Original subtitles

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

NARRATOR: They say don't ever work with babies...

or animals.

But what if they're baby animals?

Oh.

It was only born this morning.

On this all new season...

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

..welcome back to the ever changing world

of Taronga...

where you'll witness things you never thought possible.

You can actually hear her breathe.

And meet new faces...

Oh, hi, buddy.

..you'll never forget.

So good.

It's time to discover...

Oh, my god.

..exactly...

who's-who in this zoo...

(TIGER ROARS)

..on this special episode.

Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo.

Elephants have been here at Taronga for 109 years.

History in the making...

These two are the last here in Sydney.

..as Taronga's elephants say goodbye.

It's not easy to move an elephant.

But..

Go get em', Mosey. Back up, thoi.

..just as they're preparing to leave...

We realised something was up.

..a medical emergency...

We have to try to save the eye.

We just have to.

How many breaths a minute are we getting?

..that could not be any riskier...

A drop in your mouth or in your eye

will kill you within minutes.

..stops everything.

One hour down.

This is a world first.

If we go from zero to ten, ten being the hardest,

we're probably at 100.

(THEME MUSIC)

Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo,

where there's an unmistakable air of expectancy.

Since Taronga Zoo in Sydney opened its gates...

King Kong's Australia's first gorilla.

..over 100-years-ago in 1916,

elephants have always called the Harbour City home.

Elephants have been here at Taronga

for 109 years actually,

originally with Jessie coming over the Harbour,

when Taronga Zoo first opened.

So, it's a really amazing legacy species for Taronga Zoo.

Yeah, they love the rain, they love the mud.

Hey, Rosie.

But that's all about to end.

We have two female Asian elephants

here at Taronga Zoo, Sydney.

We have a 32-year-old called Pak Boon,

which is a Thai name that means morning glory flower.

(LAUGHS)

Here, boy.

And we have a 26-year-old called Tang Mo,

which is a Thai name that means watermelon.

And these two are the-the last remaining elephants here in Sydney.

Oh.

Elephants are very social animals.

Oh, it's getting hot.

In the wild, Asian elephants can live in sometimes large herds,

numbering dozens at a time.

And they normally rely on the herd for social interactions, for play,

for-for their day-to-day engagements.

Here at Taronga, having the two females that we have,

regardless of our best efforts,

we've given the elephants big bumpers or boys from the navy.

Yeah. Yeah, see that.

Even the toys that we make them out of big tractor tyres,

and all the... Even the small fiddly enrichment items, the ice blocks,

the peanut canisters,

to occupy their time, to stimulate them mentally

and physically, it's still not quite enough.

We're not quite meeting their social needs.

We've noticed that they really do need something extra in their lives

to fill that...that...that gap.

So, they will be heading to Monarto

Safari Park to join two other females

and later this year, another male,

and hopefully get that social complexity

that they do need in their lives.

And these big girls can't make

the big move to South Australia

without getting in a big crate.

It's not easy to move an elephant.

Elephants are, first of all, very large.

So, to move an elephant involves getting them

into a transport container cooperatively.

So, this is our transport container,

which is basically a modified shipping container,

and this will be where they'll be for 20 plus hours

on the trip down to Monarto Safari Park.

But getting them into the crate is a job in itself

and takes months and months of training.

Good morning. Good girl.

So, every morning before they get their main breakfast...

Good. Good, Mo.

..we start the training sessions.

Yeah. Back. Good girl.

Other foot. Good.

Wearing their safety bands.

Go for it, Johnny.

Alright. See you out there.

And then one at a time, they come into the crate.

Hey, Mo.

Attagirl.

With safety bands around their legs...

Look at you. Good foot.

..which are chained to lugs on the floor.

And these are all very much there for the elephant's safety

and their-their security on the trip.

Hi. Yes.

Alright, Mo.

Other foot.

Good.

These restraints are very similar

to a seat belt or even those straps

that you hold on a bus when you're standing.

(INDISTINCT) high.

Good.

To make sure they have that ability to hold their position

within the crate is really valuable.

Back. Good girl.

Back up, oi.

Back up. We said back up. You can do it.

Back...

Hey, Mo, back up.

That's it. Good girl.

Good, Mo. Good trunk up.

Good open.

Alright.

But to get them to that position involves a lot of small steps

done over many, many months.

The foot.

Open.

By doing that on repetition every single day,

it means that come the day of transport,

it should just be another day for them.

