Sunday 4 January 2015

tigers-about-the-house-what-happened-next- Tigers about the House - What Happened Next: Episode 1 Documentary series. British tiger expert Giles Clark guides Sumatran tiger cubs Spot and Stripe to adulthood and helps them adjust to life at Australia Zoo in Queensland

Series producer Beth Brooks Filming the new series of Tigers About The House: What Happened Next was a very different experience to the first. One of the biggest reasons was the size of Spot and Stripe – when I arrived in Australia after several months away from them, they were nearing their first birthday and had grown to a massive 70kg and were approaching adulthood. We were lucky enough to be able to get close to some incredibly rare and endangered species Beth Brooks They still had the playful and inquisitive instincts that so captivated us all as cubs, so we had to be cautious that their exuberance around me didn’t get out of hand. This was especially true of Spot, who has limited vision and was therefore extra interested in any new sounds and smells! Luckily they seemed to remember me, and after a careful settling in period where they got used to having me around, they were back to normal. I was lucky enough to be there when they started losing their baby canine teeth – we were all on ‘tooth watch’ for a couple of weeks! It was also a sign that the teenagers were developing normally, and would soon no longer be cubs. Another huge difference this series was travelling with the Clark family to Indonesia, where they were on a mission to save tigers in the wild. Although we’d been to Sumatra last year with Giles, taking Kynan and Kerri was an adventure for all of us, as we travelled to some pretty remote parts of Sumatra. They were really out of their comfort zones, so seeing this beautiful island through their eyes was a treat. We were lucky enough to be able to get close to some incredibly rare and endangered species, and a highlight for me was accompanying the family on an elephant patrol with the Conservation Response Unit in the Ulu Masen national park, in northern Sumatra. It’s not the easiest environment in which to film, but seeing the amazing work done by the elephants and their mahouts, and witnessing their incredible bond, was a real privilege. Back in Australia we celebrated Spot and Stripe’s first birthday, and I shared Giles’ emotions after an incredible year, and shared our hope for the future of these extraordinary tigers.TV LINKS FOR YOU TO WATCH-http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04wwgd4/tigers-about-the-house-what-happened-next-episode-1-http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04wwh5p/tigers-about-the-house-what-happened-next-episode-2

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