Original subtitles

Ha!

This time.

Go on!

Dr. Michelle Oakley is deep in some musky business.

He's a jerk!

A new life hangs in the balance.

I'm gonna cry.

She's my bottle baby.

Aw! April, you gotta eat!

Wild horse herding takes a techie turn.

Go to left, go to left, go to left.

No We don't want 'em to cross the river!

And an easy rider treads a rough road.

Oh, it looks like a murder scene!

It's the first day of summer in Portage, Alaska,

where Dr. Michelle Oakley and her daughters, Sierra and Maya, are on a mission.

Muskox love!

So he's like, roaming right now?

Yeah.

They're headed to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

to treat two generations of Greenland muskoxen.

Two aggressive bulls have reached the end of their breeding run

and need to be neutered.

But first, Michelle is visiting a little guy

who has yet to reach puberty.

We're gonna go over to the baby.

Hi!

Is his name "Guac," like guacamole?

Cute.

Hi, monster man!

Guac is one of our newer babies this year.

He's about a month old.

Play! Play!

He was born here at the Center

to a bottle-raised mom.

At the Wildlife Center,

sometimes our moms don't know how to be moms,

and because of that, we have to bottle raise them for them.

Um, so that's why Guac is back here,

not with his mom, and not with the herd.

Before joining the herd,

Guac needs his vaccinations,

and a general physical exam to check for any birth defects.Oh, yeah.

He's been doing good on his bottle too? Oh, yeah.

So cute.

Okay. Well, let's have a look at him.

When we get in there,

I'm gonna see if I can get a quick physical exam in,

and then Maya's gonna distract him with the bottle

while I give him a quick poke with the vaccine.

Oh, buddy!

Oh, look at that little. Hi, grump!

Little muskoxy grumpy pants!

What're you doing, handsome?

Oh, my God.

You're super cute.

"I know it."

Are you a boy for sure?

For sure?

Oh, my!

Guac's parents are part of the Center's captive herd,

which has low genetic diversity compared to wild groups.

Though carefully managed by AWCC staff,

congenital birth defects from inbreeding

are a real possibility.

Just wanna feel your umbilicus!

Let me feel that belly button!

So I'm just making sure there's no umbilical hernias,

that the umbilicus is nicely dried up,

no infections, and that feels fabulous!

Oh, my God, you're so ridiculous.

I'm just, also, this is also part of the exam,

I'm making sure there's no cleft palate, which there's not.

He's got a good suckle too.

Yeah! He's got a really nice suckle, yeah. Good strong.

Woo! Now, he can have the bottle!

So, have him come between your legs,

'cause then he can't even see your mom come up from behind.

Okay. Look! Look!

This is where the udder is,

it's down between the legs!

A little distraction with the bottle

should buy Michelle a chance with the needle.

What are you giving him?

Vaccine, his clostridial one for tetanus and all those.

Ooh! You're not that distracted.

Got most of it!

Gonna have to get you one more a little bit!

Muskoxen's normal gut flora contain clostridial bacteria,

but bottle feeding can set up imbalances

that allow the clostridia to take over,

causing dangerous infection.

The vaccine can help Guac keep it in check.

It's okay!

All done! There you go!

Yay! Good boy!

He's gonna lose his mind after this is over.

So everything feels great.

You know, sometimes if there is any concern about,

you know, a tighter breeding,

then you really have to look for these defects

like cleft palate, heart defects, and stuff

but everything looks solid on him!

Yeah. Another booster in a couple months and you should be good.

It's done!

Okay. Let's go play! Let's go play!

Come on! Let's go! Come on.

Guacamole looks great!

He's spunky and grumpy,

just the way a muskox calf should be.

You have to teach him the ways of the herd.

Let's all be a muskox band!

See, we're supposed to protect you!

In a circle! Butts in, everybody!

Oh, he's being part of it! Aw!

He's in the circle!

Oh, my God, how cute! good boy

Soon, you'll be back with the real muskox herd. Woo!

Guac will rejoin the herd in October once he's weaned.

Okay! See you, Guac!

Bye, buddy!

Next, the crew is off to see his bigger,

badder relations in the Center's muskox herd,

two testy bulls in need of a quick fix.

So, we're here to neuter Wrangell and Yukon today,

the Center's big breeding bulls.

So, um, the plan is for two today, right?

Definitely we wanna try and get Wrangell for sure.

Okay. He's the priority.

Um, he's the priority.

So, the Wildlife Center has two male muskox

they are at kinda the top of the pecking order.

We decided that we should castrate the adult males

because we don't need any troubles with inbreeding.

Is he like the breeding bull? Yeah?

Last year, he was.

Last year?

Wrangell has already fathered his fair share of calves,

so it's time for him to pass the torch to new blood.

Do you think you'll have luck getting Wrangell in?

I think he'll come,

they'll come right up for the food. Okay. Perfect.

And then it'll just be a game of Russian roulette

getting him to go back out again. Right. Okay

We have to just kinda see what happens.

We can bait with the grain a little bit.

Come on, Wrangell!

Oh, my God, look at him come running!

Ready or not,

Wrangell and a slew of other muskoxen jockey for the grain.

Just wait, just let 'em all in if they gotta.

Wrangell's coming.