They get in the crate,

and the only difference is we close the doors in front

and behind them.

Cool. Ready when you are.

Alright, Mosey. Back up.

Tang Mo, back thoi.

Good girl. Back.

Good girl, Mosey. Back up, thoi.

Good girl. Back.

Good girl.

Tang Mo and Pak Boon, I've been lucky enough to work with them

for about nine years now.

I love you. You did so well.

Tang Mo, move up.

The training session went very well.

It's just a matter of building resilience.

And as you can see, she's doing a fantastic job.

Good girl, Boons. Move up.

While Tang Mo is handling crate training like a pro,

when it comes to Pak Boon, alarm bells are ringing.

Good, open.

There you go. Very good.

During one of our crate sessions,

we noticed when we threw her treat to her right side,

that she didn't pick up on it visually.

Alright. Back up, thoi. Thoi, back, back.

Good girl. Back up. Back.

Good girl.

And when she was backing up as well,

she kinda missed a few treats.

So, that was the first indicator

when we realised maybe something was up.

I think she's done.

Good steady, Pak Boon, huh?

So, upon closer inspection,

we noticed a slight deformation in her eyeball,

which then led us to get the vets involved.

From then, we noticed that there was an ulceration

forming on her eye,

which then consequently showed us that there was a-a perforation

in her cornea.

Alright. Pak Boon, back up, thoi.

If Pak Boon's eye is, in fact, injured,

she won't be allowed to travel,

and that means the elephant's move to a new life at Monarto Safari Park

could be placed on hold indefinitely.

Good girl, Pak Boon.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

One of the challenges of running a zoo

is feeding the different types of animals from all over the world.

Good morning, Pam.

You ready for your brekkie?

From pellets, grains and hay to all types of meat,

every animal has a diet that Taronga staff need to accommodate.

Good girl.

But for the African herbivores,

there's a surprisingly abundant source of their favourite foods

not too far away.

Today, the horticulture team

is going out to the Western Sydney Airport.

There is basically...

just...

It's almost an unlimited source of olive for us.

African olive is considered a noxious weed here in Australia,

but for our African species,

it's a food source.

We are literally just collecting olives today,

and that's it.

That is it.

And we're going to fill up this trap to its capacity...

Right, OK.

..and distribute it all around the zoo.

We'll be giving to the giraffes...

the gorillas, the chimps...

some of the smaller animals as well.

OK. Hungry mouths to feed.

(LAUGHS) Yes.

There's a few. There's a few. Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

There's a new airport being built in New South Wales.

Is this it?

Yeah. We're at the airport.

Right. Wow.

It sits on 1,700 acres of land,

but the airport has a huge weed problem,

and team Taronga are here to help.

Our partnership with the Western Sydney Airport,

what that is doing is,

it's giving us a sustainable source of browse

to feed out to our animals...

and it's also gonna be removing a noxious weed from their bushland

and helping them regenerate the land as well.

It's an all you can eat buffet out there,

and we're ready to go.

Because that weed is about to be taken down.

Back at Taronga, the future of their Asian elephants is in limbo.

Steady.

As their move to their new home in South Australia

has been shut down and all because of Pak Boon's eye.

Recently, we have noticed

that Pak Boon has a small eye injury.

We wanna make sure she's in optimal health

for the journey to Monarto

and for her settling in period there.

Steady, Pak Boon.

Good. Open. There you go. Very good.

She's a very strong-willed girl,

and so, she has been a little bit resistant to topical treatment,

and taking medicine and having her eye looked at particularly closely.

What the vet team do know is that if Pak Boon's eye is left untreated,

it can turn into a series of serious issues for her.

Infections, blindness, and she could even lose her eye.

So, we have decided in consultation obviously

with our-our vets and ophthalmologists

that we work with,

that we are gonna need to do a full general anaesthetic,

so that they can really get in there

and have a really good look at her eye

and provide any treatment that might be needed.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

And today's the day this jumbo patient

goes under the anaesthetic.

Start with that.

It's not something that happens very often.

This is a huge procedure for us.

The last time we did an elephant anaesthetic was ten years ago,

actually, to the day.

And we've got about 33 people involved.

Are we going Tetris, people?

Where?

We've got people coming in from interstate.

We've got equipment coming in from the interstate.

We've got equipment coming in from other hospitals.

It's a massive, massive undertaking.

Because the patient is the size she is,

to add even more complexity to the procedure,

it all has to happen at Pak Boon's place

in the elephant house.

