1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:22,560
Doctors believe this dog helped diagnose her owner's cancer.

2
00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:27,080
Can animals bring unknown powers to medicine?

3
00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:31,680
How did Beetle the cat find his way through city streets and country roads across southern

4
00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,720
England to the home he loved?

5
00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,160
What invisible lifeline links a man and this dog?

6
00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:45,000
How did this rotfiler foresee the heart attack which would have killed her master?

7
00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:51,000
Mysteries from the files of Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001 and inventor of the communications

8
00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:52,000
satellite.

9
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,800
Now in retreat in Sri Lanka, he ponders the riddles of this and other worlds.

10
00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:33,120
Come on.

11
00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:38,800
I've always been fond of animals, which is a good thing since it's impossible to avoid

12
00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:40,840
them here in Sri Lanka.

13
00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:47,440
Over the years, I've had many animal companions, usually dogs, but also a pair of mischievous

14
00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:52,680
monkeys who did their best to take over my life.

15
00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:58,480
All my pets have been lovable, but some have also surprised me with their intelligence and

16
00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:02,280
their ability to know what I'm thinking.

17
00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:10,280
But what can we make of claims that some animals have extraordinary, even supernatural skills?

18
00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:17,600
These include mathematical horses, dogs that can diagnose illnesses and domestic pets with

19
00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:25,040
the navigational know-how to track down their owners over miles of unfamiliar countryside.

20
00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,400
Benita Whitfield owes her life to her dog Boo.

21
00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:32,560
She believes Boo alerted doctors to a disease that threatened her life.

22
00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:35,080
Now Boo has a place in medical history.

23
00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:39,640
Her extraordinary story is chronicled in a world famous doctor's journal.

24
00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:41,960
Benita Whitfield has lived to tell the tale.

25
00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:47,400
Well, I used to be standing at the sink and she'd come up behind me and start sniffing

26
00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:48,400
my leg.

27
00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:53,480
And I used to shoot her away because I thought, you know, it was just a dog sniffing.

28
00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:58,320
And this went on for about four or five months.

29
00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,360
And then one day I was at the sink washing up and I felt something on the back of my

30
00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,520
leg and put my hand down, not realising it was Boo.

31
00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:07,200
And I felt a little lump on the back of my leg.

32
00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:10,800
That evening when I had a bath, I had a look at it and it was a mole.

33
00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:13,960
I've never had a mole there before.

34
00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:18,480
And then one day I was out in the summer and she actually went for the back of my leg where

35
00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,440
this mole was and tried to nip it off.

36
00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,080
And she did again try to bite it off.

37
00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:29,400
She's not a dog that snaps or bites and it was just so out of character.

38
00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:33,400
But I still really didn't dawn on me that there was anything wrong.

39
00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:35,960
But Benita told a friend about the mole.

40
00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:40,480
Her friend, a nurse, told her to see a doctor at once.

41
00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,760
She said, promise me you will go to the doctors.

42
00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:52,600
So I went to the doctors and he sent me along to King's College and they inspected it.

43
00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:54,960
They took it off.

44
00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:59,640
They did a biopsy on it and found that it was a melanoma.

45
00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:07,720
Dr. Hywel Williams, who was treating me at King's, said that another year and it would

46
00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:12,960
have started to spread in the body.

47
00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:14,040
So I was very lucky.

48
00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:19,920
But I still didn't put the two together, the dog and the melanoma.

49
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:26,520
Dr. Hywel Williams was carrying out a survey of patients with melanoma skin cancers.

50
00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,520
When I came to Mrs. Whitfield's notes I noticed that somebody had put a comment,

51
00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,880
dog sniffed at a mole in exclamation marks.

52
00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:37,760
And I had a laugh of it at the time but I thought, well, hang on, there may be something

53
00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:38,760
in this.

54
00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:44,040
And I rang up Mrs. Whitfield and indeed the dog had sniffed them all, not just once but

55
00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:49,720
on repeated occasions, whilst ignoring other moles, just this particular one.

