Animal Planet has greenlighted a series following a bear trainer as he attempts to introduce two rescue bears to the wild.
Project Grizzly will document Jeff Watson’s efforts and emotional struggle as he teaches Bob and Screech, his two 700-pound grizzlies, how to survive in the deep wild.
Watson has made a life of rescuing and raising bears, having worked with the animals for more than 20 years. He saved Bob and Screech when they were just six weeks old. But after three years, he had an epiphany — bears do not belong in captivity — and set out to train them how to be wild and undo all they’ve learned in captivity.
In a remote location in Indiana, Watson sets out on the potentially dangerous task to teach the bears how to fend for themselves by hunting and fishing, learning to hibernate and ultimately breaking their dependence on Watson.
The six-part series is set to premiere at 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12.
The docu-series is produced by This Is Just a Test, with Aengus James, Colin King Miller and Myles Reiff serving as executive producers. For Animal Planet, Keith Hoffman is the executive producer, Pat Dempsey is the producer, and the series was developed by Kurt Tondorf.