While the herd is chowing down,

Michelle will sedate Wrangell

and then chase the others back to pasture,

but it's no cakewalk.

Muskox are a really hardy, prehistoric species.

They're like a holdover from the last Ice Age.

They can be grumpy at the best of times.

When he comes in here, I'm not kidding,

we have to get out, okay?

'Cause he's a jerk.

Wrangell might attack or escape

if they try to drive the others off now,

so they'll have to wait until he's sedated.

Okay. Shut it!

Okay! Hi! Is this him?

So, he's right next to the fence down there.

The last one?

Yeah.

Okay. Who's this?

This is Yukon.

He'll stay with me and the bucket. Okay.

Now that Wrangell's within striking distance,

Michelle can move in with the needle.

Hi, Wrangell!

I know you know what this is.

I know. I'm sorry.

You're not dumb.

I know!

Did she get him, did she get him, did she get him?

Whoa! Go on.

Let's see how much of that he got.

Woo-hoo! He got it all!

He, he might go down really quick,

he's already doing a bit of a funny.

He's mad at me.

I think I'll try and just get past him.

They have a roar like a lion! it sounds like a lion growling!

They do actually!

They have the same kinda mechanism for a growl,

for a roar, I mean.

In their larynx.

You know how grumpy he is?

Yeah. He was pretty annoyed.

While Wrangell's drugs take effect,

the Oakley women gear up for the procedure.

We got everything for surgery ready to roll, right?

Towels.

There, we were using the black thing.

It's in between the two towels.

Sierra's riding shotgun as Michelle's vet tech,

with Maya assisting them both.

Okay.

Heads up, he's going down now, so.

Perfect!

Yukon! Go on, Yukon!

With Wrangell down for the count,

the rest of the herd must be evicted,

but Yukon has other ideas.

Oh, geez.

We got a problem.

No, you don't!

Leave him be! Shoo!

All right, everybody out!

Shoo.

Out. So now that Wrangell's down,

Yukon's taking that opportunity to kinda step up in the herd.

Muskox are social animals,

and so, if they have a leader

and that leader starts to show a sign of weakness,

Yukon's gonna pick on Wrangell

to prove to the lady folk that

he is actually more fit to be the leader.

Shoo! Out! Get out!

I know what you wanna do,

but you're not doing it!

If Yukon can't be shooed away,

he could seriously injure the unconscious Wrangell.

Get on out! Get outta there!

Here! Here!

Go.

Git! Git, git, git!

Out! Shoo, shoo!

Open it! Come on.

Get out! Come on!

Go on. Get out!

Get out.

Go on!

With Yukon banished beyond the fence,

Michelle can prep for Wrangell's surgery.

Come on. Help me push him up.

Oakley power! One, two, three!

Okay, stop.

We're gonna put his blindfold on.

Go grab the hoof trim kit!

Do the eyes and then we can get a temp too.

Monitoring Wrangell's vitals is crucial

to ensure a smooth surgery with no complications.

Sierra, get that oxygen turned on and running at two.

Where is your butt?

Oh, gross!

hat is the dirtiest skirt I've ever seen!

They have a little tail, as you can see,

but you normally don't see it.

It's sorta like a little rabbit tail or something.

38.2 for temperature, Sierra!

With Wrangell's vital signs stable,

Michelle can get a feel for the task at hand.

They're both there.

Good lord!

Are they monsters?

Well, it's just this hair is so yuck!

He has got some skanky ol' underpants on back here.

He's a dirty boy!

He is, man.

Little bit of cleanup in aisle one to do here.

Right. Start working with them.

Yuck.

While Wrangell's rear gets sorted out by Michelle,

his AWCC handlers are taking care of his overgrown hooves.

You're gonna have to cut that split off.

And making sure his horns aren't a danger to the team,

if he should suddenly twitch or wake up.

Oh, yeah! Tennis balls.

Thank you!

Okay. Put them on the horns.

This one is. That's good!

Can you, can you hand me the lidocaine syringe?

'Cause I'll block these right now.

Thank you.

Here, I'll take it.

So right now, I'm just blocking the testicle

where I'm gonna cut and crush.

He doesn't feel that.

Uh, he got 40 mils total.

With Wrangell feeling no pain,

Michelle is ready to scrub in.

Sierra, you wanna get my gloves out and stuff?

The goal is to make this surgery as sterile a procedure as possible,

as much as you can do that in a muskox pen.

Okay. I'm making a cut!

Everybody ready?

Watch for a jump,

just watch your head there, Jen, for a second.

Let me make a cut

and then we'll see where he's at, okay?

Oh, boy.

So he's not reacting at all, which is all good.

So with these guys,

you take the bottom of the scrotum right off,

and that allows for drainage.

They're way less likely to get infected.

You want it to heal from the inside out.

So, this is the testicle right here.

And right here if you see all this mess going on,

that's a whole whack of vessels in there,

the pampiniform plexus.

And it's basically a ton of huge vessels

all wrapped around each other,

and the reason for that is so that

muscle can let it drop and pull it in

and those vessels can cool

and keep the sperm at the exact right temperature.

All right, so we're puttin' this on now.

In addition to sperm,

the testes also produce testosterone.

Cutting off his supply should soften Wrangell's abrasive personality.

Make sure I don't have any little bit of tissue in there

or he'll still have hormones.