56
00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:56,280
And I said to the doctor at the time, they must give off some type of an odour.

57
00:04:56,280 --> 00:04:58,720
Because my dog could smell it.

58
00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:00,240
Or I thought she could smell it.

59
00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,400
It wasn't until I sort of thought about it, I thought she must have known it was really

60
00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:04,800
bad as well.

61
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:10,160
I think this particular dog was instrumental in saving Mrs. Whitfield's life in that she

62
00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:18,000
had the type of skin cancer, the melanoma skin cancer, removed at an early and curable stage.

63
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:23,440
Boo was awarded a gold medal for her diagnostic skills and the doctors hope that the rewards

64
00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,600
to medicine may be even greater.

65
00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:33,260
I think Mrs. Whitfield's story taught me to be open-minded as a scientist to the potential

66
00:05:33,260 --> 00:05:37,200
diagnostic powers of so-called lower animals.

67
00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:42,120
And I think compared to our sense of smell, a dog's sense of smell is infinitely more

68
00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:52,800
powerful and they may well have beneficial actions for medicine in the future.

69
00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:59,400
In Lorenzo Abanda's Californian home, his two rot-violers have pride of place.

70
00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,160
Lorenzo believes he owes his life to one of them.

71
00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:14,520
Her name is Cinder.

72
00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:18,720
From their early morning call through wash and brush up, this dog's master cannot do

73
00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,040
enough for his best friend.

74
00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:27,160
Lorenzo, a firefighter, likes to hike high up in the Californian mountains.

75
00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,560
Only there can he escape the stresses of his job.

76
00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:35,320
You know, on this particular day, my wife was sitting at home in bed.

77
00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:39,640
She couldn't go on a hike with us, so I just took Cinder and Reno and myself to go hiking.

78
00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:40,640
Hey guys, go.

79
00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,320
Cinder, Reno, come on.

80
00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,240
Normally when we hike, Cinder likes to be the leader.

81
00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:51,040
She stays ahead of us and she likes to mark her territory before Reno.

82
00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:54,040
C'mon, Cinder, Cattle.

83
00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:04,480
And on this particular day, she acted real strange and what I mean is that she started

84
00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:08,720
turning around, going back down the trail, and I kept calling her, trying to bring her

85
00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:10,480
on, come on, let's go, let's go.

86
00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,920
So I wasn't in the hike about a half hour and I decided to cut it short and go back

87
00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,360
home because I was thinking she was sick.

88
00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:18,680
She never acted that way before.

89
00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:25,120
As soon as I turned around and started heading back down the trail, she immediately became

90
00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:26,840
the leader.

91
00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:31,760
She wanted me to get back down to the car and go back home.

92
00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,360
So Cinder's looking at me with this glazed look in her eye and I didn't want to take

93
00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:39,320
any chances with her because I love her so much, so I decided to go ahead and call the

94
00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:40,320
vet.

95
00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:45,800
So as soon as I got up, I felt this palpitation like in my neck and I felt it on my pulse,

96
00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:49,720
and irregular pulse, it really started to scare me.

97
00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:55,600
So then I got up to go get the phone and immediately I felt like something just grabbed my lungs

98
00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:59,520
with all their might, just like two hands, just squeezing everything.

99
00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:03,240
Next thing I know, I'd fall to the ground.

100
00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:14,880
And Cinder's nudging me with her nose, her nose on my hand.

101
00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:21,680
I could feel the phone there and I was very weak and I was able to dial 911 with my thumb.

102
00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:25,560
I couldn't even bring it to my ear and I remember the operator had answered, I could

103
00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:29,480
hear it and I said I was a firefighter and I felt I'm having a heart attack.

104
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:30,720
Please send somebody immediately.

105
00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,080
We received a 911 call to Lorenzo's house.

106
00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:43,680
When we got there, we found Lorenzo lying on his back on the floor of his living room.

107
00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:48,120
We found that his blood pressure was 270 over 130.

