LIVE 24-SEVEN
The reality is, in 2018, for the majority of the time that’s no longer true, it’s now not really an issue of what can be done, it’s an issue of what should be done. It becomes more an ethical and moral issue of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it and those always need to be in the animal’s best interests. When I was in vet school I had no idea! When I did my first operation it was on a kitchen table in a cottage in Ireland where a man lived with his cow! [laughing] The tour will bridge everything from early days of cows pooing on my head right through to modern day operations – and, in fact, hopefully predict the next 25 to 30 years!
Animal healthcare has changed dramatically over the last few years and you’ve been a big driver of that change, but do you feel there’s still a long way to go? Yeah huge! I remember back on Channel 4 when we started, I wanted to call the family’ mum and dad’ and the broadcaster said, “Well no, they’re the owners” and I said, “No, I never want the term owner used in my show; it’s always mum and dad, as they’re part of the family”. Another reason for doing the tour is that I want to reflect the love that I see in a family with a dog and cat right across the world, where we have a moral responsibility to hedgehogs, elephants and tigers and other animals in the world. So, we have a long, long way to go on two levels: 1) A recognition by society; we’re quite arrogant as human beings and we need to look out for animals and that is in fact what makes us human, looking out for each other and for animals. 2) Mankind will rapidly realise that we can’t get the solutions for medicine that we want without working together with animal medicine. People are seeing on the TV show and on the tour medicines that they can’t have as human beings right now and that’s got to be a wakeup call, you know, “… hang on, so if this leprechaun from Ireland with a cow pooing on his head is creating the next generation regenerative medicine and rebuilding body parts, what are we doing? Why are we not working together?” So, there are big questions.
This is a light-hearted question – but in all honesty, I think there’s some truth in it – I don’t know if you believe in former lives, but if you do I honestly think you were an animal in a past life as you have such a strong visible connection it’s almost like you have a sixth sense about what the animal in your care is going through! I feel a great sense of moral connection to the animal, I always have since I was bullied in school and since my friend was a dog I have always felt more connected to animal sentience ie feelings, needs and wants, than I have to human sentience. I recognise that it’s important across the globe to look at each other and recognise that regardless of colour, race, creed or religion, a dog or cat or whatever, we have feelings, needs and wants and I genuinely believe that people who understand that animals can give love and have feelings are better people! They are good people! And I can guarantee that on the tour that everybody in that arena is likely to be a good person – now how many times can you say that in your life? You’re walking into a room where statistically it’s overwhelmingly likely that all of those people are going to be nice human beings!
So this tour, which sounds fascinating; are the audience able to ask questions? Is it interactive? There’re going to be lots of surprises and stuff people won’t believe is likely! There’s a lot of music and musical influences from Zeppelin right through to Bowie and The Script! But if you imagine a situation where my job is to hold people’s hands in that arena,
/ 16
with a front seat view into the mistakes we’ve learnt from in the past and laugh about it – have a good laugh about it – the silliness that has happened in my life and then look to the future with them being encouraged to ask questions in their own heads about that. There will be interaction and work in real life and whilst I don’t like the word immersive, with this journey, I’m in it with you and holding your hand and looking at what you might feel in that situation rather than seeing it just through my eyes!
We all have a connection with our pets and swear they are almost human – I have a couple of friends who both have French Bulldogs – Buddy and Cooper. Now to me they’re the closest breed of dog to being human, they use their paws like hands and learn things unbelievably quickly. Are you surprised by some of the things you experience from animals and their relationships or bonds with humans? No! Never! Human beings have one fundamental intrinsic desire and that is love. If you’re a good human being you only have three desires: love, health and time, and the time spent with the creatures or humans that you love are the best times of your life. The reason for the bond you see is because it’s unconditional, they don’t judge you because of what you look like or what your religion is, they just give you love unconditionally. I’m not surprised that people have that bond and I think it’s the purest form of love.
Tell me about your charity and its goal? It’s really important and the central goal of my life: to give animals a fair deal. I think it’s silly that in the late forties and fifties experiments were done on animals to give humans joint replacements and drugs and even today more than 4000-5000 dogs in the UK and more than 50,000 in the US are sacrificed to give us what we want. I think what people see on the TV screens is that in fact some of the stuff we do with cartilage transplants and with new 3D implants etc. is more advanced than we are doing on human beings. We now have the tools to investigate that without the death of the animals, with high-powered CT scans and new blood tests and everything else, I think it’s ludicrous that we don’t fight cancer together and build implants together and find new drugs together and new solutions. I don’t believe we need to kill the animals to do that and the charity is a key goal for me and it’s a key goal that human and animal medicine should work together for the greater good..
Time is running out so one last question – although I have many more! You’re a good-looking Irish man, the accent alone would be enough for my girlfriends, but how do you feel about the level of female interest you have? Are you amused by the attention you get on social media etc. with your TV fame? The good news is I don’t ever read it – good or bad – I haven’t time! I don’t actually see any of that stuff, I just interact with the folks who ask me, “hat you doing today Noel and I tell them and they put it on Facebook or whatever else. I don’t actually do it. I don’t see any of that and to be honest I think if you listen to the good or the bad things it distracts from your internal creative freedoms, so I try not to pay any attention to it. I’m happy enough cracking on doing what I love to do!
I’ve loved talking with you! Thank you so much for your time Katie I appreciate it.
www.humanimaltrust.org.uk www.fitzpatrickreferrals.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
