A stone's throw from the M4, just over 10 miles from Swansea, you'll find a tiny village where the population is dwarfed nearly 33 times over by leeches. At any one time, Hendy is home to up to 100,000 of the medicinal creatures, all under the watchful eye of Carl Peters-Bond - the UK's only leech farmer.
And while thoughts of using blood-sucking leeches to treat serious wounds conjure up images of middle-age medicine and witchery, in reality the tiny critters are being used in hospitals up and down the country as one of the most effective means to preserve blood loss.
In the 30 years that Carl, manager at Biopharm Leeches, has worked at the plant, the 47-year-old estimates his meticulously bred leeches have saved thousands of limbs, including - albeit unconfirmed - the infamous case of John Wayne Bobbitt in the USA. Since joining at 17 years old, Carl has spent hours upon hours caring for the tiny creatures. He has spent countless days sorting them, separating them and starving them ready to be sent out to clients - primarily the NHS in burns and plastic reconstructive surgery units.