And now, go straight, and you should be good.

I am keeping my voice down because we're just outside the barn

where the elephant currently is.

We've got tonnes of specialised equipment,

and now, we're just setting it up here

where the elephants won't be aware of it in

order to prepare ourselves, so it's on hand and ready to go.

Gabi, are the i-STAT cartridges in that black bag?

When people have anaesthetic,

you'll often have a tube pop down your throat

to help you to breathe.

This is the size, ET tube that we would use for an elephant.

So, same thing, just a bit bigger than my throat.

There's the whole pole.

There-there has been very high stress levels throughout.

This procedure is as big as it gets, so it's monumental.

We do regularly, do large animal and dangerous animal procedures.

This is all of the challenging factors rolled into one.

Add to that a very intelligent animal.

They're completely onto us.

Elephants are so intuitive.

They absolutely would know that we're here

no matter how quiet we try and be,

but we still try and minimise disturbance

and keep them in their normal routine,

and we don't wanna cause them any stress

and therefore not work as well for the trainers.

And that's what we're relying

on to be able to administer the medications for the anaesthetic.

The last thing anyone wants today

is to try and anesthetise

4 tonnes of disgruntled elephant.

In Sydney,

Pak Boon's eye operation is about to get underway.

And at the hospital, Michael, the anaesthetist,

is one of the specialists brought in for today's

rather delicate procedure.

I'm leading the anaesthesia

on the elephant, Pak Boon today.

Um, it's a very challenging thing.

She's three... over 3,800kg.

So, we've got to...

we've got to manage all that and monitor it

and understand what's-what's going on.

Ah, pretty soon.

So, etorphine

is a...is a ultra potent opioid.

Less than one half of a mil is enough to make

that 3,800kg elephant lie down.

Ah, so, it's enormously powerful.

But unfortunately,

it comes with the risk of-of being pretty lethal for humans as well.

And so, we've gotta be very, very careful

when we're using it to protect ourselves, uh,

with that because the less than a drop is gonna kill-kill a human.

So, we cover up as much of our skin as possible.

Alright.

So, probably just stand back a bit, I reckon.

Yeah. Yep. Yep.

When we're using such a dangerous drug,

we have, uh, protocols, uh, to keep us safe.

And one of those today is having actually our ambulance personnel

right here with us.

So, in the event of an exposure,

we've got that sort of medical help just right there.

With the etorphine at the ready,

Michael heads down to the elephant house.

OK. Thanks everyone for coming this morning.

An army of vets, keepers and veterinary specialists

have come together to take part in today's epic procedure.

Ah, just wanna quickly go through the risks.

I think the main things for today are masks,

so, the biosecurity.

One thing, these masks, what we were thinking,

once she's down and intubated and starting the ventilation,

that's when we're masking on.

So, we're not masking on right now

because she's not used to us in masks.

Yep. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Alright.

Yeah. That makes sense.

The other one is obviously manual handling

and working around the elephant.

So, just being really mindful

of particularly when you're in the store with her,

and particularly those key moments

are gonna be when she's going down

and then obviously when she's coming out at the end in recovery.

There's a few important considerations with an elephant

anaesthesia.

Just being really, really mindful, not crawling under her at any point

to get any straps in.

Number one is

danger to the people just based on her size.

At any point, we may be asked just to leave,

and you'll have to just kinda drop everything

and step out of the stall.

Because 4 tonnes is a lot.

Once she's down, we can't move her.

Ah, one of the other big risks for today

is the use of etorphine.

So, I'm just gonna get Feli

just to quickly run through risk mitigations.

One of the anaesthetic drugs we're using is etorphine.

The ambos are on-site.

Etorphine is a very potent drug.

It's much stronger than morphine,

and it can kill you if you get a drop of it on your skin.

So, the important things to remember is

there will be an exposure spot at her rump

where she's injected in the muscle.

She'll get the injection.

It'll be cleaned down and marked with bright green.

Anything that's bright green indicates etorphine,

so, don't touch it.

If there is an etorphine emergency,

the ambulance guys are on-site under contact to get them

where they need to be immediately.

We know how to provide first aid for it.

Obviously, they are far better at doing so than us

and probably a lot quicker.

A drop in your mouth or in your eye

will kill you within minutes.

So, that's why we have ambulance here,

and we have a lot of procedures and protocols in place...

