PBS - Operation Wild (2015) Part 3

Filmed over 18 months, Operation Wild follows vet teams around the world as they undertake groundbreaking operations to try and save animals’ lives.

We find out how pioneering human medicine is transforming the way we can look after animals in some of the most remote places on earth. But it takes more than just high tech medicine to treat the biggest animals on the planet — these are dramatic stories of ingenuity, invention and dedication.

Part 3

The final episode begins in the rainforest of Laos where vets are going to attempt groundbreaking keyhole brain surgery on Champa, an endangered moon bear. Champa was rescued as a 3-month-old cub. She was born with hydrocephalus, which means excess fluid builds up on her brain, putting her in constant pain. Edinburgh Zoo vet and keyhole surgery pioneer Romain Pizzi is going to try and implant a tube into Champa’s brain that will drain excess fluid into her abdomen — an operation originally devised for people — it’s the first time anyone has ever tried it on a bear.

In Japan, we meet vet and inventor Dr. Keiichi Ueda. He’s spent the last 12 years trying to improve the life of Fuji, a dolphin who lost her tail to a bacterial infection that nearly killed her. She could no longer leap out of the water, and she stopped socializing with the other dolphins. Keiichi designed and made a prosthetic tail for Fuji, and today, he is testing the latest model.

Martha is an alligator with a chronically blocked gut. World-renowned reptile specialist Dr. Doug Mader tries 21st century surgery to save the life of a prehistoric beast. In Chicago, a tiger has a CT scan to discover what’s behind her nose bleed. And in London, we join a vet team trying to look after Priscilla, a Galapagos tortoise, who needs keyhole surgery to work out what’s wrong with her. Her rigid shell makes her one of the most challenging animals to treat.

In Poland, a team of South African vets is called in to try and remove the infected tusk of a five-ton elephant, Ninio. Big animal dentist, Gerhard Steenkamp, has had tools specially made for the task, but when he discovers Ninio’s tusk is deformed it becomes even harder than he expected. In India, where an ancient kite festival causes a wildlife crisis, we join the thousands of volunteers at the largest pop-up animal ER on the planet, and in Laos, young British vet Will Thomas makes an extraordinary plan to give his patient — 4-ton elephant Thongkhoon — an X-ray at a human hospital.

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