears.

Hello, my baby.

It took two and a half weeks.

Hello, my little man.

We go straight into it.

Quite a long time, and he did take a mouth for me for the very first time,

was super exciting.

Are you going to eat?

I would gradually be kneeling down and towards the end, yes, I did get on all

fours and yes, I was laying down when I hadn't fed the first mouse, but it was

worth it. To be laying on that dirty floor, it was so worth it. Look at here.

What's that?

Oh, you're so brave.

I'm so brave.

I'm here.

Kareru's newly acquired social skills will soon be put to the test.

After one final vet check, He'll really have to overcome his shyness when he

meets his future partner.

In the nearby reptile facility, passionate turtle keeper Adam has taken

of a very precious cargo.

So in our care at the moment, we have 130 turtle eggs, or 130 loggerhead

turtles. They were rescued by the New South Wales National Parks and Turtle

Watch on the central coast and brought to Taronga. It's really unusual for sea

turtles to lay this far south.

So we all made a decision that we would move the eggs out, bring them to Taronga

where we can set them up in an area and monitor them until they hatch.

Are you ready? Since their arrival, every day now starts with a new reveal

how many eggs have hatched overnight.

Wow.

And if we didn't intervene or rescue them, you know, there's a good chance

these eggs would perish because the temperatures are not normally suited for

these type of animals.

There's a lot more. Oh, my God, we're going to have trouble counting them.

It's just such a thrill to open up that incubator and just see all these little

turtles scurrying around.

27, 28, 29.

Doing the count every day is just really exciting.

37,

38.

It's like a thriller video. They're just coming out of the sand.

In the wild, they would be naturally just sitting in the nest.

And it's like a 60 -centimetre deep hole.

And it pairs out, and all the eggs are sitting inside that. And then these ones

start to hatch, and it sort of triggers each other off.

As they hatch, they all start to come out of their eggshells and go up to the

neck of the nest. And then the surface temperature of the beets will cool, and

then the turtles feel the change, and that's what makes them explode out,

because then they know it's either late in the afternoon, it's the safer time to

leave the nest.

Hatchlings can wait several days before leaving the nest.

Nature's given them everything they need to survive.

The nutrition now is just the yolk sac that they're absorbing. They're

that yolk, and that's where their nutrients are coming from. These turtles

eat for several days, probably up to even two weeks in the wild. They would

scurry down into the ocean and then take them a while to get the hang of

feeding.

So we don't have to feed them.

Actually, it's preferable not to even put them in water at this stage.

So from here, we'll health check and ensure that they're looking good. We

pack them all up.

we'll head up north and we will release them and let them go down the beach and

let them be turtles and let them just do what they're supposed to do and

hopefully it's a success.

So to do work with my first love, these marine turtles, it's a bit of an honour.

I'm pretty stoked to be a part of this project.

Out at Taronga Western Plain Zoo...

Geordie is considered a keeper's keeper.

She has respect not only from her colleagues, but also the animals in her

And today, King Cheetah Hala has her undivided attention.

Hala was born here at Dubbo. So King Cheetahs are incredibly rare, and they

estimate on the entire planet there's probably no more than 40 King Cheetahs,

and she's one of them.

Typically cheetah have tiny little dots covering their bodies and typically

cheetah can have between one and two thousand spots.

King cheetah are a little different. Basically Hala has a very rare recessive

gene which causes her coat pattern to display in quite an unusual way. Rather

than having those tiny dots she's actually got really dark black splodges

patches all over her body and she's even got stripes down her back.

Cheetahs are generally shy cats but after nine years working together Hala

quite relaxed when Geordie enters her habitat.

We do definitely have to respect their boundaries and mostly we just work

them. We'll give them a wide berth. If they're looking uncomfortable, we'll

back. But they're very, very used to us going in.

Hi, Hala.

Oh, rolling.

Are you feeling pretty?

Cheetah can run up to 120 kilometres an hour.

All right, time to get up. Let's go. But as she ages...

Hala is slowing right down. Good girl. Let's go for a walk.

Just walking in the morning now seems painful.

So today we're going to do the health check on Hala, do a bit of an old animal

aged assessment.

Good girl. I'll get out of your way now.

So this is the chute that we've had specially designed for these kinds of

procedures. We open up this slide here. She will just walk straight in. There'll

be a keeper up the other end who will give her some food and show her that

got good treats.