Okay, nut to nut, and, yeah!

And, there we go!

Muskox oysters. Ha!

Wrangell's surgery is half over,

and Michelle preps the next testicle for removal.

You can do castrations closed or open,

and that just, what that means is

whether or not you leave the tunic around the testicle itself;

it's like a little membrane.

And I'm not.

That's the tunic, I'm taking it right out.

'Cause this way, I can see the vessels better,

be really, really confident about my tie and about any bleeding.

The only downside to it is if they have a hernia,

guts can come through that canal,

and they could herniate out on the ground.

But I had a good feel up in there,

did not feel any signs of a hernia.

All right!

It's kinda like, "What's your bigger risk?"

You know? The risk of bleeding,

I think, is higher than the risk of herniation.

Yeah, totally.

Wrangell's blood vessels are securely tied

and Michelle can complete his surgery.

Yeah, I'm doing the second one.

Second ball!

All right. So get ready.

Okay.

Maya, pull up the reversal for me and chop-chop!

Ha, ha, get it? Chop-chop.

Wrangell's surgery was a success

and Michelle can reverse his sedation.

So I'm gonna give him the reversal.

But waking up fully takes time

and his movements may be dangerous and unpredictable.

Ooh! Okay, everybody out!

Put that in the blue tube, Maya.

They have to clear the pen

before Wrangell's hooves and horns start flying.

How will you wanna--oh!

Frick! Damn it!

Wrangell the muskox's castration went well.

I'm sorry, buddy!

But he's flailing dangerously

while coming out of his anesthesia.

Let's get you up!

Watch yourself!

And trying to help him up is risky business.

Darn it! Get out, Jeff!

There. Oh!

With big animals like muskox,

there's only so much a couple humans can do

to try and get 'em back on their feet.

Watch it!

If they're struggling a lot,

it could be really dangerous for us to be in there.

We've just gotta step back,

keep our fingers crossed, and watch from a distance.

Geez, buddy! Why are you so tricky?

We didn't quite get him sternal yet,

so he had a hard time getting himself sternal,

until he burped a few times, so.

It doesn't hurt him at all.

It's just stressful.

And it hurts my heart.

I don't like to see 'em like that.

Feet look way better.

At least he's walking around, like, really well.

That's good.

I'm just glad you didn't get kicked.

Dr. Oakley finished up with Wrangell.

Look at him walking.

He looks like he needs a bag of peas.

So we're gonna try and get Yukon next.

Yukon is another large male who must not be allowed to breed.

Come on, Yukon!

Here he comes! Sucker!

But it's down here in Portage, Alaska,

and at the Wildlife Center,

it likes to rain.

And it looks like it could be a messy one.

Conditions are nasty is what they are.

Stop raining!

Aw, it's getting worse!

No, no, we're gonna probably have to call this.

This is too nasty.

It's not that we're gonna melt or anything.

It's just trying to get an animal down

if it's not like an emergency procedure.

It just adds more risk to it.

When anything gets soaking wet

and is under anesthesia for a while,

then I could set him up for hypothermia,

which wouldn't be nice.

Ah, too much rain!

All right.

Let's just call it.

Too risky!

Yeah.

It's Yukon's lucky day,

as the Oakley crew packs it in

and rests up for their next day's work.

They're headed to the sprawling reindeer farm in Palmer, Alaska,

whose breeding herd is on display for visiting animal lovers.

Put on sunscreen today, just in case.

Oh, it's busy here today!

Oh, yeah.

There are about 150 reindeer in the farm's herd,

but owner Denise needs Michelle's help

with one very special calf

who's been sick for much of her short life.

So today, we're gonna look at my baby, April.

Oh! I'm gonna cry.

She's my bottle baby!

Aw, aw! Aw! We'll help you with her.

And she's struggling, so.

Aw, I'm so sorry!

Yeah. Okay.

Let's bring her around and see what we can do.

That's the one who's been having trouble

like just going on and off the, her bottle,

not feeling like eating.

Uh-hmm. Yeah. Fevers off and on. Yeah.

Okay, okay.

Don't worry, we're gonna help her!

Don't you worry!

I know how, I know how hard it is with those babies

when you put everything into 'em and.

Yeah. It's hard to watch.

So we're gonna go to where, uh,

Denise has the reindeer calves.

Um, they're right behind her house,

so she can keep an eye on 'em.

She's out here throughout the night.

Sometimes, she has 'em in the house.

Hi, babies!

Aw, look at the babies and the babysitter!

I mean, she loves all of the reindeer here,

but when she has to look after the babies that need extra care,

I mean, that's a 24/7 job,

and it's impossible not to get attached to them.

April is the first one there,

with the red halter and the red tag.

The silvery one.

April is so sweet.

I think we just have a special bond

because we've worked really hard together the last couple months.

So, she's about two and a half months.

She's actually one day older than the big one.

So she should be closer to that size. Yeah. She should be that big, yeah.

At about a month and a half old,

she started having a really high fever

and it's been kind of a rollercoaster with her up and down.

When I first took her temp

and it was like off of my thermometer. It was. Okay.

My thermometer goes to about 106.5

and it just blinked, "high, high, high."

Since one of April's main symptoms is lack of appetite,

Michelle begins her exam at feeding time.

How about if we go ahead and bottle feed 'em

and then we can take a look at April?

