London Heathrow host a 78 million passengers
nearly half a million flights one very unusual animal Reception Center animals passing through
Heathrow come here to be checked in oh you're so also known as The Ark it's equipped to welcome almost any species through its doors I like the
cheeky one holding his hand out for more food from reptiles and livestock to pets and predators it's
up to the ark to make sure everyone is clear taken to the country that really is the tiniest form
I've ever se
en more than 200 000 animals passed through last year alone and its dedicated team of
over 40 staff are on hand every hour of every day we'll just get that out and are always prepared
to expect the unexpected she lost her hand airport a pair of special visitors [Music] inclusion on the tarmac so it looks like
someone maybe has made a bit of an error and five big Huskies stretched the
center to the Limit those two are going in a big kennel this one flight has
taken three quarters of our Kenn
els [Music] since opening in 1977 heathrows animal Reception
Center has been a world leader in the care of animals during transport receiving sixteen
thousand dogs and cats and 28 million fish through its doors every year [Music] first in today is
supervisor Chris so I've just come back from the airport from a South African flight they've come
in with nine dogs on board five of them Huskies um I've took one of the big bands out but getting
there realized that they were in big boxes um did a
bit of Tetris movement and
managed to get them all on board to make sure no unwanted diseases get into
the UK it's the ark's job to make sure that every animal it receives has the
right vaccinations and microchip IDs if any animal doesn't have the correct paperwork they have to be sent to quarantine
for at least four months [Music] Chris is checking the Huskies as you can see
big big boxes not a job he can do on his own enter Apprentice Bradley hey Bradley I was
hoping with someone with m
uscles actually but you'll do these are Siberian huskies and
a fully grown adult can weigh up to 27 kilos but Chris thinks Bradley is up to the challenge
out on the airport you've got um all the loaders and ramp people to give you a hand and here I've
got Bradley who's pretty much five of those guys these five huskies are being brought to
the UK to live with their owner Pierre brought him over from South Africa with
me so I haven't seen him for five months and I'm really looking forward to
this and
he's Keen to get them all back together so they can do what Huskies do best there are a
couple of dry lands leading teams here that we would like to investigate and join up
and maybe see what we can do in terms of um just keeping the passion going I mean
all five of them do enjoy the run it's great exercise for them keeps them busy out of
mischief I said Brad just go to the small one there you go last whoa huskies are a notoriously noisy
breed and after their long flight this pack
are making themselves heard huskies are very
vocal they're all okay they are just chatting to each other letting them know that they're all
good but the center is filling up so obviously we've only got a certain amount of kennels
so this one flight the South African flight with nine animals has pretty much taken
up yeah three quarters of our Kennels with space at a premium Chris is hoping to get
them processed as quickly as possible [Music] [Applause] [Music] staff at the reception Center
are
getting ready to welcome a pair of very unusual guests once or twice a year
we'll get a penguin arrival it's not an everyday currency see Penguins Bristol Zoo
is sending 10 African penguins to Rome as part of a conservation project but the plane
only had room for eight so a pair of penguins have been bumped onto tomorrow's flight
and need to overnight at the arc [Music] Deputy manager Ross has worked here for 15 years
so he gets called in to deal with anything out of the ordinary I gue
ss you could say I've done
nearly every job at the animal protection Center I started off as an animal attendant and then I
moved up to a supervising animal attendant and then I ended up in the position I am today is the
um Deputy manager the Heathrow animal Reception Center is is a menagerie of all different
animals and you never know what to expect the incoming Penguins need his urgent attention
I've just found out they have been boxed up since yesterday morning keeping them in there for
48 hours for for what technically should be like a three-hour flight to Rome you know
we're Way Beyond it Ross needs to get his team to adapt one of the dog kennels to make
it penguin friendly do you see this kennel here really give it a damn good hose out right because
this is where we're gonna probably put them after so make sure you get all the fan give it a
good spy up here get up get all that get it all really clean get fully disinfected for the
penguin make sure the drains clear out
the back as well and then this is where we're going to put
them after when they arrive okay all right super although people think penguing to Aquatic they
you know they live out of water all the time so um we'll put a small tray of water in there
primarily for them to drink it really and then we'll give him some kind of shower so
