Series 8 Episode 2: Cholera Chaos Part 1

"Danny you need to go and talk to Ed, if he makes Leopards Den and Mara two completely different game parks, how will we survive and what will happen to the animals? Worst of all he might try and claim Leopards Den too!" Alice questioned Danny with such anxiety it was unreal.

"Hey, just relax sweetheart Ed maybe an old grouch but he would never do such a thing to us, he has his thoughts but nothing ever gets put into action and besides we applied for National Park status so we would have to remain as the one reserve! Things will be fine and this is what I'm about to prove to you!" Danny replied with confidence while combing his hair.

"You better be right Danny because if this place is put in jeopardy we're out of here and that includes you, not just Robert and I! You hearing me mister?" Alice declared.

"Yes love, I get the picture but we can't just give up on this place! I could never do that, not after all I have been through here and the same goes for you too!" Danny answered before making a quick escape to the animal hospital.

"Ah Danny I've been meaning to talk to you about the whole ehm business last night at the party I didn't mean to ruin it for anyone things just got a little out of hand and something that crossed my mind a few weeks ago got blown well out of proportion!" Ed said with a slight touch of sympathy in his tone.

There was silence Danny opted not to answer his partner and apparent friend. He continued on treating a sick Warthog and completely blanked Ed.

"Danny, please don't take it personally and I told Caroline that I wanted an animal hospital over at Mara and she promised she would not let the cat out of the bag and when she did I just got so angry with her and her grotty old husband giving it 10 to the dozen!" Ed was beginning to plead.

"Right okay Ed, just forget about it and let's put it in the past and remember we have a National Park inspection tomorrow to see if we can get granted their status which would give us reliable source of funding!" Danny snapped at him.

"Of course I remember! We still have a hell of a lot of hope for the project and this place may I ask what's wrong with our friend here?" Ed replied slightly more at ease now.

"Well he has a fever and has had severe diarrhea so I don't really know what to say." Danny said as he placed his stethoscope gently onto the Warthog.

"Surely we can't have an outbreak of cholera?" Ed asked.

"Well we would need to see if any other animals are infected first. It's far too early to be jumping to conclusions." Danny answered.

Rosie casually strolled into the hospital and could tell there was still tension between the 2 men. "So what's going on here then? Everything back to normal with you pair? And no separation talks?" she smiled.

"Things are fine thanks Rosie but your father and I think we could have an outbreak of cholera on the land, you fancy helping us out to get to the bottom of it?" Ed smiled back at her.

"Yeah I'd love to, so where should we start?" she queried.

"My first thing would be to check the black rhinos, they are our prized possessions, so make sure they are okay and I'll get Alice down here to help me out with running some tests on the Warthog." Danny suggested.

Of Rosie and Ed went in the hope that nothing more would come of this disease.

"You weren't seriously gonna make Leopards Den and Mara separate were you?" Rosie asked Ed.

"No, ehh don't be ridiculous I would never do that Leopards Den and Mara mean too much to me!" Ed hesitantly replied.

"You were so I can tell in the way you answered me! How the hell could you do such a thing?!" Rosie yelled angrily at him.

"Look Rosie, I just thought that Mara was better off as a game reserve on it's own okay? It's none of your business anyway because now that Danny and I have talked about things I do see a future for this place and a very bright one should we get National Park status tomorrow!" Ed bellowed back at her.

Rosie darted the make rhino and Ed took some blood samples and then they made a quick return to their HQ.

"We couldn't find very much Danny in the way of liquid waste but Fiona is running some tests with the blood samples over at Mara." explained Ed.

"Well Dup and I, we went to pay a visit to our giraffes and it turns out that they have it too!" Alice added to the conversation.

"So we should run some intestinal tests, that is where the root of the problem is in any living thing with intestines." Ed suggested.

"Yeah I think we should go along with Eds logic and run some tests on some of the animals intestines, just to finalise what is really wrong with them." Danny acknowledged.

The four of them got to work, Alice paired up with Rosie, while Danny went with Ed.

"This could affect our inspection tomorrow you know?" Ed said sheepishly to Danny.

"Don't be so ridiculous every game park suffers problems like this and it will actually be pretty beneficial to us because we get to prove ourselves to the people how well we work with the animals and will go to any length to make sure that they survive?!" Danny shouted a loud.

"Well yes, we will go with that, but come tomorrow afternoon you can be the one explaining that to them!" Ed exclaimed.

The pair kept bickering darted a hippo, a zebra and lion and then took all of them back to the animal hospital for a more thorough investigation.

Alice and Rosie on the other hand darted a giraffe, a cheetah and a leopard.

"6 months, is that all your giving my Dad and this place to prove themselves to you?" Rosie asked her Stepmother.

"Look, I know it sounds horrible and mean of me, but the reality is that can we afford to bring up a baby in the middle of the South African bush?" Alice replied.

"I see your point, but after all the hard work you and me Dad have put into this place, you can't just hang up your stethoscope and leave?!" Rosie argued.

"6 months Rosie and then I will have decided, and if your father doesn't come it's his loss?!" Alice answered.

They arrived back at the animal hospital to discover Danny and Ed operating on the hippo they darted and their facial expressions said it all!

"So far we have operated on the hippo, the lion and the zebra and they all have the same symptoms which means they all have cholera." Danny told the girls.

"Well I think if we put 2 and 2 together we know what our conclusion is!" Alice blurted.

"I usually say never jump to a conclusion, but yes Alice I am afraid that more or less all of our animals could have this problem." Ed mentioned.

"We have to get to the root of the problem! Find out where it's all coming from!" Rosie yelled.

"Well first we need to know where they all drink from!" Ed continued.

"That would be the watering hole in the middle of the bush!" Alice said.

"Well I shall get Fiona to run some PH tests on the water and see if that is where the disease is originating from." Ed remarked.

The following morning the family awoke to a devastating voicemail from Mara. It was Fiona saying that the water supply for the animals had been contaminated and that the eco system surrounding the land could go into decline should it continue.

With the inspection looming, only a few hours away, what would their next move be? Panic, worry and stress came upon them all so quickly, that not even Danny thought he could keep a brave face for much longer because without National Park status their would be no funding for the project and no money for the family to provide medical care for the animals and things would just have to come to an end.