ANIMAL PLANET ANSWERS THE "CALL OF THE WILDMAN" WITH A BACKWOODS BLOCK OF NEW EPISODES

- This Summer, Ernie Brown Jr. aka "Turtleman" Returns with 16 New "Snapperlicious" Episodes Featuring Crazy Bare-Handed Animal Rescues -

(New York, April 25, 2012) - Talk about live action! This June, Kentucky's best-kept secret "Turtleman" returns to Animal Planet with 16 brand-new, 30-minute episodes beginning Sunday, June 3, at 10 PM (et/pt). Now busier than ever, Turtleman is back on the road, eradicating local homes and businesses of new and even peskier critters than ever before, including muskrats, river otters, beavers, squirrels, nutria and even wild coyotes. But this year, he isn't staying within state lines. Accompanied by a crew of backwoods buddies, including banjo-toting Neal James, handyman Jake Ison and the always-dependable Squirrel Brady, Turtleman expands his live-action repertoire and travels across the country, meeting new characters and responding to the toughest and most dangerous nuisance calls of his career:

· A strange, hostile creature lurks in the dangerous underground coal mines of Kentucky. But with zero visibility in the pitch-dark sweltering tunnels, Turtleman will have to rely on his other senses to catch this ghostly varmint.

· After Kentucky is ravished by a powerful tornado, Ernie and his pal Neal volunteer their time to help rebuild communities and save wildlife from oil runoffs that formed from the natural disaster.

· In Louisiana, an adult coyote is terrorizing a community, leaving its residents in constant fear. But with Ernie on the case, will this vicious predator stand its ground or abide by the rules of the Turtleman?

For the past three decades, Turtleman has been diving into Kentucky's murkiest ponds in search of feisty snapping turtles capable of biting through bone. Accompanied by his canine companion Lolly, Turtleman is armed with country wits as sharp as the steel blade he carries, aptly named "Thunder," and has the uncanny ability to catch monster- snapping turtles with his bare hands and return them into the wild unscathed. No job is too tough or dangerous for Turtleman, and his years of bonding with wild animals allow him to use his animal instincts to save them. Additionally, CALL OF THE WILDMAN: BEAST OF SPECIAL, a one-hour special with never-before-seen footage from Turtleman's craziest rescues and commentary from the cast will air as part of the recently announced Monster Week on Tuesday, May 22, at 8 PM (et/pt).

CALL OF THE WILDMAN is produced by Sharp Entertainment for Animal Planet. Matt Sharp is the executive producer for Sharp Entertainment. Dawn Sinsel is executive producer for Animal Planet.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 96 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.