(CLEARS THROAT) to make sure that doesn't happen.

And if it does happen, that we can act on it immediately.

Any questions?

Just no touchy.

No touchy-touchy. That's it.

But if you think you're busy doing something else...

With the formalities out of the way,

Michael heads for the elephant house,

while Taronga's vet team watch on anxiously

with the two specialists who have been brought in

to work on Pak Boon's eye.

My name is Kelly Caruso,

and I'm a board certified veterinary ophthalmologist.

How much time do you need to set up?

We'll need probably 20 minutes.

To-to set up? To set up.

OK.

My name's William Irving.

I'm also a board certified ophthalmologist.

So, the pair of us together today

will be hopefully fixing Pak Boon's eye.

Pak Boon has a hole in her eye,

and the part of the eye the hole is in

is called the corneum,

which is the clear front part of the eye,

which is necessary for vision.

It's also causing her discomfort, this hole.

As soon as we get in there,

we wanna have quick access to the eye,

to the globe itself, and then the goal is-is to look at the hole,

look at the tissue around there,

look at the cornea, see how healthy it is.

The cornea is the front clear part of the eye.

Yeah.

Look at the iris,

which is the coloured part of the eye

that's sort of coming forward to help block, um, the hole.

Try to push everything back into its normal anatomical location,

make sure it looks healthy, patch it and get out.

We've got all sorts of tissue

and synthetics and her own tissue

that we're planning on using to repair this hole,

and that's the goal.

We wanna try to get this fixed as quickly as possible.

What we don't want to happen is,

we have to enucleate the eye, which means remove it.

We'll make that decision pretty quickly

depending on how healthy the tissue is or not.

With the etorphine injection complete,

Michael marks the spot

with a fluoro green spray paint.

Today's procedure is gonna be really challenging for all of us.

You can tell by the number of people that all hands-on deck today.

I'll...I'll...I'll wheel this.

So, there's a lot going on.

I think every team has their own challenges.

(TENSE MUSIC)

From the ophthalmic standpoint and trying to repair this eye...

if we go from zero to ten, ten being the hardest,

we're probably at 100.

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

Leaving the animals behind, Taronga's horticulture team

have ventured out of the zoo

to the Western Sydney Airport site.

Let's go. Yeah. Great.

Where they're preparing to harvest an exotic treat

for Taronga's African residents.

So, what we've got here is African olive.

It does look...

It is in the olive family,

so, it is related to the European olive.

However, this is a weed from Africa,

so, it really takes hold here in our natural bushlands

and colonises everything,

crowding out a lot of our native species.

So, coming out here and removing the bulk of the vegetation...

we're minimising its opportunity to spread seed,

and we're also feeding the animals that love to eat it.

So, this is a perfect hanger.

But it's not one size fits all.

So, we're looking to cut different sizes

for the different sized animals.

Something like this will be going to the giraffes.

Quite a large branch for quite a large animal.

Something big can be used to sort of hang up and-and allow the giraffes

to sort of feed on it.

And then we do a selection of-of slightly smaller stuff

that they bundle up and put in pots along the fence line

as a different way to sort of feed it out as well.

Creates a bit of interest for the animals.

So, I'm just gonna cut, like, these smaller ones here.

Alright.

Some of the smaller branches will be given out to the primates.

Some of those will be turned into little bouquets

and-and sort of hung up as well.

It's a really rewarding unique part of horticulture,

providing the food for the animals.

It's great to be able to provide a staple part of their diet.

For giraffes. This is primates.

Primates.

So, this is... ..specifically gorillas.

That's fence for giraffes. That's fence for giraffes.

More primaty stuff up there.

More primate and I probably got some more fence stuff.

This is the hangers.

This is hangers. There's no shortage.

Okey-doke.

We're probably close to done.

We're gonna be looking at filling up the truck.

The truck will hold about 20sqm of African olive, thereabouts,

and we'll try and fit as much as possible in to bring back.

With a truck full of goodies,

they set off for Taronga, where Pak Boon,

the Asian elephant is now sedated,

so, the entire vet team can safely enter the elephant house

for today's big procedure.

The risks of anaesthetising an adult elephant

are mainly around her size

and her respiratory system.

If she goes down onto her chest

and we can't move her onto her side,

then that makes it very, very difficult for her to breathe.

So, getting her to lie down

when she's anaesthetised is really hard in a safe way

and in the position that you want her to.