Okay. Okay. Hopefully, she'll eat.

When she's not feeling good,

she doesn't always eat a whole bottle.

But we'll give it a try.

Georgie, come here!

Hi! Are you looking for yours?

You want your bottle?

There you go.

Hi May, come here!

Hi!

And then, this is April.

She's not even gonna touch it.

April, come here!

April, you gotta eat!

And no diarrhea, you said, right?

April's fellow calves suck down four full bottles each day,

but April can only tolerate a little over half that.

Reindeer calves,

when they start to go on and off the bottle,

it, it's really touch-and-go.

And it can be really tough when they get into this cycle

to ever bring them out of it.

Let me grab her.

Oh, man, that's sad!

Come here, missus!

I know.

Does it hurt?

No? No? Come on! Come on! No?

So then, like, usually when she turns up her bottle completely,

she usually has a temperature.

So maybe we wanna take her temp.

We'll just see what that is. Okay. Yeah, we'll do that.

So watching April. April!

You know, she looks really perky right now but is,

she's just not interested in the bottle.

She kinda plays with it.

Okay. I'm sorry about this, April.

So we're just taking her temperature

'cause she's not want to eat at all.

Here, come over here.

And often, if they're feverish, yup.

April has a low fever of 102.6 degrees Fahrenheit,

which could be a sign of a serious condition.

When they start to show signs like fevers,

combined with the history that Denise is telling me,

really all points to abomasal ulcers.

So, you know, we really have to take this serious.

It probably is ulcers,

and you're probably fighting a chronic thing.

Oh.

April, the baby reindeer has a serious stomach condition,

and Michelle needs to get her back on track.

It's kinda classic, abomasal ulcers.

Like there's something.

So, um, I think we just need to get a little bit more aggressive

about treating them.

Okay.

Reindeer stomachs have four chambers,

but only the final chamber called the abomasum

contains stomach acid.

Okay. Good baby.

I just wanna make sure there's no sores in your mouth.

Ulcers in calves are actually fairly common.

What happens when they get stressed or sick

or go on and off a bottle

or adjusting to the new formula,

the acid that's normally in the stomach

can start to cause erosions,

and it can kinda cause these holes basically in the stomach lining.

Those can get so painful,

they won't wanna eat.

How's her body condition look for being,

I mean, I know she's so small.

You know, her body size is small.

She certainly doesn't have a lot of reserves.

Let me have a listen to her heart and stuff.

Michelle continues her exam to get a more complete picture.

Her little achy-breaky heart. Okay.

But the results only reinforce her diagnosis of ulcers.

The way she's acting around the bottle and eating,

what we wanna do is, is,

give her something called omeprazole.

It's gonna take away that acid production

and allow the ulcer to heal.

You're already giving her a bit of sucralfate,

which is kind of a Band-Aid.

It kinda makes a goo and then sticks to the ulcer.

Okay. So, we're gonna probably up that quite a bit.

Add it to her bottle too,

so it actually gets down in there where we wanna give it to her.

Ruminant calves have four chambers to their stomach.

And if you give them oral medication,

it just goes to that first chamber,

which is not where the ulcers are.

So, we're gonna put the medicine with the milk

right into her bottle.

Because when they're taking a bottle

and they get that latch with their tongue,

basically there's a tube that forms

and bypasses the other three chambers

and takes the medicine right to that last chamber

and delivers it where it needs to be to protect her stomach.

You little stinker.

We just want you to eat what you're supposed to eat,

not all this stuff!

With April's course of treatment laid out,

Denise will watch her progress closely. Okay.

Um, then I'll come back in a few days

and we'll see how she's responding to that, okay?

Okay.

Good stuff! Sounds good.

Thank you! All right!

Come on, girls.

We gotta go!

Michelle hits the long road back to the Yukon.

Here, the Alaska Highway

and the first nation's village of champagne is beset

by feral horses descended from tame animals

that escaped from the village generations ago.

Fifty years ago, these horses used to belong to

some of the families in Champagne,

and they've gone wild since then.

You know, they've really been increasing,

their numbers are getting to be so much

they're starting to come out on the road

and they're gonna get hit.

In addition to endangering themselves and motorists,

the wild horses have been wreaking havoc

with champagne's horse owners.

They're not wildlife.

They're feral.

They're harassing the other horses.

They'll break the fence down,

round up the mares and steal them.

Michelle Dawson-Beattie,

a community leader in the Yukon first nations,

needs Dr. Oakley's help to mitigate the growing problem. Hello, how are you? Good.

And have you seen them lately?

Uh, I saw them last night.

Well, should we go scout it out

and see if they're actually still there?

Yeah, that'd be a good idea.

To keep the wild population in check,

feral horses are sometimes captured for personal use

and this isn't Dr. Oakley's or Michelle's first rodeo.

Two years ago, Dr. Oakley swooped in to capture a colt

for Michelle to breed with her own horses.

Hey, it's a boy!

Yes! Oh, my God! Good job!

But this time, the two Michelles are trying to stop the feral herd

from rustling her horses back out to the wild.

Sorry about the dog hair!

Okay. I'm used to it.

So there's a small herd of wild horses near Michelle's house,

and so, there's a couple young studs

getting kicked out from the group.