108
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,720
He was in great danger of having a massive heart attack and I think he was on his way

109
00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,360
to that when we got there.

110
00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,080
If I would have continued up on that hike on the hill, which is normally about three

111
00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,800
and a half, four hours, I wouldn't be here today because if that incident would have

112
00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,480
happened up there in the high altitude, I would have died up there on that trail and

113
00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,360
there would have been nobody around.

114
00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:13,360
Lorenzo's a pretty lucky guy.

115
00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:17,040
If we hadn't got there when he did, he probably would have died and I think he owes that all

116
00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:18,040
to his dogs.

117
00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:27,000
I think dogs in general have a special sense.

118
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,560
They can hear your heartbeat 20 feet away.

119
00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:36,000
They have the ability that we just need to take time to listen to our animals.

120
00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,360
Cinder has the ability to know the rhythm in my heart.

121
00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,960
She probably can sense or smell the adrenaline in my body.

122
00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:46,680
The body chemistry was changing and she knew I was going to go down.

123
00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:49,680
She knew that if I was going to go down, that I was going to need help.

124
00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:54,440
So she decided to try and get me to go back down and go back to the car and go back home

125
00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:59,080
where I can get help.

126
00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:03,960
And I think she's learned that by the telephone there can be human contact.

127
00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:05,520
So that's why she brought me the telephone.

128
00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:13,640
Animals apparently as clever as humans have amused and amazed scientists and onlookers

129
00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:15,140
for centuries.

130
00:10:15,140 --> 00:10:20,160
Some, or rather their owners, have made fortunes showing off their incredible talents.

131
00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:23,560
Porcupundits pack the playhouses of 18th century Europe.

132
00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:28,320
They're pet subjects, mathematics, mind reading and spelling.

133
00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:33,320
Toby the sapient pig played cards, guessed the age of the audience and even told the

134
00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:34,800
time.

135
00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:38,920
Even more erudite animals followed in the 20th century.

136
00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:43,080
Mathematical dogs like Chris the Rhode Island mongrel performed calculations worthy of a

137
00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:44,480
computer.

138
00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:50,000
In Germany, Wilhelm von Osten claimed he could train horses like clever hans to tap out the

139
00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:55,560
answers to complicated sums.

140
00:10:55,560 --> 00:11:02,560
Scientists came from far afield to investigate these strange and controversial powers.

141
00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:13,160
Later an American horse, Lady Wonder, was said to have learned secretarial skills.

142
00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,640
She typed words on a giant keyboard.

143
00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,240
I don't think we should take such stories too seriously.

144
00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:30,880
The scientists who've investigated these mathematical and mind reading horses and dogs dismiss

145
00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:37,640
them as brilliant circus acts where the trickery involved was too subtle for all but the most

146
00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:39,920
vigilant to detect.

147
00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:46,280
For example, it's virtually certain that clever hans learn to respond to tiny gestures or

148
00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:51,720
sounds made by his owner who gave him all the answers.

149
00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:58,720
But there are other examples of animal powers that can't be dismissed so easily.

150
00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:04,640
Today Blake the sheep dog shows little sign of the incredible journey he once made across

151
00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:06,120
eastern Britain.

152
00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:11,400
His skills at driving hundreds of sheep into pens and fields pale by comparison with his

153
00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,080
navigational talent.

154
00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:22,080
The dog's odyssey began when his owner had parked his truck and trailer with Blake inside.

155
00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:28,080
When Tony Baldeston returned only minutes later thieves had struck.

156
00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:33,080
I was gone for about 20-25 minutes and when I come back I just can't believe me always.

157
00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:37,080
The land rover and trailer and dogs and everything had disappeared.

158
00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,080
The thieves decided to dump the trailer.

159
00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:45,080
It was found empty in a car park at Downham Market, a town far from Blake's home.

160
00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:51,080
It was here a long way from the pastures he knew in the heart of a strange town that Blake's

161
00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:56,080
incredible journey began.

