MacIntyre's Millions (five): Bodysnatchers (BBC1): DONAL MacIntyre found himself in an impossible position while undercover to expose the illegal trade in rare animals and birds.

The lives of the very creatures he'd come to save were jeopardised as his plan to catch the criminals was put into action.

Posing as the millionaire owner of an animal park, he bought two baby orang-utans in Indonesia and was travelling by car to the airport, where they'd be smuggled through customs in a piece of luggage. The babies were crammed in a small box inside a bag and, with temperatures soaring, faced dying from the heat or the home-made sedatives they'd been given to keep them quiet.

If MacIntyre had blown his cover, the police wouldn't have been able to identify the corrupt airport officials aiding the crime. The journey through heavy traffic seemed endless, and he was powerless to help the orang-utans. "I'm frightened they may be dying in front of our eyes," he said.

When the traders decided to call off the deal, MacIntyre needed all his wits to secretly guide the police to their location. They were arrested, but one baby died, despite the desperate efforts to revive it.

Illegal trading seemed so widespread - he investigated in South Africa and India too - that you wondered how much MacIntyre could do to help the situation. His efforts led to arrests and animals being rescued, but it was a drop in the ocean. More widespread, co-ordinated action is needed to stamp out this trade. If you have the money, any animal can be bought, no matter how rare or endangered it is.

The parasites and viruses on the loose in Bodysnatchers, a truly skin-crawling documentary series, were killers more deadly than any wild animal. John caught what he thought was flu on a trip to Manhattan last year. But he had strange swellings in his groin and armpits. He was so weak he could hardly walk. The doctors' diagnosis was bubonic plague, which wiped out millions in the Middle Ages. Gangrene set in and his feet were amputated in a life-saving operation.

The news was no better for radio show host Al Kresta after bacteria invaded his leg through a cut. Once inside, it pumped out poison into his body. The bug was literally eating his leg. At one point, he was told, the infection was proceeding at one inch an hour.

His leg was amputated to stop it spreading further. The doctor told Al that he was sickest person he'd ever treated that had survived. That was, however, small consolation for what he'd been through.

Published: 11/12/2003