Nat Geo Wild Unveils Four New Series & Slew Of Premiere Dates – TCA

Nat Geo Wild unveiled a quartet of new series at TCA today and set premiere dates for them and three returning series. Expect plenty of veterinarians and animal rescues, along with series about surviving the wilds of Alaska and a behind-the-scenes look at America’s favorite zoo.

The new series are Rocky Mountain Animal Rescue (premieres March 10), The Supervet (March 11), Alaska’s Grizzly Gauntlet (April) and Zoo Life with Jack Hanna (June). There’s also the return of Nat Geo Wild’s No. 1 series, The Incredible Dr. Pol, along with new seasons of Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER and Buckeye Bottoms.

“This year we’re bringing jaw-dropping, unexpected natural history adventures along with surprising and intimate animal stories,” said Geoff Daniels, EVP and GM of Nat Geo Wild. “We want to inspire people to get out there and see the wild world and all that it has to offer.”

Here are the channel’s premiere dates for 2018, along with series descriptions:

THE INCREDIBLE DR. POL
New season premieres 9 PM Saturdays through March
Nat Geo Wild’s #1 series returns with even more pregnancy exams, prolapses and problematic cases than ever before. No two days are ever the same for Dr. Pol and his staff at Pol Veterinary Services as they wrangle animals and tackle cases at their clinic in rural Michigan. This season, Dr. Pol and his team will stop at nothing to make sure their clients and their animals are happy and healthy.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN ANIMAL RESCUE
Series premiere, 10 PM Saturday, March 10
The extraordinary staff at the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region risk their lives and give their hearts to save all animals big and small. With 5,400 square miles of rugged Colorado terrain in their jurisdiction, the Pikes Peak team works together to rescue and rehabilitate more than 40,000 animals a year. The job is risky, urgent and unpredictable as the team responds to emergency calls in the untamed wilderness. Watch the incredible stories of nature, animals and the unwavering perseverance of the officers and veterinarians of Rocky Mountain Rescue.

THE SUPERVET
Series premiere, 10 PM Sunday, March 11
With two hundred new cases every month, from rabbits with broken legs to dogs with cancer, Fitzpatrick Referrals in Surrey, England is one of the biggest and best veterinary hospitals in the world. Every animal emergency has a deeply human subtext. Charismatic and witty surgeon Noel Fitzpatrick leads a team of 100 nurses, physiotherapists and hydro-therapists with multiple operating theatres, a rehabilitation pool and a radiology department. The level of care would satisfy human patients. The Supervet follows Noel and his team over several months when French bulldogs are taught to walk again and wolverine-style metal rods are inserted into a dog’s leg. This series is full of the most unusual veterinary cases and plenty of joyful owners who’d been told to give up hope.

DR. K’S EXOTIC ANIMAL ER
New season premieres Sun, March 18, 9/8c
Dr. K’s exotic cases and cures are as wild and unexpected as the animals that come through the door.  Along with her dedicated staff, Dr. Susan Kelleher treats a dynamic array of patients ranging from kangaroos, to monkeys, birds, rabbits, pigs, fish and every imaginable animal in between.

BUCKEYE BOTTOMS
New season premieres 9 PM Saturday, April 7
There are two things Hawaii-based mobile veterinarian Dr. Buckeye Bottoms never leaves home without, his canine companion, Kevin, and his surfboards. Buckeye and Kevin put hundreds of miles on Hawaii’s back roads delivering life saving treatment to Hawaii’s sick animals, and hope to the hundreds of clients who depend on his mobile veterinarian practice. With his truck as his office, and the islands of Hawaii as his home, Buckeye travels the Aloha State, as he tends to sick animals large and small. He prides himself on going where other vets won’t, and treating animals other vets can’t. It’s a tough job, and a dirty job, but for Dr. Buckeye Bottoms, there is no other place he would rather be, and nothing he won’t do to keep each animal of Hawaii happy and healthy.

ALASKA’S GRIZZLY GAUNTLET
Series premiere, April
Legendary survivalist Les Stroud returns to TV in Nat Geo WILD’s Alaska Grizzly Gauntlet to go deeper into the wild than ever before, learning from the world’s most captivating and dangerous animals how to endure remote Alaska. Stroud has survived some of the world’s most extreme environments, from the deepest recesses of the Amazon to the brutal heat of the Kalahari, with nothing but his survival skills, a multi-tool and some serious grit. Now he faces the greatest challenge of his career, tackling Alaska’s harshest climates alongside the most striking and fearsome wildlife our 49^th state has to offer.

ZOO LIFE
Series premiere, June
The call of the wild takes people all over the world in pursuit of exotic creatures including a pristine land where 10,000 animals span 12,000 acres. And no, it’s not in Africa. It’s in Ohio! The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is one of the largest and most popular zoos in the country, boasting none other than Jungle Jack Hanna as its legendary Director Emeritus who actually lives in the zoo! It takes hours just to see it all, but now for the first time Nat Geo Wild is taking viewers behind the scenes to meet the animals and the army of people who work 24-hours a day, 7-days a week to create one of the best zoo experiences in the country. Zoo Life premieres this May on Nat Geo Wild.