So, there's an army of people using ropes, slings and a crane

to get this big lady to hopefully lie down safely.

The worst thing that can happen

if she goes down and her head is forward

and her trunk is underneath her, and then we've only got minutes

to save her and move her.

Yeah.

Come here. Guys, go down.

So, everyone's on tenterhooks, especially for this part.

Plan two, (INDISTINCT).

Wait. Wait.

Wait. Flex it.

Wait. Pull.

Once she's down and once she's on her side,

then we'll be a lot more comfortable.

Down.

Can we get a rope around those far side and pull up?

Please hold on.

Get it down.

The brilliance of the elephant keeping team.

So, you know, I can't string up a laundry line.

They were able to string up an elephant in a beautiful,

safe way where it looked like a ballet.

So, as she went to sleep,

she got lifted off a little bit off her feet,

and those legs got pulled under,

and she lay down soft as anything with a nice tyre under her head.

It couldn't have gone better.

It was a beautiful thing.

With Pak Boon comfortably down...

You've got gloves on.

Can you just connect that up, um, for me?

It's our lifeline.

Michael and his team just need to make sure she's stable.

I don't know.

Would do you want to do this

and then I'll stick the catheter in or...

Before the eye specialists can get to work.

She's breathing on her own.

I'm just supplementing her. OK.

How many breaths a minute are we getting?

About six.

Six. OK. Six.

So, what's the heart rate?

37. 37. So, it's OK.

Pressure has been good.

(INDISTINCT). Yeah. Main pressure, 37.

Yeah. 38, in total.

In total. So, she's all good. Yeah.

Anaesthesia's tough.

They are a big animal.

There are certain things you have to be really careful with.

Michael, at what stage can the ophthalmologist come in?

Oh, now, now. Yeah. Go for it. OK.

Access to the eye, um, the way that they're laying,

and-and us getting to the eye

is gonna probably be one of the hardest

aspects of the procedure today.

Their eye position might change.

So, you tell me what eye position... Is that OK for you?

Would you expect that what you're doing is

gonna be very painful?

No. No. No. Alright.

Just a little bit of stinging with a local anaesthetic maybe?

Yeah.

While the eye specialists often work on smaller animals...

She has some unique abilities that our usual dogs

and cats do not have.

The sheer size and weight of an elephant

makes even the simplest task extremely challenging.

They have incredibly strong eyelid muscles.

Even under anaesthesia,

they are really difficult to open their eyelids.

I would love a pair of forceps. Yep.

Because I'll hold it for you and you can...

Let's grab...

Can we grab that sterile, the sterile stuff over?

Because I'll-I'll try and get one of those speculums in.

Yep. It might help us quite a bit.

Yeah. It's pretty low dose then.

Give it a try and see what we get.

Oh, boy.

Wow.

There's like all this grit in here.

With the minutes ticking by...

One hour down.

..the worst case scenario starts to look more and more likely.

You happy? You there?

No.

If they can't get the injured eye into position,

then they can't fix it.

We're sort of a little bit of heart sinking moment thinking,

oh, are we actually gonna be able to get this done?

(INDISTINCT).

Jesus.

(THEME MUSIC) (BIRD CHIRPS)

The horticulture team have returned from their airport run

and are unloading their baggage.

Back at Taronga, we've got a browse fridge.

And inside that, we store the different fresh feed

for different animals in tubs of water.

The tubs, they've got every day of the week on them,

and they get fed out to the animals,

so, we can keep track of what they're getting.

And inside there we're storing the African olive

that we're bringing back today for the primates.

What we do is, we try to give them a distribution of various species.

They've got a good variety in their diet

and a minimum of three different things per day.

Typically, African olive will feature

almost every day as well.

The browse fridge is where the horticultural team's job ends,

and the keeper's job begins.

The keepers are responsible for delivering the browse

to the hungry animals in their respective habitats.

This enrichment is really important for our squirrel monkeys.

So, you can see they're all rummaging through this browse,

and they're running around a bit crazy,

and that's because they are very excited.

But the squirrel monkeys' excitement is nothing

compared to what's happening in the African Savannah precinct,

where it's out with the old and in with the new.

Probably drop that there...

and I'll go grab some more browse.

So basically,

we get the hooks in all of the branches,

and we put the-the chains through them,

and then hang them up.

So, we'll raise these up,

and the giraffes will just eat it throughout the day.

The chains obviously make quite a loud sound.

The giraffes just listen to the sound of the chains going up.