We never, ever shut her in.

It is always voluntary. If she doesn't want to come in, she doesn't have to.

Geordie has a real soft spot for Hala, so there's a lot on her mind.

You never quite know when an animal is having a vet check, you know, what

they're potentially going to find, especially with older animals.

There's always, yeah, a little bit of trepidation there, a little bit of

We're very hopeful that it'll all come back clear. But, yeah, because she is

starting to slow down a little bit, we're always just, you know, always a

worried about what might come back from it.

Coming up... And I will miss you.

..Annie finds it hard to say goodbye.

And a special moment at dusk. We couldn't have had any better message to

the people. Everyone on the beach that day is now custodian for marine turtles.

Recently arrived fennec fox Kareru is about to have his last vet check before

entering the main zoo.

We'll just make sure that his health is superb and he'll get his vaccination and

he'll also get his last weaming treatment and then he'll be ready to go

have to find someone else.

To preserve the bond between Annie and Kareru, nurse Liz will bring him into

surgery.

You alright little one?

So now that he's asleep, Annie can come in and the bond won't be broken.

Annie can safely monitor him.

Thanks, Annie.

We've been waiting for a little male for a long time to start our breeding

program again.

Vet Larry needs to ensure Carrero is in good health and all set for the

important job ahead.

So these are the most important bits for this little guy since he's going to

start up our breeding program.

So his little penis looks pretty good.

Trying to find his ears.

I always get really good phone reception when I'm around him.

Very handy to have these big ears in the desert. They can pick up the sounds of

their prey very well over long distances and also helps dissipate heat.

The most spectacular feature of the species.

It's been really cool. The keepers from the section that he'll be going to have

been bringing in bedding from his new girl, and so he's starting to get all

smells, so he's probably thinking, where is this woman?

So I'm kind of excited. It's a bit of a bittersweet feeling. I'm going to miss

seeing him, but that'll give me an excuse to actually maybe have morning

day and go and visit him, and it'd be great to see him.

been really successful with our breeding program, so it's exciting.

So we're just waking little Kareru up after his physical exam and

looks great, nice and healthy.

He had a boost of vaccination today, so we're not going to let him go

immediately. He'll be here another week to make sure he has good immunity and,

yeah, he should be good to go in a week or so.

And I will miss you.

Kareru's journey is almost over.

I don't want you to see me when you wake up.

His next move will be to his permanent home.

It's a busy morning for Senior Vet Larry.

A little bit soft there.

As he heads next door to see how many more loggerhead turtles have hatched

overnight. Yeah, I mean they look pretty good, don't they?

The first batch will be returned later today to Shelley Beach on the New South

Wales central coast, where they were found.

I've always been a turtle person. I spent a lot of time on the beaches in

Bundaberg doing marine turtle research with national parks up there.

You know, loggerhead turtles are a brutally endangered species of turtle,

the numbers are so low that every little one of these that goes back into the

wild is going to help contribute to this species.

97 hatchlings are good to go.

How many out?

30 more are close and will be ready for release in a few days.

120 -something altogether.

We're getting too excited.

Extraordinary.

We're sending everything back with them, including the sander.

they brought from the beach so gets back to dark and junk country from where it

came so they'll just put it back on the beach and they'll bury all the the

eggshells on the beach all right good luck with it see you mate yeah look

yourselves and look after those little turtles

At Taronga Western Plains Zoo, the vet and keeper teams have assembled for

what's called a Take 5 meeting.

Good morning everyone, thanks for coming.

So today we're going to be giving a general anaesthetic to one of our king

cheetahs, Hala.

Thank you for conditioning her to be able to get a hand injection. I've got

drugs drawn up.

Our plan will be that you guys go in, give her the injection, hopefully five,

seven minutes, she'll sort of go down. Cool. But obviously everyone just be a

little bit careful. If she's not quite sleepy, then she could still swipe.

It's the magic of medicine. Good luck. I'll give you a belt.

All right. Thanks, Geordie. Good luck. See you.

See you, guys.

Thirteen -year -old Hala is being sedated, so the vets can do a thorough

check. including an assessment on her worsening arthritis issues.

Okay, Miss Haller.

Come on, then.

Good girl. In you come.

Okay, Hala.

So good,

Hala. Okay, I'm going to open the slide.

Back out.

Back out.

Oh, she's great.

Great.

Receiving.

That's wonderful.

