Noel Fitzpatrick: ‘We often put on the radio and TV for the animals’

The supervet talks about growing up on a farm in Ireland, learning the elusive language of elephants and his love of Led Zeppelin

This week I’ve done brain surgery, spinal surgery, elbow surgery, knee surgery and a fracture that took 14 hours to fix. By the end, everything ached. I empathise with my patients, for sure. You feel connected to the universe, helping to prolong the lives of animals.

People say, “I’ve got a knee problem, a back problem. Can you operate on me?” If I did, I’d lose my licence.