Healing the wild world

November 19-25, 2019 Your 7-Day Listings Guide

Whoever said performers should never work with animals or children knew a thing or two. ‘‘We’re constantly being pooped on or bitten,’’ says Angelina Martelli, of her role as one of the human ‘‘stars’’ of the five-part documentary series Wildlife Rescue New Zealand.

However, as senior vet nurse at the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital, one of the busiest veterinarian facilities in New Zealand, Martelli takes it all in her stride.

She worked at Wellington Zoo – you might recognise her and the Dunedin hospital head Dr Lisa Argilla from the series Wild Vets – and jumped at the chance to work at the Dunedin facility when it opened in January last year.

Argilla and her team work exclusively with native New Zealand animals, from the kiwi and enigmatic ka¯ka¯po¯, to plucky penguins and aggressive sea lions.

It’s the only facility of its kind and offers a precious second chance for injured wildlife.

Demand has been huge with more than 400 patients, mainly endangered bird species, treated in that first year.

‘‘And we’ve just topped 460 for this year and there are still a couple of months to go,’’ Martelli says. In the past, some of the injured creatures would have had to be flown to other treatment centres or, in other cases, euthanised.

‘‘We know from experience, especially with yellow-eyeds [penguins], that if their treatment is delayed then the outcomes are a lot poorer. And with us being here, their outcomes are a lot more successful because they get treatment within 24 hours of being found.’’

Around 75 per cent of the Dunedin hospital’s patients survive.

The Emmy Award-winning Natural History New Zealand, the production company behind Orangutan Jungle School, Our Big Blue Backyard and Twisted Tales, filmed the documentary series last summer.

It filmed behind the scenes at the hospital and out in the field, in some cases following sick or injured patients from the moment they are discovered, to their arrival at the hospital, right through to their rehabilitation and ultimate release back into the wild.

The variety of patients is as diverse as the injuries they turn up with – think wood pigeons which have flown into windows, hawks hit by cars and even a penguin which keeps getting bitten by sharks.

‘‘You do form, I guess, some attachment to particular patients that tug at your heartstrings more than others,’’ Martelli says. ‘‘One of my favourites is a kaki [a rare native black stilt found only in New Zealand].

‘‘He came to us after being found in the wild with some really bad toe injuries and we treated him two or three times over the space of about a year.

‘‘I was lucky to actually be able to go and release him back to the wild at the start of August this year, which is actually really cool because it’s not something as a hospital we get to do very often as most of the birds that come to us end up at the rehabilitators and they do the releasing.

‘‘It was so amazing to see him back in the wild and then we’ve got updates as the weeks have gone by, seen pictures of him still being seen back near where he was released. It’s really nice to know.’’

Martelli admits not all cases have such a good outcome.

‘‘It can be quite an emotional job, especially when you get a run of things that are simply not fixable and you know that there’s just nothing you can do to help these birds apart from give them a nice ending,’’ she says.

‘‘It can take its toll sometimes if you are constantly having to look after birds that are not doing well.’’

She is hoping the documentary raises awareness of the work done by those who work with New Zealand’s rarest species, not just the hospital team but also Department of Conservation staff, scientists, volunteers and members of the public who come to the rescue of injured wildlife.

‘‘We’re really hoping that people become a lot more aware of what’s in their surroundings and see the hard work it takes to look after these guys,’’ Martelli says, ‘‘and make sure that they get returned into the wild and returned into a safe wild as well.’’

– Kerry Harvey, TV Guide

Wildlife Rescue New Zealand, Choice TV, 7.30pm, Sundays.