162
00:12:56,080 --> 00:13:01,080
The distance between Downham Market where Blake was dumped and his home near Holt is about

163
00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:07,080
50 miles as the crow flies but to complicate matters Blake took a roundabout route.

164
00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,080
Blake wasn't seen till the next morning.

165
00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:15,080
His son was going through Swatham and seeing him but Blake being a bit alone and his son

166
00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:20,080
couldn't catch him and I thought he was coming directly home instead he went round by Little

167
00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:23,080
Franches and why we always sometimes run some sheep.

168
00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:28,080
Tony put the word out among Norfolk's farmers and Blake was spotted by Jenny Malham.

169
00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:34,080
I saw Blake the day after having received a telephone call from Tony Baldeston but unbeknown

170
00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:40,080
to me the dog I saw didn't really connect and he was in fact walking along the very,

171
00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,080
very busy A47 early one morning.

172
00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:48,080
Blake was looking very, very sad with his tail down and I wished I'd known at the time

173
00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,080
that it was him but it just did not connect.

174
00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:54,080
By now Tony had contacted the local radio station.

175
00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,080
He asked listeners to be on the lookout.

176
00:13:56,080 --> 00:14:00,080
When I got phone calls with people because I went to where I had the call from and then

177
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:05,080
I tried to take my bearings, think which way he was coming home but he always took a different road

178
00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:07,080
than I did.

179
00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:14,080
Every time Tony tried to predict Blake's route the dog would turn up somewhere else.

180
00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:19,080
And after he got to Goist we had phone calls in every little village.

181
00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:21,080
People had phone up and seen him go past.

182
00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:26,080
But every time I went out to look for him I was about 20 minutes behind him and eventually

183
00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:32,080
he made his way back to where the sheep are down at Leathering Set and that's where he picked them up from.

184
00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:37,080
They were reunited at Leathering Set where Tony had once kept some sheep.

185
00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:39,080
Blake had decided to look there for Tony.

186
00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:46,080
He'd been gone five days and travelled more than 60 miles to the village next to his home.

187
00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:51,080
When he got back he was thin and dirty and really weak.

188
00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:55,080
His paws were roughed up, his limping.

189
00:14:55,080 --> 00:15:00,080
And he looked at me for a few seconds before he came up to me.

190
00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,080
I think he thought he's got to get wrong for being a waste of long.

191
00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:12,080
Scientists suggest Blake may have navigated by linking together the places across the county where Tony Baldurston had grazed his sheep.

192
00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:17,080
By going from pasture to pasture he'd found his way home in stages.

193
00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:25,080
Two or three years ago Tony Baldurston used to graze his sheep here in the winter.

194
00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:34,080
And one could only presume that where the thieves dropped him off he suddenly realised that he probably knew the area

195
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:39,080
and actually came back to the ground that he knew you were several years ago.

196
00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:55,080
Haverly Market in Devon is one of the west of England's busiest cattle markets.

197
00:15:55,080 --> 00:16:00,080
Here cows, calves and bulls are traded between farmers.

198
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:08,080
But this was the starting point for one of the strangest stories in the annals of animal navigation.

199
00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:22,080
It was here that Blackie, Ahepa and her calf came to auction.

200
00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:25,080
The calf was bought by this man, farmer Arthur Sleeman.

201
00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:29,080
And its mother, Blackie, went to this man, Bob Woolercut.

202
00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:33,080
Both men set off for their farms with their new purchases.

203
00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:38,080
In Bob's cow shed, Blackie the mother seemed far from happy.

204
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:46,080
When I bought her home and she was wild, she'd been taken away from her calf.

205
00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:53,080
We did the best we could for her, we put her in the yard and bed her down, give her a hand in water and some meal.

206
00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:59,080
And when we came down the next morning, cow was gone.

207
00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:03,080
Early that morning a cow had been spotted loose in a village.

208
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:07,080
The postman wasn't the only person to have seen her trotting along the road.

209
00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:11,080
Two of my neighbours saw this cow and it was going our way.

