Behind the scenes at the Doué freedom zoo | M6 | 66 minutes

The Doué-la-Fontaine eco-park. The vet’s name is Rudy. Don’t be fooled by his baby face: this man already has 12 years zoo experience! Rudy is an expert. His job is his passion. He looks after more than 1000 animals divided amongst 123 species, of which 41 are threatened with extinction”, like Binty the black rhino, an endangered species. Like the snow leopard, the boa constrictor, the spectacled bear or the owl-faced guenon, at Doué the animals live in partial freedom, in areas planted to reconstitute most closely their natural habitat. Visitors don’t see animals in cages… they go inside them! The idea came from François, the zoo founder’s grandson. For a month, we followed Rudy on his daily rounds… An ultrasound scan on a rhino weighing half a ton, an iguana with razor claws that is refusing to eat or a giraffe that is bound for another zoo. There’s no shortage of work. You don’t handle these animals as you would a dog or a cat. Operations are difficult, often dangerous for both human and animal. In this avant-garde zoo, the more curious visitors can become a keeper for a day. They take care of animals, feed them or prepare their enclosures. As he works, Rudy is also thinking of passing on knowledge. He is assisted by Mégane, a young, trainee vet of 25. A few months more and she will be able to apply for a post in a zoo. It must be said that places are hard to come by: in France there are a mere 40 zoo vets.”