They often come out when they hear it.

They start drooling. They get very excited.

We hang browse because giraffes are obviously quite tall.

In the wild, they're quite an interesting species in terms of,

they're the only species that eat from the tops of canopies.

So, we need to rise these up. They've got long necks.

They need to be able to stimulate their tongue,

and it's just kind of mimicking their natural eating behaviours

as best that we can.

So, as you can see,

they're definitely enjoying our browse.

Ibo.

It's really rewarding to go out to the airport

and-and collect the sustainable food source and bring it back

as browse for the animals.

It's a win-win situation for us all.

Meanwhile, in the elephant house,

the ophthalmologists need to actually see

Pak Boon's damaged eye

before they can even attempt to fix it.

I'm just infiltrate some of her lid scale.

OK.

So, initially, we were really concerned about

how we were gonna get access to the eye.

You can take it from there.

Elephants just have such strong eye muscles,

and they like to pull their eye

back down into the socket.

So, when we started, it was almost about, you know,

an inch sitting there further down into the depths of her socket.

It is. So the globe is there.

We wanna get back from here.

We've got spinals we can pass. OK.

We can really pass around the back there.

That would be great.

And finally, after 18 agonising minutes...

So, I think we're in.

The result they were all hoping for.

Oh, that sounds good. Oh, yeah.

I mean... That felt really good.

You could just... I think that was perfect.

When the blocks started going in with the local anaesthetic,

her muscles started relaxing.

How's your access?

Yeah. Not bad.

Yeah, it's not bad. It's OK. Good.

You're not getting any response there.

I guess you've blocked it now.

Yeah. Yeah.

We were able to get the eye into a really nice position,

where we could do what we needed to do.

Oh, OK.

Yeah.

Up there? Yep.

From the moment she laid down and we got in there,

I thought we have to try to save this eye.

We just have to.

What do you think? Surgery?

Surgery?

Hopefully, we'll be able to get a graft in

and get the patch in as well.

No ego here, but we just wanted to save her eye.

We're good?

I think we're good. Let's do it.

Because we thought that would be her best possible outcome.

They think the best repair is possible,

so, we're gonna go for plan A. I love it.

They're not talking about taking the eye out, so I'm happy with that.

Let's have a look.

What do you think?

Excellent. I think it's that bright.

Good. Yeah. That's great.

Obviously, we had a few different plans in place.

The worst case scenario was that Pak Boon

had to have her eye removed.

OK.

Perfect.

OK.

We might not even need stay sutures.

Let's just...let's just do it.

But we've got our plan A in.

So, we got the best case scenario of what we could do,

the type of graft we wanted to get in there

to just give her the best possible chances of healing,

having a good outcome and having vision.

So, plan A was, yeah, like the sliding corneal graft.

Yeah.

They're gonna integrate the...the...the synthetic graft,

the pork graft into the corneal layer.

So, at least you'll have two layers if that comes down.

Fingers crossed.

(LAUGHS)

We have a six-punch biopsy.

Let's cut a six. Six.

And can I have a six four...

Six punch of biopsy and the bios... biopsies.

And can I have a 64-beaver blade, please?

It was go, go, go from-from the start.

What did you think, down the bottom?

I'm thinking it's gonna be hard with this.

Yeah.

We kinda didn't know what we were getting ourselves

into going into it.

At the limbus? Yeah.

It was all just quick decisions being made.

How are you guys progressing? Good.

We've just retrieved the graft. Yep.

Um, we're about to dissect the area

around the hole and plug it,

and then we can pull the graft into place.

So, we're probably...

If everything goes perfectly, we're about 40 minutes.

40 minutes. Alright.

Although the eye surgeons are making quick progress,

it's a race against the clock

because the longer Pak Boon is under anaesthetic,

the more her life is at risk.

And no-one cares more about this beautiful beast

than her faithful keepers.

The keepers have been working with her for about 20 years

and that they were with her every day.

She's, you know, she's part of a family.

She's not just a zoo animal.

She's an extremely important...

animal to all of us

and a massive part of our lives.

And...

it weighs on everybody's head and heart

that if something happens to her today,

it will be just...

tragic.

You know, we're trying not to think about that.

But-but it's definitely a possibility

and something we have to consider.

So, we're all gunning for her.

It'll be...it'll be devastating if something bad happens.

What-what sort of time length do you reckon you guys are off?

So, we're suturing in the synthetic graft right now.

