Animal Planet Takes Viewers to Alaska Where the Wild Things Are in New Series

January 22, 2008

(Silver Spring, Md.) Just a “short” 13-hour plane-ride from “the lower 48” is a world where moose have the run of Main Street, birds get “drunk,” seals and sea otters are commonplace and dogs and porcupines are painful playmates. Welcome to Anchorage, Alaska, home of P.E.T, the Pet Emergency Treatment 24-hour hospital for all animals, domestic or wild, the setting for Animal Planet’s offbeat new series, CLINICALLY WILD ALASKA. When the last Great American Wilderness is your backyard, the animals that frolic in it can become your responsibility. A sneak peak of CLINICALLY WILD ALASKA airs on Friday, February 8, at 10:30 PM (ET/PT) and will begin airing in its regular time slot on Friday, February 22, at 9:30 PM (ET/PT).

The series features an eccentric and talented team of emergency vets who take on this responsibility with a passion and a unique point of view. They are tasked with caring for an array of patients ranging from domestic dogs and cats to bald eagles, owls, porcupines and even moose. A day’s work for the P.E.T. vets in CLINICALLY WILD ALASKA includes removing quills from a pit bull impaled by a porcupine; treating a Bijon Frise that aggressively barked at the heels of a moose in its yard and was punted across the grass; or giving a rehabilitating bald eagle a clean bill of health, so it can be released back into the wild.

With such a variety of patients and a caseload so unique, it takes a distinctive veterinarian to embrace the quirks, rigors and elements in Alaska. Each episode is as much about the life and death stories of the animals as it is about the off-beat lives of doctors, who found themselves in Alaska…..and stayed because they became a family.

At the helm is Dr. Stuart Nelson, a.k.a. “the wild raven,” one of the main vets at P.E.T., who also serves as chief veterinarian of the Iditarod. A congenial loner, Dr. Nelson feels more comfortable sleeping in the back of his pick-up truck - even when the temperature is 20 below- than he does in the “on-call” room of the hospital. Dr. Colin Hurd moved to Alaska because of his passion for fly-fishing and has been known to dislodge a fishhook from the esophagus of an animal only to re-use the hook on a subsequent fishing trip. Other characters include Laura Kelly, the technician, who practices with her .357 Smith & Wesson in her spare time; Dr. Shannon Kesting, the newest member of the P.E.T. team, who drove 4,000 miles from Missouri to relocate to Alaska and videotaped her exploits along the way; and Justin Martin, the technician from New Jersey who is adapting his skills as a massage therapist for humans to use with animals.

Punctuating the antics of CLINICALLY WILD ALASKA is the cinematic backdrop of the vast Alaskan wilderness in which the series takes place. Whether it is the majestic Alaskan skyline with Mount Susitna looming in the background, breathtaking sunsets or picturesque shots of fishing boats chugging across the Cook Inlet, the series provides viewers with an amazing and slightly offbeat look at life on America’s last frontier.

CLINICALLY WILD ALASKA is produced by Authentic Entertainment, Inc. Kim Kantner is the series producer for Authentic Entertainment, Inc. Jason Carey is the executive producer for Animal Planet.

About 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 94 million homes in the U.S.; online assets 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; PetsIncredible, a major producer and distributor of pet-training videos and includes web service PetVideo.com ; and other media platforms including a robust video-on-demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.