I'm worried if these two younger stallions get kicked out,

then they're gonna, you know, be after my horses, and be.

Oh, yeah. Oh, I agree with you.

They would, as soon as they get kicked out,

they're gonna be like,

"Oh, what's going on over here?"

Yeah.

When a young stallion starts to come of age,

he's often kicked out of the herd.

And that's good 'cause it prevents inbreeding.

Just turn down this road here. To the left? yeah

But the resulting bachelor will try and start a harem of his own.

And sometimes that means

they'll go and try and round up other mares

to take them back out with them.

And the nearest mares are Michelle's herd.

How many were in the group?

There was six,

but then my cousin's horse took off up there so, tsk.

Oh. Well, let's not dart that one.

Yeah.

With local livestock in jeopardy,

many people want to cull the nuisance stallions.

But Michelle has a friendlier solution.

So we're headed out today to see

if we can find the herd,

and hopefully I can dart those two young guys,

give them the snip-snip,

and then she can just add them to her own private herd.

Yeah. So if you just wanted to pull here.

Let's have a look.

The herd was seen in the vicinity last night,

and with any luck, they haven't gone far.

But there's a big white mare,

and she's usually pretty easy to see. Oh, yeah.

Oh! I think I see,

is there a white mare out there?

Yeah.

I think that's her.

Please don't be her.

I would rather it not be her.

Oh, yeah. That is them.

Dang it!

Though the horses are nearby,

they're in a terrible spot for Michelle's capture plan.

Well, they're down in a swamp.

They're basically on an island surrounded by swamp water.

Inaccessible right now.

I mean, even if we got in there to dart them,

we couldn't get them out.

There's no way we're gonna get them across the moat

and up the hill, so.

So in addition to not being able to access them right now,

I wouldn't even consider darting the stallion

because there's so much water around.

Shoot!

After I dart these guys,

I can't control which way they go.

So he could easily go down in a swampy area

or in the water and drown.

I mean, maybe if we go over there

and stomp around a bit,

throw a few things in the water,

they might start to, who knows.

And that's the only thing about that way is,

um, they tend to not go where you want them to.

Yeah. Yeah. That's for sure.

Damn!

Hey, Michelle, would it be worth using the drone

to try to push them over here?

Actually, that would be.

Yeah. That'd be a good idea.

Okay. So just as Michelle and I were thinking about calling it quits,

some of the camera guys had a genius idea

to use the drone to try and move them.

So if we could gently push them up onto dryer ground,

we might get another shot.

We just want them to come up this bank here.

The drone will also reveal

whether the young stallions they want

are still a part of the herd.

Yeah. There is one horse missing and, I don't know.

I wonder if that little guy is around here somewhere.

A small, grey stallion

is Michelle's top choice for capture,

but spotting him is not easy.

So the herd is hidden down in some really tall willows.

And from this distance,

I can't tell how many horses are there,

let alone male or female.

So we just need to flush them out of the bush

and see what we have to work with.

Okay.

Well, why don't we get the drone up

and see if we can get them to move.

Honestly, I thought it was a lot louder.

Horses do not like it.

Buzz of a giant wasp.

Michelle, where do you want him to go?

To the left and around?

Yeah. Go, sorry.

Go left, go left, go left!

You're gonna scare them right back!

So come from behind those big tall trees

and push them more towards us and up the hill.

Yeah.

Can you see them?

Which way are they turning?

Are they turning the way we want them to, Ryan?

Crossing the river now.

No! We don't want them to cross the river!

We want them to come this way!

Ugh! Darn it!

In the Yukon,

a herd of wild horses is on the run

from Michelle's camera drone.

But the operation is not going as planned.

You can see, you can see them. I can see them now.

Oh! Okay. Yeah.

They're turning!

No. They're going into the bushes. Oh, they're going to the bushes!

Get over, yeah.

See? Look at, they crossed already.

There's one.

Oh. Oh, they're already across.

Well!

I don't know.

Hold on. Have faith!

Okay. They just kind of disappeared into the trees.

Right. I mean, they're just so smart and wily.

They knew.

As soon as there was something in the air they didn't like,

they're like, "We need trees," so.

Cover.

Darn it!

I got them right here.

Okay.

And that's.

Oh, this is so cool.

Yeah. Where, where are they? But they seem to be heading,

Central? they seem to be heading that way.

Yeah. Oh, right.

Like, she's not even stopping, eh?

They're sort of turning back.

Can you come a little bit farther away from them

to give them more space?

You know what I mean?

Oh. Oh, I got you.

You wanna be at their butts,

so they're gonna go forward. Yup.

Yeah. Go on. Go on.

Think like a herding dog.

There we go.

Yeah. See, that's perfect.

See, when you give them space,

they, you know, where you don't want them to go.

They feel like they're free.

Okay. So they're coming towards us.

Oh, okay. Cool.

Oh, there they are.

Shut up.

Straight ahead.

They should be at our 1:00.

They're out in the open now.

Right there.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. They're going the right way.

Oh, here they come.

They wanna come

but they're kind of looking for activity.

Maybe we should, uh.

Tuck back in, Jeff.

The herd must feel like they have a clear path to safety,

so Michelle's team stays out of sight.

So now get between them and the willows,

so they don't go away towards the mountain.

There you go. There you go.