Yep. So...

30 minutes. 30.

30 minutes. OK.

But we're working quickly I promise.

Anaesthesia is risky for any animal,

let alone a 4-tonne elephant.

So, the eye surgeons are under pressure

to get Pak Boon's eye fixed

as fast as they possibly can.

The eyes rolling back down. Yep.

I thought earlier that at a scale of zero to ten,

ten being the hardest, we were at 100,

we were at 1,000.

It's OK. It's hard. Go on.

She seems lighter?

She could be a little bit lighter,

like she's-she's trying to pull her eye a little bit.

You feel like you've got this huge adrenaline rush.

I'll give her a little bolus of detomidine, I think.

The team here was spectacular.

You notice that she get... she's a bit deeper now?

Yeah. I think she seems pretty good.

She's seems pretty good.

The collaboration was...

the best, like, bar none, absolutely extraordinary.

She had a large hole

within her cornea sitting about here.

So, what we did, we stitched adjacent cornea

that we've harvested here and then slid that forward.

So, that brings a nice blood supply with it

and we've got healthy cornea sitting in the centre

where she'll do most of her seeing.

So, I think those last two should do us well.

Beautiful.

Lovely.

Lovely.

So, that was...that was intense.

OK. Surgery finished.

Finished.

And we did everything we thought we were gonna be able to do.

Ah...

This, I think, is a world first

for a corneal conjunctival transpositional graft.

So, a big, long, fancy word for her own tissue

and a sort of a seamless integration into her cornea.

OK. We're done.

Thanks, Gab.

OK. We'll take the capnography out.

Yep. Did you grab the light?

All things considered, it went better than we had expected.

We just need a pack of all those stuff.

You're done? We're done.

Because she's gonna be up in ten minutes.

Yep.

And all Pak Boon needs to do now is wake up.

Atipamezole.

OK. That's an important time.

12:11.

So, Pak Boon's vision, it's gonna take a little bit of time

to come back as she heals.

So, there's gonna be a lot of inflammation within the eye

while she's healing.

There's gonna be lots of blood vessels

growing in to kinda heal-heal the area in the cornea,

and that's all-all good,

uh, good part of healing,

and we should start to see some really good vision return.

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

Looking forward, in roughly 21-28 days,

the big stitches that they put in will start to dissolve.

For the first couple of weeks, she might close her eyes

to give her a good protection,

but once she hits that 21 days and the stitches start to dissolve,

she'll have her eye a little bit more open,

which is very exciting.

And hopefully, in the future,

the graft will be seen less and less

as the years go on.

So, it's a really positive outcome.

Such a good girl. Come on, girl.

Oh, good. Oh, that's it.

That's it.

Very good.

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

Attagirl girl, Pak Boon. Move up.

Pak Boon, move up.

Good girl.

Pak Boon, good girl.

Good girl, Boonie.

It's been a couple of weeks since the surgery,

and we've been checking out Pak Boon every single day in the bath,

to see how her eye is going and progressing.

Good girl.

She's slowly been opening it more and more every day

as she gets more and more comfortable

with what went on, through the-the procedure.

And as the stitches dissolve

and it becomes more comfortable for her,

we're expecting the eye to open even further.

But just by looking at her eye today,

we can see that the-the beautiful iris colour's back.

We can see that her eye is healing really nicely

and we're very happy with the progress.

Lean in. Pak Boon, lean in.

Good, steady.

Pak Boon, lean in.

Good, steady. Huh.

Good.

And with her eye being partly healed

or very much on its way to being healed,

we can resume the crate training and the transport training,

uh, which means that we're getting her

in the crate every morning,

making sure that she's comfortable in there again,

and back to where she was before as quick as possible.

What?

Mwah!

Love you.

It's not only the keepers that are happy with her recovery.

The ophthalmologist came in to check Pak Boon's eye,

and it's not very easy because she likes to keep it shut.

But they managed to get a very quick but good look at her eye

and they were really thrilled.

The eye is healing as well as it could hope to,

and so, she's OK to travel.

And so, after months of uncertainty,

Pak Boon and Tang Mo finally have the all clear

to head off to their new home in South Australia.

It's been about six weeks

since Pak Boon had her eye operation.

She's been given a clean bill of health by the vets

and deemed fit to travel to her new home in South Australia.

And today, after a century of calling Sydney home,

Taronga's elephants are finally saying goodbye.