they can hide if they become scared getting a kennel ready for these aquatic Birds is
a first for Animal Health officer Shannon pink bean offloaded is a little bit
random
um don't really see penguins be enough float up an enclosure for them but this will
just be temporary so we'll just meet their needs for the 24 hours that they're here to make
them as welcome as possible Shannon needs to add some extra home comforts we want to reduce all
the risks for them to hurt themselves and this floor can be quite slippy it's not got a lot of
grip so we'll put this black rubber down and I hope that prevents them from slipping if they
come in and out I think ev
eryone's excited to see the Penguins um it's a bit yeah something
a bit different breaks the day up a little bit Yeah there's just enough time for Ross to do
some final checks to make sure everything's perfect quick picture Bristol Zoo check they're
happy with it I can check they're happy uncle good plan Batman elsewhere in
the center supervisor Chris is trying to find space for five large
Huskies oh let's look where I'm going and he's hoping that a good meal will
calm the dogs down and ma
ke his job easier lots and lots and lots of mouths
of you hopefully Hungry Mouse [Music] oh [Music] so first one being let
out as he releases the dogs into the kennels Chris tries to check that
the microchips all match the paperwork ah traps I was trying to grab the chip as he walked out of the box but didn't
happen so we have to try again every dog that comes through the Reception Center
must have a microchip this will tell the staff if the animal has had all the required medical
treatmen
t including a rabies vaccination without a microchip Chris can't release the dogs into the
UK and to own a Pierre bit wiring now I can't find it with this chip reader try another one there's
a few kinds of different manufacturers on chips we do have readers that can read all of them um
so if it's not one we'll try we'll try another one Chris sends for backup in the shape
of Colin Karen armed with her very own personal chip reader hello oh did you like
your dinner hello sweetie boy [Music] n
ice they have such a dense coat that it is
sometimes hard to find the actual original chip number mine [Music] I've even bought my
own ship leader in to try and it's not working if Chris and Karen can't find the microchips
these dogs won't be going anywhere we can't actually guarantee that the
paperwork has actually mentioned that dog so um they will have to go into quarantine
looking at this have another blood test and then wait the three months again no one
wants the dogs to be quarantin
ed so Chris and Karen must keep trying to find their chips
[Music] but if they don't find them they can't risk letting an unvaccinated animal through
in the meantime all Pierre can do is wait [Music] Animal Health officer Vicky is airside on route
to pick up another Consignment of animals arriving at Heathrow just off to pick up 10 cats off the
hand of flight survive chose the big band because we've got 10 cats that's always best is to be
cautious and take the biggest turn we've got the tur
naround time for planes can be as little
as 40 minutes so working airside can be a highly pressurized environment with all sorts of
service teams eager to descend on the plane everyone's got a job to do so obviously we want
to collect our animals that you've got people that have baggage to come off and there's cargo that
needs to come off since everyone's got deadlines to me as well so it can be a bit chaotic at
the beginning because everyone's just trying to get in there first do I risk th
e biscuit and go
around the other side I'm gonna speak to this man [Music] try and beat the rush Vicky
he's Keen to speak to the ground crew about where her 10 cats might be offloaded but there seems to be some confusion he seems to think there's only one cat he's got
the Manifest of what's on the flight um because he's not expecting 10 cats if there's only one cat
on this flight then according to Vicky's paperwork nine have gone missing in transit she needs to
get to the bottom of what's g
oing on and fast [Music] back at the loading Bay Deputy
manager Ross is taking delivery of a pair of rome-bound penguins who've
been bumped last minute from their flight their room is all ready just the tricky job of
getting them in there Ross knows that with these Snappy customers he's going to need all his 15
years of experience they're beaks they have like spines that point inwards I remember when I
was a zookeeper I suffered a horrific injury to a penguin so like obviously Penguins they
're
Fish Eaters but in their in their bait they've got teeth that point backwards so it just means
when a fish swims into their mouth they pitch down and tries to pull back uh same thing goes
to your finger um so obviously if a finger goes anywhere near a penguin's mouth our reaction
instantly is to pull back all you do in your pullback is no spines in their mouth they just dig
into your finger and that yeah it causes an injury [Music] and there's another problem the front door they
walk s
traight out unfortunately we're done [Music] the crate only opens from the top so Ross