Thanks, Geordie. Well done.

That means nice and calm delivery.

It's something that Hala's used to. You know, these guys sort of condition them

very regularly with injections and that. So to her, it's just another day at the

office. But it really makes our job a lot easier and makes Hala a lot calmer

the procedure ahead.

Even though Hala received a full dose of the sedative, everyone approaches with

caution. So I'm just using the rake to sort of stimulate.

Ears and eyes and these are sort of all the things that we do to check

anaesthetic depth if we could touch her.

But rather than going in there, she's not quite deep enough, but she looks

pretty good.

I think we can go in there.

We just want to sort of put the IV in and get a bit stable.

Sounds good.

So before we move her, we do put shackles on as well just to restrain her

just in the unlikely event that the anaesthetic might be a bit lighter than

we're anticipating and she sort of sits up or wakes up, she's not going to go

very far with those on.

A tube is inserted down her throat so vets can ensure she's breathing.

So I just have to spray a little bit of Elignacaine, which is a local

anaesthetic, onto her vocal folds or her larynx.

Some animals, cats, humans, primates,

We'll get what we call a laryngospasm if I try and touch this with the tube as I

put it down, and it'll actually close off her airway. And so we spray that on,

give it a few seconds, and then I can put the tube down, and then I've got

control of her airways.

That would be nice. All right.

You're happy that's in?

Just everybody watch for sticks and debris.

Didn't leave anything behind.

Within half an hour of being sedated.

Hala's on the table back at the vet hospital and her health examination

Good idea, temperature.

And then I'll start with doing a thorough physical examination so we know

we're in for.

Coming up. You can see their ears are sort of going back and it looks all nice

and positive.

First date, Fennec Fock style.

He's approaching her now. They're both sort of looking towards, there we go.

There's some nose to nose.

Oh, how cute.

And an enormous emergency case. Okay, so spin around, they're wandering

backwards. Makes a splash at the wildlife hospital.

Yeah, that's good. Okay.

Zalika, Taronga's female fennec fox, has been flying solo for over a year now.

But she's about to be introduced to a young male called Carrero.

in the hope the pair will hit it off and start a family.

Kareru's been in the hospital for quite a few weeks now, so it'll be nice to

have a little change of scenery for him. Moving into his new home, hopefully

he'll settle in. It'll be nice for him to be with his own kind.

New beginnings can also mean sad farewells. And Nurse Annie was too upset

goodbye to Kareru.

Yeah, I know. She's got it.

She'll calm down and be okay.

She is.

Okay.

Almost there. Almost there.

While Zalika is kept out on exhibit, Kareru is let out to explore his own new

den out the back.

Here you go.

What a good boy.

He's pretty.

So Carrero came out quite well today.

We opened the door and he sort of trotted on out.

Yeah, he could have gone either way. He could have decided to stay in there, but

he decided to come out and investigate his new home.

He was doing a lot of smelling around and he did a nervous wee and a poo.

And, yeah, so he was quite confident, actually.

The two fennec foxes will be kept apart for just a little longer, but their

first meeting will take place very soon.

Out at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, the medical examination of 13 -year -old

Cheetah Hala is underway.

X -ray.

That looks really good.

Whilst her teeth don't seem too bad... There is one broken tooth, but it's

stable. There's no sort of root disease.

The biggest concern is how this old cheetah is moving around.

The keepers have reported that in the morning she's a bit stiff and sore to

up in the back end, so that makes me think that there might be a bit of

arthritis around the pelvis, hip and possibly the knee area as well.

X -ray. X -ray.

So it's often seen as sort of extra little bones like that, but that is a

thing in cheetahs, which is surprising. So if I saw that in a dog or a cat, I'd

be quite concerned, but it is actually a normal thing in cheetahs. So far, so

good. The last place to check is her hip.

Probably a little bit higher. Yep, that's perfect, yeah.

And then put your legs back, sweetheart.

X -ray.

That's pretty good, actually, considering what we're dealing with.

All right, cool.

So I'm happy with all those x -rays, which is great.

For a cat of her age, Hala is in remarkably good shape.

There's a little bit of evidence of arthritis, but it's actually not too

So we'll wait until we get the rest of her blood results back, and that'll just

tell us whether her kidneys are managing fine at this stage of life.

I'll review all the x -rays really thoroughly and see if we need to adjust

medication that she's currently on to help manage and support her arthritis.