Actually, hold there! Hold there

I can hear them.\

Oh. Whoa! They're coming right towards us.

Right there, right there, right there! Oh, they're right.

Get down!

Though the horses pass only yards away.

There's the foal.

The trees screen them from view,

making darting impossible.

They, they were like right there.

They stayed right in the trees then.

Don't chase them anymore actually.

We'll just, we should just probably stop, eh?

Yeah, we could.

'Cause we're in a good spot now. We want them over there.

Rob, bring it down.

That was amazing.

That was cool.

Like, it actually worked to move them, so.

Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, Rob was actually able to coax the horses over

to this side of the water,

and now they're headed to an area that might be accessible.

All righty.

We sort of had a look at them through the trees,

but now we got to get after them with the vehicles

and see if the stallion Michelle wants is with this group.

Our work might not be done for the day.

Aha! There they are,

right through the bush there.

Their prime target is a young grey male,

but the dominant stallion may have already driven him from the herd.

And you see how the one stud is staring at us the whole time?

Oh, yeah.

That's the stallion.

That's the big guy.That's the big stallion.

The big daddy.

But he's not the one they really want.

It's more these younger stallions that are getting kicked out.

Do you see the younger one that you.

No. I don't know where the little grey one is.

He's definitely not there.

No, he's not. Darn it!

It's almost like he was getting kicked out,

getting kicked out,

and maybe it finally stuck.

Well, don't, I mean, do you think they're probably gonna hang around here now,

do you think?

Uh-hmm. Just kind of leave them for the day?

Yeah. And see if that other one shows up.

A day late and a dollar short,

but we're still hoping that

smaller stallion is lagging behind the group

and is gonna show up.

All right.

I'm gonna go the other way so I don't scare them.

The wild horses are still wild,

but Dr. Oakley's new herding technique was a success

that can be deployed again

if the young horse appears.

Next, Michelle and Sierra are off to Ruby Range Outfitters

to check on one of Ross Elliott's thirty trail horses.

Oh! There he is!

So, Ghost, you ready for this, my man?

Ghost is a nine-year-old stallion

with a wound that just won't heal.

Hey. So this is the guy, huh?

This is the guy.

All right. Oh, yeah.

I see he's got some kind of funny bump there.

How long has that been there?

Well, when I bought him a year ago.

And he had little bit of a, like an older wire cut

and little flap of skin on him.

Oh, okay. Yeah. And he was catching it on stuff

and opening it up a little more. Oh, great.

With this horse, Ghost,

he's just really a quiet, level-headed horse

which is the type of horses that we need for the clients

that we have coming up on these trips.

All the horses that work here, uh,

they've had their special places within you, I guess. T

hey work as hard as the rest of us,

and we are all part of the same team.

They're the backbone of what we do.

So if we do have a horse that goes down for any reason,

it's, it's quite a big deal for us.

It'll be kind of nice to deal with it

so it doesn't open up any more.

Okay. Well, we'll make him feel better.

I will get that healed right up for him.

The wound itself does not look very big.

The only thing that's, uh, you know, really a problem now is the flap.

Every time it gets pulled,

it, it opens up that cut again,

and it, it can't kind of knit shut like it should.

If left untreated,

the wound might never heal

and could lead to lameness.

A surgical solution is Ghost's best hope.

We want him to not be in pain

'cause every time he catches that, that hurts.

So we want to fix that.

We need to get the flap out of here.

Oh!

How would you like to just chill out

for about 20 minutes, half hour?

To keep Ghost calm and comfortable,

Michelle administers a sedative.

All righty. So for this procedure,

I'm just gonna do standing sedation.

I'm not gonna give him the type of sedation

where he would actually lay down.

Really, if he just stands still,

I can get the job done.

It's kind of tickly on your nose, huh?

So you could stand here Ross, even,

and just, just so he doesn't start staggering around.

And then I'm gonna come and start shaving that. Okay.

That's a funny-looking thing for sure.

Looks like a nose.

A closer look reveals a surprise about Ghost's lump.

Well, it's, it's really thick skin here that needs to come off.

It is almost like a great big giant callus that is there.

This is what is called proud flesh.

It is like tissue that kind of,

the more it's irritated,

the more it just tends to get bigger and grow.

Ghost's body has tried to form scar tissue over and over again,

which eventually accumulated into this flap.

As I am looking at it,

I can see how thickened

and actually hard that flap of tissue is.

Um, it's been there a long time and it shows.

I'll definitely have to do some remodeling.

I want that flap to go down

and I wanna then just suture it shut.

But on the other hand,

if it is not healthy skin,

it's not gonna heal shut,

so we'll see what we get into as we start cutting.

So just watch.

He may let me get in here,

but this is sting-y, so.

Okay.

Ghost gets an injection of local anesthetic

to numb the tissue.

But when the needle comes out,

part of Ghost flows with it.

He's a bleeder.

Everywhere I put that needle,

he bleeds like crazy.

Always looks like a murder scene.

It's actually a lot of oozing, um,

for just a needle stick.

I wonder if he's got a little bit of a bleeding issue.

Holy! That looks horrible!

Have you noticed him bleeding an unusual amount

from any other cuts or anything like that?

You know, he gets cut easy

and he bleeds easy.

Yeah. I wonder if he's got a little bit of a bleeding issue.

You know what I mean? Well.