is going to have to lift out the Penguins time for the gloves see if it bites
you try and pull your finger out here just lift up a little bit one down one to go and just
the other one now [Music] I've got the second penguin
is putting up more of a fight [Music] see the spines of
the teeth six points [Music] I obviously didn't like the
fact they had to be handled but they seemed quite chilled in there now
[Music] yeah more than happy yeah they've seen absolutely
fine Ross's experience has done the job and the Penguins can settle in for the night to wait
for tomorrow's flight to Rome the [Music] pea throws animal Reception Center
is the first Port of Call for any creature that arrives at the UK's busiest airport and Animal Health officer Vicky is airside
trying to get to the bottom of the cat mystery she's brought the big van to pick up 10 cats
and Ferry them back to the center so it looks l
ike someone maybe has made a bit of an error and
put the weight of the animal no how many there is oh yes one piece at 10 kilos
no missing cats then just the one in her box weighing in at 10 kilos [Music] at least Vicky has enough room in her van definitely only one cat um there's obviously
been an area somewhere along the line and the weight's been put instead of the actual number
of cats so many animals pass through the ark every day nine fewer cats will bring a
bit of relief I think ever
yone will be happy that we don't have the 10 cats coming in
[Music] actually be nice and straightforward 650 flights arriving daily at Heathrow there's
often a queue outside the center to drop off new animals because of um as being a quarantine
there's only one vehicle allowed in at a time we've got two bays so um in the morning when
all the flights are landing it can be quite busy finally it's Vicky's turn Sadie the cat
can be offloaded hello just a bit fluffy it's all fluffy [Music] after
such a long flight
Vicky's first priority is to give Sadie the chance to stretch her legs and have some food they have
their own food we'll always just give them that then Sadie boots come out come on come on she's very cute Sadie will stay
at the ark until her paperwork is checked to ensure it's safe to let
her into the country earthy smells they over in the dog Wing there's a problem with
the five huskies from South Africa the staff are struggling to find their microchips to see
if they
've been properly vaccinated and can be released into the country [Music] it's a tense
wait for Ona Pierre it just adds a little bit of drama to the situation but the arc
team don't give in easily [Music] a perseverance has paid off they've
managed to find all five microchips and supervisor Chris has got the
news he's been waiting for eign so I'm going to grab a couple of people
and we'll get them out to their owners there's big reliefs that they were able to sort
out their documentation g
onna be noisy they're going to be excited I would imagine so probably
have to get a couple of people on it this is so the dogs can sense the excitement too I think
they're gonna go absolutely ballistic and how Pierre's hired a van to take the five dogs in
their boxes the final 50 miles home they're gonna bring one dog one box at a time load the boxes say
a loads of the dogs load the dogs and Spirit Away hey Chase [Music] it's been an agonizing
wait but we as finally reunited with his dogs [
Music] first one's out let's see who's next thank you hello hello just waiting for number four and five come on but there's a last minute hitch
[Music] 34 inches is 36 inches too tall there's no room for the fifth and final box
so Huskies Thor and Heimdall have to Buddy up now these two usually play quite nicely together the main Chase and run it sometimes
they swap who gets chasing who runs great fun pixel puzzles all in all good
looking forward to a nice trip home the Huskies are at last o
n
the final leg of their epic 5 000 mile Journey Happy Days look at the
state of Mass but yeah it was good it worked [Music] in their makeshift room in one
of the kennels the penguins are the star attraction oh he's really cute thank you and they've drawn quite a crowd with the rest of the staff distracted
Deputy manager Ross is left on dinner Duty I asked us to um offer him some
spats so that's what we've got here unusual food requests are nothing new for Ross
get some funny looks from th
e local shops you know when he sees a big shipment of tortoises
and we have to go back down there and buy 50 lettuces we don't know what animals are arrive
in the animal Reception Center you know we're not like a zoo that keeps Penguins all the time
or you know we don't have Lions all the time so we don't keep red meat for them all the
time so we do have to rely on local stores local fish mongers butchers Etc and we when
something combines we go out and we buy it [Music] Shannon helps out w
ith room service [Music] and the Penguins can wait for their departure Sadie the cat's paperwork all checked
out and she was United with her owner the Huskies made it safely to their new
home and the Penguins had a comfortable night and were sent on their way to Rome
to meet up with the rest of their group [Music] thank you [Music]
Comments
Absolutely brilliant 👏 👌
I love these videos!