She'll go back to her enclosure and the keepers will keep a really good eye on

her this afternoon.

Taronga Zoo's turtle keeper, Adam, is at Shelley Beach on the New South Wales

central coast.

He and these National Park rangers are preparing to release.

97 baby loggerhead turtles.

The mission for today is to safely get those turtles onto the beach so they can

run down into the surf and be released into the ocean.

The release was amazing.

It's not something I've ever seen before or been a part of before.

And there was just people everywhere.

Turtles generally hatch in the evening, so they're less exposed to predators

like birds.

And right on dusk, it's time to set them free.

I can't really put into words the feeling that we had. It was like just

happiness for what we were doing.

Once they're released, nature kicks in.

They head straight for the water.

People were just in awe and captivated.

It was a really magical time.

You see them going down the beach and they sort of waddle down the beach and

then they hit that water and they're like a wind -up little toy that's been

wound up super tight.

And as this process is happening, they just start to get into a swim frenzy.

the idea is they hit water and they just swim. And they just go, go, go to get

out as far into the ocean as possible. We couldn't have had...

any better message to give to the people everyone on the beach that day is now

custodian for marine turtles but that's not the end

of this story as anticipated some washed back onto the shore that night

and now they're getting a second chance we collected all the turtles that had

washed back in we ended up with around 30 odd turtles and this time we're

actually going to do a a sea relief to give them a better chance so they don't

have to fight that horrible surging chop that's coming off the beach at the

moment. For a species that needs all the help it can get, it's a little head

start on nature.

There's even some vegetation for cover from circling birds.

Some of them hit the water a little bit like, oh, where am I?

And others were just, see you later alligator, they're out of here.

Loggerhead turtles are an endangered species.

One in a thousand of these turtles make it to become an adult.

So it's really important to get everyone back out there because one we put out

there could become that one in a thousand.

At Taronga Western Plain Zoo in Dubbo, Kinchita Hulla has just completed a full

health assessment under anaesthetic.

Now it's time to return her to the exhibit and wake her up.

The keepers have made a nice comfy bed for her and we're going to recover her

here. We're just going to remove her IV drip.

It will take a while for the anaesthetic to fully wear off.

But Bec is stoked that her examination didn't uncover any nasty surprises.

So I think she's probably used a bit sore and arthritic around that pelvis

which would fit in with what you're seeing in the mornings anyway with her

having trouble getting up.

She had that one little broken tooth, which we've probed, and I think it's

like that for a long time. I don't think it's anything to be concerned about.

It is a relief now that it's over. You never know, especially with older

animals, what the vets might find, so it was really relieving to find out that

she has a pretty good bill of health, especially for an old girl.

Finding out that there was a little bit of arthritis possibly going on in some

of her joints will obviously start looking at some different supplements

her.

She seems to be waking up really well, so we'll just keep an eye on her for the

rest of the day and make sure she's feeling OK. And I'm sure she's also

a bit tired and will have a big sleep throughout the day.

Back in Sydney... Head towards the door.

After all the earlier excitement from releasing the loggerhead hatchlings...

let's spin around. They're wandering backwards.

..another breed of turtle has been rushed into Taronga's Wildlife Hospital,

requiring urgent help.

Lizzie, head towards that door. The vet team has enlisted some extra muscle just

to get her in the door. Yeah, that's good.

Okay, straight back.

So this is a rather large green turtle come in from Lake Macquarie.

It's found in Barton's Bay area.

It had been seen in the water floating around a little bit and being a bit

lethargic for about two days.

They were able to collect it and bring it down here.

A floating turtle is not a healthy turtle.

To make things worse, there's fishing line caught in her mouth, and she's

missing her front left flipper. That looks like an old injury.

I'm interested to see if there's any hook inside her.

So we'll take some radiograph, we'll do some blood work, we'll see if we can

find any hook, and see if we can find out what's going on with her.

So everyone, just be mindful that she is a strong marine turtle, so she can

flip, she can bite.

She's very strong. Don't get in the way of her flippers. Just follow directions

from Kimberley or myself about what to do and what not to do, but don't be gung

-ho because you don't want her to hurt you or you guys to hurt her.

Go ahead and start setting up the radiographs, Liz. I'm going to get down

have a look at it. It's going to be a bit of a challenge getting that plate

underneath her.