Well, maybe.

I mean it's, uh. 'Cause I've, that's like, yeah.

It's more obvious on a white horse,

but, man, that's a lot of bleeding.

Sounds like every time Ghost has had a cut,

he seems to bleed more than all the other horses.

Horses can suffer from some of the same bleeding disorders

as humans, such as hemophilia.

Okay. Jeez!

Michelle will have to take extra precautions for the surgery.

It will be a bloody surgery.

I'm expecting it's gonna bleed a lot.

And that's gonna make it tough for me

to see what I'm doing.

Um, you do have to stop the bleeding obviously.

So, um we should have a tourniquet.

We're gonna start with a tourniquet around his leg.

And um, you know, we're gonna have a lot of gauze handy.

Where do you want it?

Just above here,

and as tight as you can get it.

Like you'll probably have to wrap it twice

without breaking it.

A tourniquet twists around the limb

to stop the flow of blood through the vessels,

but leave it on too long

and it can cause serious damage.

And then you need to time it,

'cause we can only leave it on for about 40 minutes or something.

You definitely wanna watch the time on your tourniquet

'cause you can start to cause damage to the tissues.

So what are we gonna do for you, Ghost?

No! No!

Don't do that! Don't do that!

Right now the flap is gnarly.

It's sitting up like this.

And it obviously doesn't wanna go down.

Everything is a little slippery.

And I'm going to keep working that flap thinner and thinner

just to see if there is something viable there

that I can close down and suture shut.

But I'm worried I'm not gonna be able to do anything

with that flap except take it off.

Ugh! Come on, buddy!

Every time I cut down,

it's just still,

just like callus-y,

thick skin that is not nice.

So I'm gonna just remove the whole flap.

We're gonna pressure-bandage it,

and he's gonna have to just keep changing it.

Okay. Let's see what we got here.

Buddy, come on.

Just wanna get this last little bit off

and we can wash it and wrap it.

Here we go. Okay.

After 30 bloody minutes,

the offending flap is history.

It was a bumpy ride,

but Michelle has something to smooth out Ghost's recovery.

Oh, you know what?

Grab that honey.

We're gonna put a little honey on here too.

Where'd you put it?

One of the things we're gonna put on here

and I'm gonna recommend to Ross

for the next few bandage changes is a bit of honey.

Um, some unpasteurized,

actual bee-made honey has some,

some nice healing properties.

Honey has been used medicinally by many cultures,

including the ancient Egyptians.

Good for toast too, I heard.

You know, in the morning. You good?

Its natural sugars

and acids kill bacteria

and stimulate healing in injured tissue.

After the sweet touch,

Michelle finally applies a thick bandage.

Looks better, 'cause you can't see it.

Yeah. It's true. Very true. Right.

So for the next, uh, probably four to five weeks,

really the only thing Ross has to do is

change the bandages.

And Ghost can go back with the rest of his buddies in the herd

and uh, just get back to business as usual.

Never seen a ghost bleed like that.

No. I know.

Now, that Ghost's lump has been dumped,

Michelle can head back to the Anchorage area

for some unfinished business.

Okay.

Starting route to Reindeer Farm.

Baby April is not responding to treatment for ulcers

as well as hoped.

I checked in yesterday with Denise

and she said that the calf is not doing so well again.

You know, and it's been kind of up and down

and, I don't know if we'll get anywhere

but at least we can try and give it a good bump.

Poor April.

And poor Denise too.

She was already so worried, I know.

There's Denise, right there.

So we're gonna arrive at April's feeding time,

so that I can assess her pain level after eating,

if she eats at all.

Hello!

Hi!

How's it going?

There's April.

Oh! She's eating.

Good stuff.

Yeah. We just started the bottle.

Thanks for coming. Okay. Good. Sure.

So she was not doing so great last couple days

since we saw her?

Yes. It feels like once it hits her tummy,

she just is done.

So we'll see. That's it?

Okay. So now.

That looks pretty good, actually. So this was 11 ounces (311 grams),

so she probably has about four ounces (113 grams) left, so.

Yeah. Okay.

She got seven (198 grams)? Uh-hmm.

Um, but you can see she just kind of,

when she's done, she's done.

Yeah. Uncomfortable. And she just hangs her head so low.

When the other calves are done eating,

they're running around.

They're just high energy still. Yeah. They're all, yeah. Uh-hmm.

And she just kind of slow moving and, uh-hmm.

Looks uncomfortable. Yeah.

It's difficult when you can't see inside

and you can't ask them questions.

But I'm hopeful that we can overcome this.

I wasn't sure that you could heal from a ulcer,

so I was a little worried that

that might be the detriment of her.

And there she goes laying down.

Poor beauty.

I just, I really love her,

and I've really put a lot of time and heart

into this little bottle baby.

There have been about four times

that I thought I was gonna lose her.

And so it means a lot to have hope

that we can keep going on and keep trying,

and that she's gonna get better.

I think you're on the right track

with some of the treatments,

but I was thinking maybe we could step things up a bit

because you said she was feverish,

and what that usually means is that ulcer has gone to,

either a mild perforation

or a partial perforation,

so that things are starting to leak

and cause peritonitis.

Okay.

You know, like an infection actually in her belly, so.

A perforated ulcer could mean disaster for April

and heartbreak for Denise.

