I’m sitting at Miami airport drinking my coffee and dunkin’ my donut waiting for my flight home. It’s been a good trip with some highs and some lows, but overall I think we’ve pulled off another great programme....Continue reading
Kate Bush – “Hounds of Love” – We played this in the car on Carriacou in a vain attempt to impart some English music on the local population
Doves – “Kingdom of Rust” – From their new album, which is great, but also because my walking boots are beginning to rust from all the sea water
The Korgis – “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometimes” – The point of the trip has been one of conservation (hence the learning) and the band is obviously named after a breed of dog…
Reverend and the Makers – “Heavy Weight Champion of the World” – It’s got the line ‘At School he used to dream about being Bruce Lee’
Divine Comedy – “Love What You Do” – Because we’ve met and worked with some people who truly love what they do
Grandaddy – “He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot – It’s my flying song
Hard-Fi – “Cash Machine” – Because it’s surprisingly expensive in Grenada
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Maps” – Luke bought a map to take back home and I accidentally creased it when it was in his bag. He wasn’t too happy…
Billy Ocean – “When the Going Gets Tough” – There were some tough days on this trip, but we managed to get through them
Will Smith – “Miami” – We sat at Miami airport for a long 5hrs waiting to go home...Continue reading
Having just watched the film Network on our long haul flight to Bangalore I have come to realise that I am mad! I am mad of all this! And I want to stop this madness!...Continue reading
The last few days have been fairly duck focused. Last night we had a stray duckling arrive in our garden; Little Charlie – our cat – was extremely pleased about this, as was Leuven – our ridgeback – so we all chased it about in a fruitless attempt to catch it. Despite our best efforts, it thankfully found it’s way into Nick’s pond next door where its mother came down to find it – great news. There is nothing like a family duck reunion to get you in a good mood before a long trip. Lulu (my head nurse) also informed just as I was about to leave for the airport that the duck we operated on last Friday not only made it through the weekend but is happily quacking at home with her other rescue duck ‘Deefa’. It’s been given the name ’Polo’ due to the fact it had a huge hole in its beak which we repaired. All great news – since things come in threes, I’m currently waiting for the third duck to appear as I write this blog....Continue reading
I am really looking forward to the India shoot. I am not worried at all as I am sure we will come across great stories in this enchanting, chaotic and beautiful country with it’s eccentric and engaging people. Adam gave me a book last year called Shantaram and it’s still top of my favourites list. For me, it’s a must-read and the author, Gregory David Roberts, sums up the character of India’s people perfectly for me when he wrote:...Continue reading
A long tiring day, but one full of events and great stories: India looks like it is going to be an interesting episode. We are looking at the big question of euthanasia in animals and at what stage it is deemed correct to put an animal “to sleep”. The debate on human-euthanasia is massive and often appears in the papers every couple of years as an article on the positives and negatives. But I think that it is pretty much a given in the UK that if a pet is terminally ill or has an expensive problem the animal will be put down without any hesitation, and I can’t recall ever seeing this issue ever being debated in national newspapers. Now I understand the argument that they are animals and we have some higher level of consciousness, but I do find it funny that it is accepted as the norm. However, at the Karuna Sanctuary we were presented with animals that looked in dire conditions – a dog dragging himself around with his two front legs – and yet they are cared for by the owners of the sanctuary, who feel that they do still have a good quality of life. They argue that having spent much time with these animals they can monitor and observe to ensure that their quality of life is never negated. And if it is then the creature will eventually be put down. I can see their point of view and admire their courage and tenacity, although I can’t believe that some of the dogs are comfortable dragging their hind-quarters behind them. Having said that I do hope that we portray the society in good light as they are truly doing a great job for many other animals....Continue reading
Karuna does a huge amount of things and has a lot of projects on the go. Dogs, cats and monkeys are in abundance, most injured, paralysed or with broken limbs in various states of repair. Out the back of the main clinic are cows, buffaloes, a couple of donkeys missing a leg and a huge camel that has been rescued. There is an organic vegetable garden that supplies a local shop to raise funds for the shelter, complete with a cheese making station and mango orchard – the milk of which comes from yet more cows that have been rescued from illegal cattle trucks transporting the beasts to slaughter (bad death if you are a cow in India). That’s not all – there is also a wildlife enclosure that contains some rescued moon bears that have been saved from a dancing troop. The two adults are quite temperamental but the two cubs that they rescued a couple of months ago are absolutely adorable. I shouldn’t say this but if I could rescue a dancing bear cub and keep it as a pet – I probably would. They are great, they climb up on the sides of their pen, turn on the tap in the sink (many of the pens have sinks) and are both little characters that are very easy to fall in love with....Continue reading
Well I don’t actually feel cold, but I do have a cold. I’m pretty certain the microphones today will have picked up my sniveling – I’ll blame any noise on radio interference…...Continue reading
We were all guns blazing today – baking hot and lots of cases. Adam, Marc and Nathan have been charging about filming endless cases – from their point of view it’s incredibly frustrating because its hard to know which cases will make the cut and none of us know what’s going to happen. Carrying all the gear around is no mean feat so they are pretty tired. For me, it’s brilliant to have so much to do but I’m finding it incredibly challenging. I put a cow down to day which was collapsed and toxic. It’s very difficult as although Clementien is incredibly caring and does agree with it in principle, the issue of euthanasia is fairly tricky here. I’m learning a huge amount and a lot of natural remedies which are fascinating. Clementien is self taught in all sorts of techniques and she has had huge experience with the volume of animals coming through the door. The nearest vet is 4 hours drive away so often she is the only port of call for many of the creatures that come to her door. She uses green clay, silver solutions and all sorts of herbs – really interesting....Continue reading
