Dalehead Veterinary Group on Channel 5

Vets at the Dalehead Veterinary Group in Settle will be appearing on Channel Five’s new wildlife series ‘Animal Rescue Squad’ which will air every weeknight from Monday 4th February for six weeks. The show, hosted by Michaela Strachan and Matt Baker, follows the urgent work going on to save and protect animals in the UK and abroad, from large scale conservation projects protecting endangered species to tiny wildlife sanctuaries rescuing injured animals. It also looks at the life and death dramas that unfold in vets’ surgeries up and down Britain on a daily basis which is where the Dalehead vets came into play.

The practice is well known both for its farm animal and equine work in the North of England and the series producers were keen to show the events as they happened. The film crew stayed in Settle throughout December and were ‘on call’ with the vets 24 hours a day for any ‘out of hours emergencies’. They were particularly interested in calving procedures, and a caesarean section filmed at a local farm and performed by Helen Munday is to be shown on Thursday 7th February. Senior Partner, Neil Roberts said – ‘I’m sure the film crew were fascinated with the variety of work that we do, they would have liked to stop with us for longer. Hopefully this will show to the viewers just how dedicated and caring our local farmers are.’

The crew also shadowed the Dalehead Equine team both on the road doing daily routine work and at the clinic in Rathmell following up surgical and referral cases. These included Libby the lame dressage horse who underwent surgery for a back leg ligament problem, Sol the ex-racehorse experiencing back pain and the routine pre-purchase examination of Alvyn the riding pony, before moving to his new home. Equine vet Joe Mackinder said of the experience – ‘This was a good opportunity to give people an insight into not only the routine work carried out by the vets, such as dentistry, but also the fact that we now perform procedures which would have previously been referred to York or Liverpool.’