And it's just as well there are some spare hands to help lift the 75 -kilo

turtle. because Kimberly plans to x -ray her from a number of angles.

She had a fishing line in her mouth, which was taped to her head, but

unfortunately she's just bitten through that.

So there's probably a hook inside to go in after.

Sorry. Okay,

that's probably good.

Okay, everyone out again? Full plate exposure?

Yeah.

So we suspect there's a hook in there. It's not.

In the very front of the turtle, not in the neck region.

Okay, so what we're going to do is turn her this way. So head goes that way?

Yeah. One, two, three.

Okay, no hooks still.

Next section.

One, two, three.

Okay.

No, no hooks yet.

No hooks, but Kimberly thinks she may have found the problem.

Now, what I'm seeing on...

Some of these later views are loops of intestines that are really full of air.

These are all the bits of firm -looking feces that are surrounded again by gas.

So this may be a blockage. So I'm wondering if this girl is a little bit

constipated.

And behind that, then, there's a lot of gas. So she's got a lot of gas in her

intestinal tract, which is probably what's making her float.

So the turtle is backed up.

To help ease that, she's given intravenous fluids and will be monitored

signs of improvement in a comfy tank out the back. One, two, three.

Okay.

Looking good.

This is really great to get other people in to help. Watch these black mats to

the left.

Everybody feels like they're part of the program, part of the rehab program.

All right, so what we're going to do...

You put this whole thing in the water.

One, two, three.

And she can just slide out.

We're here because of animals. That's why there's a zoo here, right? We want

educate people. So if everyone can be part of this and feel connected, then I

think that's better for the zoo overall.

Wonderful.

It's good for morale. It's great for the turtles.

We can't do it without help.

And, yeah.

It's great for the overall purpose of getting the animals back out there.

Kareru, the male -breeding fennec fox, is settling into his new home.

So far, he's been kept separate from Taronga's female, Zalika. The mesh

their dens kept closed.

So we've been monitoring them through CCT footage and we've been watching what

interactions are happening.

These foxes have never met each other before and we don't know if things will

wrong. So we need to make sure we take extra precaution to leave that mesh in

between and then slowly introduce them.

That's the leaker.

That's our little female. So she's really curious and he's a bit like, oh,

bit nervous to come over to you.

She's like, who are you?

So you can see their ears are sort of going back and they're bending down. So

looks all nice and positive. It doesn't seem to be aggressive. They're sort of

like, oh, there's another fox over here. We haven't seen another fox for a

while.

And he's approaching her now. They're both sort of like looking towards. There

we go.

There's some nose to nose.

Oh, how cute.

That's so cute.

So nice and positive, which is great. We're super excited to see this.

The real test.

for this super shy pair will be when the gate is opened between their two dens

tomorrow morning.

Keeper Georgia leaves a note overnight for Deb that it's finally all systems go

to open the gate.

So they've had mesh -to -mesh contact overnight leading up to this. So we've

seen lots of lovely behaviours of them coming up to the mesh and touching each

other's noses and things like that. And today's the day we've actually opened it

up and we're seeing who's going to make the first move and actually go and see

the other.

So we're just watching, and Carrero is curled up on his little platform, and

that's his little go -to spot. He's quite comfortable up there.

And Zalika looks like she's just starting to move around the dens and

curious as to what's over that side. She's just making her way over.

She's gone past his den.

He's made no sign of really looking at her at all.

But she's very interested. She's doing a lot of smelling around, all his

enrichment that's in there.

the different beds that he's been sleeping in.

She's just about to go up the ramp.

She's very close to him.

It's great that he wasn't particularly worried or anything.

She's come back down and she's not particularly worried either.

That's really great. That's a really great first meeting for both of them.

Zalika certainly is the more adventurous one with regards to going up to him,

which is lovely to see, yeah.

As far as Fox first dates go, it's a huge success.

The next step is to slowly increase the time the pair spend together.

The hope being Zalika's enthusiasm will conquer Kareru's shyness.

Really, really happy with how this has gone. It's just really textbook as far

the introduction goes and hoping moving forward for breeding that that's just as

successful.

Out the back of the wildlife hospital, the green sea turtle has been put in a

larger tank.

She's still bobbing around like a 75 -kilo cork. So, going to feed the

big girl?

Yes. So she's doing really well, isn't she? She has been eating very well.

eating well, which is good. It's a little better than when we first put her

because she was totally floating on top. Yeah. And that ring that she had around

the top was exposed to air. So at least she's underwater. It's not great, but

still a bit right side up and her tail up a bit too.

