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ANIMAL PLANET TRIGGERS ADDITIONAL EPISODES OF CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING TO AIR FIRST QUARTER 2011
-- Network Orders 10 Additional Episodes
That Explore the Human Impact and Animal Toll of Animal Hoarding--
(Beverly Hills, Calif., August 6, 2010) -- After just three weeks of premieres of
CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING, Animal Planet orders an additional 10 episodes to
air during the first quarter of 2011. The series exceeded Animal Planet's year-ago prime levels
by 48 percent among W25-54 in the first two premieres that aired this past July.
Animal hoarding is a serious and growing problem affecting every community in America, with
more than 3,500 cases reported annually, impacting 250,000 pets each year. In many cases, it
goes unrecognized until it becomes a crime. CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING takes an
honest and intense look at this condition and for the first time ever shows animal hoarding as a
complex human condition that affects both the people and the animals involved.
"Clearly, CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING hit a nerve with our viewers," says
Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet. "These are life-and-death,
deeply moving stories of humans and animals driven by profound need. With this series, we are
hoping to build awareness that hoarding is a serious psychological condition -- one for which
there is hope and treatment for people and animals involved."
Although animal hoarding is not yet formally recognized as a distinct psychological disorder in
the psychiatric diagnostic manual with a set course of treatment, the mental health community is
trying to better understand and approach animal hoarding through a human lens. Animal Planet's
series is providing a forum where experts in psychology, veterinary health and leading
organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States can address and unlock the
problem on a national level.
CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING delves into the daily lives as well as the hearts and
minds of the people afflicted by this disorder. It also provides a voice for family and friends who
are determined to prevent their loved ones from spinning further out of control. In the series,
cameras enter the homes of men and women, young and old and from all walks of life,
discovering what it's like for animals and people to live in the toxic conditions that result from
an unbelievably large menagerie of animals. And, Animal Planet gets to the heart of the matter,
exploring the reasons why these individuals turned to hoarding and how their problems spun
rapidly out of control.
CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING is produced for Animal Planet by GRB
Entertainment. Executive producers for GRB Entertainment are Gary R. Benz, Michael Branton
and Dan Jackson, with Dan Partland as consulting producer. Executive producer for Animal
Planet is Melinda Toporoff. Marc Etkind is vice president of development 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, highquality
entertainment, information and enrichment. cptfc 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.
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