The latest episode of The Yorkshire Vet saw star Shona Searson called out to a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve near Huddersfield, where a Highland bull was suspected of having an eye tumour. The Channel 5 documentary series returned to screens on Thursday night (October 8).
Grazing team manager Karen voiced her concerns about the animal, saying: "He's had a growth on his eyelid and it seems to be getting bigger, and it's bothering him. They're crucial to what we do. They're basically land management tools for us on our nature reserves. You know, the Highlands are really well adapted to eating all the rough grasses and thorny plants. He's a useful animal to us and he's a nice animal, so we'd like to do what we can."
Shona's injury forces colleague to step in
Shona arrived at the reserve with third-year veterinary student Philippa, and colleague David Melleney was also called in to help, as Shona was suffering from a bad back. "I don't think I can lift it," Shona said, as David offered to carry a box of medical equipment.
After discussing the suspected tumour with the team manager, Shona said: "My worry is that we might not be able to separate it out very well and it might extend deeper, in which case we are gonna have to consider doing an enucleation procedure and taking the whole eye out." David was forced to step in and inject the anaesthetic ahead of an examination of the bull's eye, as an injured Shona watched on.
"David, as I'm the one with the seized up back today, please could you do the athletic injecting? Thank you," Shona asked her colleague. While she tried to protect her back, Shona still needed to help hold the animal steady. During the procedure, she admitted: "My right shoulder hurts, my back's alright in this position."
Positive outcome for the bull
It soon turned out that there wasn't a mass growing, with David revealing that he had found a protrusion instead. "Hopefully we've got rid of the problem," he added.
Shona and David later returned to the reserve to check on the bull's recovery. As they arrived, Shona issued a positive update on her own injury, saying: "So, I had a particularly bad back that day, but that is doing a lot better now." David added: "She's had a nice spell of annual leave since then, so if there's any heavy lifting today, it's not me!"
David approached the bull to inspect its eye and shared good news: "It's healed really well. You can't tell which eye it is, apart from the shaved bit around... There's nothing visible above the eyelid, no sign of conjunctivitis from there... [It] looks absolutely fine. He's still got both his eyes, [so] we can leave him to the field."
The Yorkshire Vet airs Thursday nights at 8pm on Channel 5.