It's likely to what they call a stage three,

which is, it has partially perforated.

It'll just get worse.

That's very serious.

She's kind of right on that edge.

April the reindeer calf's stomach ulcers

have progressed to a dangerous point.

We may lose her?

Her stomach protectant and acid-reducing medications

are no longer cutting it.

But Michelle still has a few tricks up her sleeve.

You know, when they get ulcers that are starting to perforate,

you know, it can really get them quickly,

so it's good that we're kind of on top of it. We're giving her four (101 microns), huh?

Yeah. Four mils (101 microns) for the vaccine, for calves.

Yeah. So once you get to the point of these fevers

and this suspected peritonitis,

there's massive infection going on,

and this calf can barely manage.

Normal clostridia bacteria in April's GI tract

have run rampant due to her ulcers.

She's still really vulnerable

'cause she's not, bouncing back.

Yeah. So, so we wanna vaccinate her for clostridia.

This vaccine.

And then her own immune system can hopefully help

fight off some of this infection.

Okay, missus.

So sad. She didn't even move.

I know. I know.

Poor baby.

With April vaccinated,

there's one more treatment that could help her protect herself.

And also I thought we could give her a vitamin shot today.

All right. So one little poke.

Sorry, lovey.

When calves have ulcers,

they also tend to actually bleed,

and lose blood and iron through them.

I'm so sorry. Aw!

She's so used to shots.

So we're also gonna give April an injection

of some B vitamins and some iron.

Okay. Sorry, love!

Goodness! I'm so sorry!

Ouch! An she actually needs that, you know?

She's, she's not getting her full diet.

She's only taking about 60% of her bottle.

Um, she's likely losing blood.

And so this is really important to help her body

kind of jumpstart the production of new red blood cells.

We'll give her the vitamin shot every day, as well.

They can have it for three to five days.

And I think she needs that kind of a boost, so.

Yeah.

The good news is, is you've been,

I know she's been up and down,

but you've been so on it that,

you know, she's, she's managing.

Right. And there is a chance it can heal?

As long as she continues. Absolutely. Absolutely.

But she's managing, you know?

Her temperature's down now.

She's still eating.

She's at least eating browse,

which is fantastic.

And she's actually still gaining weight.

Yeah. Exactly.

Slowly. Yeah. So you know it's, it's really good.

She's at least eating.

I mean, that's a good sign.

She's passing normal feces.

You know, we've got some good signs

and we've got some concerning signs.

Maybe I'm just, just stretching it right now

'cause I wanna see some improvement,

but there's some hope here.

Yeah. Look at her. She's eating.

That's good.

So what we'll do is keep on with this treatment.

It can take a while.

And we'll check back on her tomorrow.

All right. Sounds good.

Thanks. See you.

I'm excited that there is a chance,

because, at some points,

it's time to let go and go ahead and,

and put them out of their pain.

So I really hope that things are working.

Time will tell.

Another difficult night passes for April,

but a new day could bring the strength she needs to heal.

Hi, babies! Hi!

Oh, hi, babies!

Oh, she looks pretty perky.

Should I bring her out?

Yeah. Why don't we at least just check her temperature.

Okay.

But I'd say I, I would be very surprised

if she has a fever the way she's so perky. Come here, you! Stay, stay, stay!

Hi, missus. How are you?

Stay, buddy.

You look a little better.

Hi!

So I'm keeping a really close eye on April's temperature,

because if these ulcers are starting to become systemic

and cause peritonitis,

she will definitely spike a fever.

She's so good for getting a temperature.

I know.

Her poor life has been having that thing shoved up her rear.

Good baby.

You're such a good girl.

Okay. Good. 38.9 Celsius.

That's still in the normal range,

so that's great.

Still keep giving her the penicillin.

Okay. Okay. That's the best thing for it.

Yeah. She looks really good.

She's, she's grazing a bit.

Sometimes I worry that people are just sugarcoating it,

and really it's gonna be, you know, dire but.

Yeah, I would tell you.

I mean, you know how this is.

I know.

When, when these calves are like this,

they do this, you know.

So we're happy but we're not out of the woods, so.

Yeah. I'm still really cautiously optimistic.

Same. Yeah.

As the best that I can be.

But I am hopeful.

I would say she's, she's got a really good shot because. Really?

Because she's eating,

because you're getting the bottles continuously down.

And I'm, I'm very encouraged that

her temperature's staying normal

and not, you know, jumping up, so.

Good. But go ahead and keep up with it until, okay. Keep with it to make sure.

Yup. Uh-hmm. I do think April has a pretty good chance.

I mean, she has a very serious condition,

and she needs a lot of intensive care,

but she's got Denise.

Look at her.

She's totally eating.

Yeah. That looks really good.

Hopefully, next year you'll come back

and she'll be this big beautiful one-year-old.

That would be awesome.

Denise is amazing with her reindeer.

And she's gonna give her all the love and tender care she needs.

Can I give you a hug?

Of course. Yeah.

Thank you. Please send me updates, okay?

Yeah. Definitely. Yeah.

Yeah. I'll be right there worrying with you from afar.

She just puts her whole heart and soul into it.

It's a slow process,

but April's on a good road,

and we're happy.

All right.

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

See you.

Bye.

Bye, guys.

Bye, babies!