New Breed Vets with Steve Irwin

In this episode, our New Breed Vets perform some daredevil helicopter flying to shoot down a wild African Elephant to assist research into elephants. The most amazing eye operation gives a second chance at life in Colorado for a Great Horned Owl from the Rocky Mountains. And in Chicago, marine vet experts race against the clock to save a giant fish – an Australian Grouper with a malignant cancer on its head. And our New Breed Vets at the Marine Mammal Center scan the brainwaves of Californian Sea Lions.

We’re right at the operating table for a remarkable rescue procedure on a koala as our New Breed Vet fights to repair shattered bones with surgical implants in a technique where high-tech medicine combines with low-tech engineering to try and save a precious life. When the animal’s too big for the hospital, we take the entire operating theatre to the animal. Just one toenail threatens to bring down the massive bulk of our Asian Elephant. And the terrifying power of a tsunami smashes through Asia leaving a trail of destruction.

In this special investigative episode of New Breed Vets, we delve into the world of animal forensics. Steve visits the National Wildlife and Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, USA to join the high-tech scientific fight against wildlife criminals. In Australia, we probe the mysterious deaths of koalas in an isolated island colony. And in England, we join New Breed Vets investigating the cause of suspicious mouth lesions that could prove serious for a gorgeous Lowland Gorilla.

In this episode of New Breed Vets, a vital operation probes a mysterious stomach lump in the world’s most critically endangered lizard – the Fijian Crested Iguana. A dog-ravaged koala is brought back to life after dying on the operating table. Rare Leafy Sea Dragons at the Oregon Coast Aquarium benefit from pioneering aquatic husbandry, and a fish’s punctured eye is temporarily relieved during treatment by a contact lens. A Northern Sea Otter with an infected tooth is given root canal surgery by a dentist performing her first veterinary procedure, and Steve and the Australia Zoo team capture a massive rare crocodilian species for its first ever vet check.

200 million years ago the continents broke apart, sending the island of Australia towards its isolated position down under. Australia’s wildlife has evolved over millions of years into amazing, unique shapes and sizes. Kangaroos, cassowaries, koalas and echidnas – they all need the help of our New Breed Vets. In this special Australian wildlife episode, our New Breed Vets raise endangered wallabies through surrogate mothers, give an echidna a chance to walk again and perform life-saving amputations on snakes and lizards. Our New Breed Vets are called to action to save the life of a kangaroo cruelly shot by a hunter’s arrow.

Steve visits Washington State University to join the New Breed Vets in the den of hibernating Grizzly Bears to unlock the secrets of their metabolism. The WSU has some of the most high-tech medical equipment which is put to the test on an American Bald Eagle and in San Francisco, Steve assists vets from the UK and the USA implanting an Elephant Seal with a microchip for first-time research on marine mammals. At Australia Zoo, Steve’s resident vet performs critical microsurgery on a Green Tree Frog to save its life, and in Singapore Steve helps a local vet administer Chinese medicine – acupuncture on a lame elephant.