“A lot of these things are caused by humans so it seems right to help them out,” he said. “The way you dart them is you put out a dead animal and they come in looking for a cheap feed. It is like the free ticket to the buffet. They’re eating the dead animal and from a hidden position you dart them in the backside and then they fall asleep in their meal like they’ve had a few too many.”
He continued: “It is imprecise how asleep they really are when you first walk up to them. Using a high tech broomstick you walk in and stick the broomstick in their ear and if they twitch, then they are not asleep enough and you have to give them another shot. If their ear doesn’t twitch then it is safe enough to move them. So we moved this lion but before we could actually stick the tube down its throat to give it an anaesthetic, you’ve got to get the meat out it has been eating so you have to stick your hand right down its throat.”
“I started pulling the meat out and must have hit a sensitive spot and as I did that, it clenches down and its whole incisor tooth went straight through my hand and my arm.”
Thankfully, given Dr Chris is still popping up on our TV screens, there was no long-term damage.
Vet Gone Wild follows Dr Chris on his wild adventures as he treats some of the world's most beautiful animals. It premieres on Animal Planet on Sunday June 10 at 8PM ET/PT.
This article originally appeared on WHO.
In this week’s episode of WHO magazine’s TV podcast, Binge List, Matthew Denby, Clare Rigden and Gavin Scott discuss and debate true-crime drama American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, ABC series Mystery Road and Netflix food doco The Magic Pill. Plus, we ask To Binge Or Not To Binge The Good Fight and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and delve into Hidden Gem Dead Boss. Listen below, or on iTunes: http://po.st/syE3JF or OMNY: http://po.st/Bg4FlU
