ANIMAL PLANET RENEWS "PIT BULLS AND PAROLEES" FOR FIFTH SEASON

-- New Orleans Based Pit Bull Rescue's February Season Finale Hits Series High with 1.3 Million Viewers --

(New York, New York) - Not even a devastating Hurricane can stop the resilience and passion of Tia Maria Torres, renowned pit bull trainer, founder of the nation's largest pit bull shelter, Villalobos Rescue Center, and star of Animal Planet's PIT BULLS AND PAROLEES. Today, the network announces the fifth-season renewal of the series, rolling out with 16 brand new episodes in fall of 2013.

The February 16 season four finale of PIT BULLS AND PAROLEES titled "Storm Surge" is the series' most-watched episode ever among P2+ (1.3M), HH (1M) and W18-49 (424k). This past season delivered nearly 1M P2+ viewers (987k), making it the series' most watched season ever. Additionally, PIT BULLS AND PAROLEES is Animal Planet's most watched series year-to-date among W18-49 and second most-watched among W25-54.

Last season, Torres faced her greatest challenge yet: rebuilding Villalobos after moving the entire operation to New Orleans. With her family, trusted parolees and a crew of new Louisiana parolees by her side, Torres met unexpected challenges as she pulled out all the stops to run the rescue center in an entirely new environment. But no matter what struggles the team faced, the dedication to providing rescued pit bulls with safe and loving homes remained relentless.

PIT BULLS AND PAROLEES is produced for Animal Planet by 44 Blue Productions and Rive Gauche Television. Rasha Drachkovitch is the executive producer for 44 Blue Productions. For Animal Planet, Lisa Lucas is the executive producer, and Patrick Keegan is the producer.

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.