Get Pak Boon now.

But then when Tang Mo's loading because that's when we really need

to make sure people aren't coming by.

Yeah.

Today we're moving our elephants

and my role here today

is overall coordination with the team.

Moment in history.

Yeah. It really is.

Amongst all the logistics and the stuff, it's like, oh,

actually this is quite a big day.

Yeah.

I think we are literally all running on adrenaline today,

and everything feels like it's really coming together.

20, 30 minutes.

The first crate will go past gorillas.

We're pumped.

We're excited. We're nervous.

We're anxious. We're everything.

Pak Boon, move up.

Attagirl, Pak Boon.

The first thing we need to do is get Tang Mo and Pak Boon

to load into their crate, so we can get on the road.

Same as yesterday, cable wise.

We've done so much preparation.

Training's been going really, really well.

Look at that beautiful eye.

Gorgeous.

So, it's kind of up to the girls now.

We need them to get in their crates.

Alright.

Very good.

Alright. See you outside.

See you soon.

One of the key things for today going really smoothly.

Ready when you are.

Just keeping things really normal for Pak Boon and Tang Mo.

Good girl, Boonie.

The keepers have been doing these training sessions

right about this time every day for months on end.

Move up.

So, it's really important today

that we keep everything really normal.

Alright.

Very good.

I've just found out from our keepers

that they have managed to get Pak Boon securely cratered.

So, she's in her crate,

and she'll be ready to go really soon.

And that's the cue for the crane to come in

and, well, do the heavy lifting.

It's a really great first step for this morning.

Really positive news.

And with Pak Boon making her way through the zoo...

it's Tang Mo's turn

to step up to the crate.

Good girl, Tang Mo.

Good girl, Mo.

Hey, Mosey. That's it, Mosey. Move up.

The elephants going to Monarto Safari Park,

it's gonna be very different here at Taronga Zoo,

without elephants here for the first time

since the zoo opened in 1916.

(SOOTHING MUSIC)

For us keepers as well...

a lot of us have worked with them for many, many years.

We are part of their family.

They're part of our families.

We are...we are very much one unit together.

And that one unit

is embarking on one huge 24-hour journey to South Australia

for the last time altogether.

(INDISTINCT).

Drive safe.

Each truck has a support vehicle, keepers in each support vehicle

with vets as well and vet nurses.

So, we'll be stopping at regular intervals along the way

to make sure we can check on the elephants.

(INDISTINCT) good girl, trunk down.

Came off. Back off. Back off.

Good.

Give them food, give them water, make sure they're doing OK.

We also have cameras in the crates to monitor them as we're travelling.

So, if there is ever any situation where we need to stop the trucks,

we will do that in a heartbeat.

Their safety is paramount to us.

We do everything with them in mind

and their welfare as a forefront of our...of our concerns.

Oh.

And eventually, Pak Boon and Tang Mo

reach their new home safe and sound.

This move to Monarto is very much

the next step in what they need in their lives.

Something that's gotta get done for their benefit, their welfare,

it's all about them.

Oh, where's all the animals?

She's doing very well so far.

She's just smelling all the different elephant smells

in the barn.

She's very alert and looking around,

but the fact that she's eating is a really good sign.

We as keepers are gonna stay there

for as long as we need to-to settle the girls in,

not only to their new home, but also to bond them

and to get them used to their new barn mates.

No.

And we'll hopefully fill the-the gap in their lives that they need

by having other elephants around them.

He's-he's coming too. (LAUGHS)

I don't think we'll ever get over them leaving.

I think they are a massive part of our lives,

but it's all about giving the best future possible.

While Pak Boon and Tang Mo

adapt to life in the Monarto Safari Park,

back in Sydney, preparations are well underway

for the next residents to move into the now empty elephant habitat.

Once our keepers return from Monarto Safari Park

and helping Pat Boon and Tang Mo settle in,

our focus will really shift to

what's happening later in the year here which is Hari,

the Greater One-horned rhino and three water buffalo are coming

from Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

So, Hari is about four-years-old now and he's definitely...

It's time for him to leave his mum and dad.

So, he needs to,

you know, move off and find his own territory

and his own space.

So, it is really quite lovely timing.

So, he'll be moving here later in the year,

and our elephant keepers will be...

will be looking after him and the water buffalo.

It's too early to say

whether these new residents will call Taronga home

for the next 100 years as well, but irrespective,

they have some pretty big shoes to fill.

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