Yeah.

If she was normal, she'd be able to put herself on the bottom and sit and rest

on the bottom without any trouble.

She struggles to get down to the bottom to eat her fish, and when she's

resting, she's floating at the top.

In the wild, if she's floating, she'll be at the surface, so it'll be hard for

her to find food.

But if she's floating at the surface and her shell is exposed, she'd be an easy

target for a boat strike.

boats come around and hit them. This may be what happened with her flipper.

The turtle could survive with three flippers, but not if gas in her stomach

stopping her from diving.

Kimberly has started treating her with barium, which aids digestion and,

importantly, shows up white in her system, helping to locate where

might be in her intestine.

We did collect some...

fecal matter from her this morning. Not a lot, but there's definitely stuff

that's passing through. But it's still green. It's not barium colored. No, it's

not white yet. It's still fibrous.

It'll take a little time.

Kimberly will do another x -ray in a few days to check on the progress of that

barium. If there's a blockage in her intestines, the barium will stop there.

It'll sort of pool in one spot and that'll let us know that it's not

through her intestines normally.

That makes us worry that there's something that's going to need to be

removed.

But hopefully it's just faeces that needs to move through that's got air

behind it.

And once that gas comes out, I'm hoping she'll go down to the bottom.

Next. Are you with your girlfriend?

Annie dropped in on her formerly shy patient.

He was sunning himself on a high ledge.

Owning it. And then he went with his cheeky bite.

And... So excited about this turtle being on the bottom of the pool.

A surprise outcome for this green sea turtle. I couldn't believe it, actually.

was so excited to share this with everybody.

It's been a life -changing few weeks for Taronga Zoo's new fennec fox, Kareru.

He's out on exhibit and growing in confidence.

every day.

But most importantly, he appears to be warming to his new girlfriend.

And the infrared night cameras are catching all the action.

It's fair to say Kareru and Zalika are getting on like a house on fire.

There are even signs of romance.

Hi, little man.

True to her word, Annie has actually taken a coffee break to come and check

on her old mate, Kareru. Are you with your girlfriend?

It's very cool.

sleeping in the log with his girlfriend to see what he was like when he arrived

and I just had a peek around the front to try and see him and at first he was

sunning himself on a high ledge like owning it and then he was in the little

stump with his cheeky babes all those little things that we did along the line

like has made a huge huge advantage to his progress yeah I just can't Can't

express how proud I am of all the teams involved.

It's great.

Fennec foxes breed in winter.

It's hoped when the cooler weather arrives, so will some new kits.

Oh, yes, they're called kits, not kids.

I am so excited. Baby fennec foxes. I mean, baby animals in general are really

cute, but fennec foxes, it's like, you've just given birth to a pair of

In my heart, he will always be my boy.

So I'm very excited to see, yeah, what happens in the future for those two.

Exciting stuff.

So excited about this turtle being on the bottom of the pool.

And there's been a surprising but very welcome development in the recovery of

the green sea turtle.

I couldn't believe it, actually. I was so excited to share this with everybody.

So when we first saw this turtle, this piece of fishing line was extending out

of its mouth.

And when we took that first set of x -rays, she must have bitten this off

because it was then on the floor of the treatment room.

It just made me suspicious that there was more fishing line further down in

body. So then the other day when I came out and saw she was at the bottom of the

pool, these two clumps of fishing line were floating in the water.

The barium had done its job, and this is what the turtle was able to finally

excrete.

It's all different colors, so there's like a black line, a white line, the

clear line, which was probably white.

There's definitely different types of fishing line in here. So she hasn't just

eaten one fishing line.

She's eating several.

Since then, the barium that we gave her, that contrast agent, has also come out.

I've seen all her poos come out looking a bit gray, which is the barium.

And she's since sitting at the bottom of the pool.

So that gives me an indication that the gas has also passed through.

So I'm very hopeful that this is all that was in her.

She's eating really well.

I'm hoping she'll be ready to go out for release in a few weeks.

It's very satisfying. I love turtles. They're my favorite.

She's possibly 40 years old or so.

She's really, really a survivor.

And it's not a lot of turtles that make it to this age where they can then

reproduce and give back to their endangered counterparts.

So, yeah, we want to get her back out there so she can continue to contribute

her species.

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