210
00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:16,080
They'd had a market ticket on it but it wasn't there, a cow or anything.

211
00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:19,080
And it came right down to our place.

212
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:23,080
Arthur Sleeman woke up to discover a strange cow in his yard.

213
00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:27,080
His farm is more than seven miles from Bob Woolercut's.

214
00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:30,080
This cow wanted to go in with the calf.

215
00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:35,080
We let it in there with its calf on it immediately.

216
00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:37,080
The calf went and suckled it.

217
00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:43,080
Fortunately the strange cow still carried the auction lot number on her back.

218
00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:47,080
Sleeman was able to call the market and find out who owned the mystery cow.

219
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:52,080
The market confirmed it was Blackie, the mother of the calf he had bought.

220
00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:56,080
Bob Woolercut drove across to claim her.

221
00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:01,080
When I saw the cow and calf together I knew there was no good bringing the cow back on and so on

222
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,080
because we'd all up my gang.

223
00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:10,080
We bartered a bit and one thing and another and eventually I came home with the cow and the calf.

224
00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:15,080
But how had Blackie found her way to a place she'd never seen over roads she'd never travelled?

225
00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:21,080
I think she could hear the calf calling and that's what took her in that direction.

226
00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:26,080
That's the only thing I think. Some people say that in the middle of the night

227
00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:31,080
when everything is still that she might have heard and the cry is coming up through the valley

228
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:33,080
I mean it's a long way.

229
00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:38,080
Never seen anything like it before and never will again I don't expect.

230
00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:42,080
Being a sentimental sort of man I thought it was better to bring them back

231
00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:46,080
than them going together and that's what we did.

232
00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:51,080
After Blackie's maternal marathon Bob decided they'd never be parted again.

233
00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:56,080
Cow and calf spent the rest of their lives together on his farm.

234
00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:09,080
When Beetle the cat escaped from his owner's new apartment in the heart of London

235
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:13,080
Robin Lafever was distraught. The cat had only been there for six months

236
00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,080
and had never been out of doors.

237
00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:23,080
We put up notices everywhere, hoping that people would spot him

238
00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:27,080
and it was dreadful that he didn't come back

239
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,080
and we really didn't expect to see him again at all.

240
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:34,080
With Beetle at large Robin Lafever was deeply concerned.

241
00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,080
The animal was adrift in the capital.

242
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:40,080
All he'd known before coming to the city was the quiet countryside

243
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:44,080
around the family's cottage near Canterbury, 70 miles away.

244
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:48,080
Months passed and Lafever thought he'd never see Beetle again

245
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,080
until one day that he'll never forget.

246
00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:55,080
Well I was at work and I got a call from my parents to say that

247
00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:59,080
they had some incredible news and that our neighbours had found Beetle.

248
00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:02,080
They turned up in their woodshed. I was absolutely amazed.

249
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,080
It was several months later and when we brought him home again

250
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:10,080
he was completely familiar in his surroundings and back in his usual spots.

251
00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:14,080
Back home in Kent the cat didn't even look thin.

252
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:19,080
The family thought that somehow Beetle had been charming a few free lunches along the way

253
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:23,080
but the real mystery was how on earth this cat could have found his way.

254
00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,080
His route must have taken him across Europe's busiest streets

255
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:30,080
through menacing traffic and all of it along an unknown route.

256
00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:34,080
To get back here the incredible thing is that he would have come from North Kensington

257
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,080
and he'd have to go right the way across London, across the Thames,

258
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:40,080
right the way through South London, right the way down past Medway,

259
00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:44,080
probably went across it and he'd then have to travel right the way through Kent,

260
00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:47,080
right down to here past Canterbury.

261
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,080
I can't explain how he did it at all.

262
00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:59,080
He was a brother from the same litter who was brought to a coastal town near here

263
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:03,080
and that was some 30 miles away and he walked straight back here again as well

264
00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:07,080
and so I can only imagine that there's something particular to this area

265
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:10,080
or maybe to that particular litter of cats that they're just sort of homing cats.

