My husband did a zoology degree, but he doesn't really like animals in the house. Once he's gone off to work, my daughter brings the hamster down from her bedroom. I try and read the children a book before school, but I don't have much time. I eat breakfast on the go.
I drive to work — we're on the perimeter of terminal 4 — never knowing what the day is going to bring. I once spent the day searching a plane for a cat. The plane flew round the world for three weeks before we caught it — in the skin of the plane. The fire services promised to lend us their heat-seeking cameras next time. The airline was very apologetic and flew the cat home first class.
People think it's kind to sedate an animal. But a plane is pressurised, and that lowers the animal's blood pressure. So does sedation. The animal loses control of its internal thermostat and gets hypothermic; it often has to be put straight into an incubator.
The centre enforces the health-and-welfare legislation for animals passing through Heathrow. Sometimes we hold onto animals to monitor their physical condition or to check their paperwork. Sometimes we hold them while they wait for their connecting flight.
We've got areas for dogs, cats, reptiles, birds and fish. We also have an area for large animals. The largest we ever had was a black rhino — the only thing we would have trouble holding is a fully grown giraffe. Some of the dogs and cats are desperate for human company. But we never handle the more exotic stuff, like monkeys — we work out how to assess them very quickly.
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First thing, we feed the birds: as soon as it gets light, birds start feeding. We do the rest in rotation. We get everything from herbivorous reptiles to aquatic animals that eat bloodworms. We can't know about the eating habits of every creature, but we've got a big library and internet access. Plus a strong team of 20 staff, and we all have our own strengths.
My strength is large animals — my mother and my stepfather were farmers, and I used to work at a livery. But then I had a nasty fall off my horse and decided I didn't want to do it any more.
I heard of the vacancy at Heathrow, but I wasn't trained as a vet, so it was a steep learning curve. And I'm still learning.
I just had a shipment of toucans. Luckily, Tesco's in Ashford is open 24 hours — I had to go down at 2am to buy God knows how many bananas.
I haven't seen any cattle through the airport since foot and mouth. But we get lots of racehorses. We had one from Australia. The groom was raving about it. We thought it was a bit heavy, but I still put a few pounds on it. It won two races at Royal Ascot. The driver who transported the horse was braver than me and he won £3,000. I won £60.
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For lunch, I eat a sandwich on the run — as long as I've washed my hands. I'm not keen on handling venomous reptiles. I once opened a box to find it full of tarantulas that had eaten their way out of their packaging. I've been scratched by a cat; that's the worst I've suffered. I'm far too careful. We wear protective clothing; where there's a possibility of disease, we wear masks and ventilators.
Once, security x-rayed a suitcase and thought they'd found a snake; we found a draught excluder. Another time they found two suitcases full of goldfinches — about 230 birds — from Turkey. The birds got repatriated. We're forever called over to see little kids with terrapins in their pockets. Or hamsters. One man was moving in his "downstairs area", and customs found an extra pouch sewn into his boxer shorts. In there was a snake, which we had to go in and remove.
Then, on New Year's Day, security x-rayed a bag with a dead dog in it. It was the size of a labrador, and I had to lug it to baggage reclaim to reunite it with its owner. He'd owned the dog for 14 years. It had been ill, and he'd had it put down the night before. He had his family flying home to give the dog a funeral, but the airline wouldn't allow it to fly. He was in floods of tears. I arranged to have the animal cremated and the ashes sent on.
I often do the night shift. It's strangely quiet between 1am and 4am, because we don't have night flights. We try and give the resident animals a night-time; the lights dim to simulate moonlight. It's peaceful, and nice to drive home thinking you've made a difference.
My son got a worm farm for his birthday — I was fed up with him keeping worms in a bowl in the kitchen. Before I go to bed I make sure it's damp. I never really stop."