266
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:20,080
Claims at animals can navigate enormous distances, present problems for scientists.

267
00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:25,080
It's so difficult to check all the facts that even experts can be fooled.

268
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:35,080
In Washington DC, Dr. Michael Fox is one of America's best known veterinary surgeons.

269
00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:39,080
He writes in newspapers across the country and he also travels the world

270
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:43,080
representing the United States in international animal welfare.

271
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:48,080
His credentials and know-how in animal matters are impeccable,

272
00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:52,080
which makes it all the harder to understand how he was caught up

273
00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,080
in a classic case of mistaken identity.

274
00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:00,080
We were living in Galesburg, Illinois in a small apartment

275
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:02,080
and decided to move into the countryside.

276
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:07,080
It was about six miles away, a little cottage on the edge of some farmland.

277
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:12,080
And Igor was a young male Simeys and we took Igor along with us.

278
00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:16,080
But after a few days he disappeared.

279
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:22,080
We searched all over the fields and around the ponds and the wood lot and so on.

280
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:27,080
Calling his name we went out at night with a flashlight hoping to find him hunting or something.

281
00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:31,080
He had a very loud voice, but no Igor.

282
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:37,080
It was probably after a couple of weeks I'd say.

283
00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:42,080
First of all we heard a meowing and a scratching noise and there was a Simeys cat

284
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:46,080
looking at us through the kitchen window.

285
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:49,080
And I said, good Lord, it's Igor come back.

286
00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:56,080
He was skinny, emaciated, so we opened the door and this cat walked in as though he'd lived there forever.

287
00:22:56,080 --> 00:23:00,080
And we thought, well, that's it.

288
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:06,080
But six weeks later came a dramatic and confusing development.

289
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:15,080
We had a call from neighbors saying that there was a Simeys cat in terrible condition,

290
00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:19,080
wandering around where you used to live.

291
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:27,080
Perhaps you ought to come over and have a look at this animal because we did hear that your Simeys cat had disappeared.

292
00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:30,080
Well, of course, we simply couldn't believe this.

293
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:36,080
What we were doing, we had whom we thought was Igor the second here, this couldn't be Igor.

294
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:40,080
It's an impossible journey.

295
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:43,080
Back into town we were living in a rural area.

296
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:50,080
Igor had never made that journey on foot and he certainly couldn't have seen much when we drove out to the country place

297
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:57,080
because we were piled with boxes and everything else and he was in a small cat cage, more or less on the floor of the car.

298
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:02,080
But we were both shocked when we saw this cat. It was Igor.

299
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:08,080
But if this was the real Igor, how had he found his way back to the fox's original home?

300
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:13,080
Michael Fox believes animals can somehow tune into the minds of humans.

301
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:20,080
My interpretation is that the animals are tuned into an emotional realm that I call the empathosphere.

302
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:25,080
They're able to, through empathy, sense where their loved ones are.

303
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:30,080
It's like the loved ones are an emotional antenna and the animal can home in on it.

304
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:38,080
It's part of the great mystery of which we are a relatively insignificant part

305
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:46,080
and I like to think that our animals can keep us in touch with this mystery with an aspect of the sacred and the unknown.

306
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:51,080
Boma Studi

307
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:56,080
These stories certainly make me wonder.

308
00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:00,080
Although mistaken identity can never be ruled out,

309
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:06,080
the sheer volume of cases where animals seem to have found their way home over great distances

310
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:10,080
suggests we have much to learn about their powers.

311
00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:16,080
If you could understand what's really going on when dogs apparently diagnose illness,

312
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:20,080
perhaps a whole new branch of medicine could be opened up

313
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:27,080
and I'll certainly never again think of my own non-human companions as dumb animals.

314
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:45,080
Boma Studi

315
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:50,080
Boma Studi

316
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:55,080
Boma Studi

317
00:25:55,080 --> 00:26:00,080
Boma Studi