Based on its press-kit description, I went into the new Nat Geo Wild series, “Animal Intervention,” with some preconceived notions.
Its promise to “confront overwhelmed and out-of-touch wildlife owners” had me thinking I’d be seeing cases like the well-publicized incident involving Charla Nash and a crazed chimpanzee named Travis. In 2009, Nash’s hands, face, nose and ears were torn off by Travis in a horrific rampage before he was shot dead. Travis, it turned out, was treated like a human by his owner (Nash’s friend) — even sleeping in her bed and dining at the kitchen table.
But, at least in its premiere, “Animal Intervention” doesn’t quite deliver on its promised premise.
Hosted by actress and animal activist Alison Eastwood (Clint’s daughter) and South African animal expert Donald Schultz (Animal Planet’s “Wild Recon” and “Venom in Vegas”), “Intervention” has the pair traveling the country looking for cases of animal neglect due to the heretofore “overwhelmed” owners.
Their first stop is Branson, Mo., home to magician Kirby Van Burch and his wife, Bambi, who host a popular magic/animal stage show. Van Burch, for all the dramatic “Intervention” music and quick-cut editing, obviously loves and cares for his lions, tigers and cougars. He may be a little odd — admitting he’d have stuffed his dead grandmother, if possible — but the best that Eastwood and Schultz can conjure up is that the beasts’ quarters are too cramped (their pacing indicates stress). Van Burch then proceeds to tell them that he’s in the midst of a major expansion to the animals’ space. D’oh!
The second case hews a little more closely to the show’s intent. Here, Eastwood and Schultz visit Jim and Donita Clark, a retired Louisiana couple hiding their four capuchin monkeys — Sara Joe, Tina Marie, Mika May and Halley Suzanne — in a Texas RV park, convinced that Louisiana Fish and Game officials are out to take their beloved “girls” away from them. They live with their monkeys in an extremely smelly RV, rarely taking them outside for fresh air and sunlight.
While the Clarks, who have grown children, perhaps fuss a bit too much over their simian “girls” — the capuchins take mouth-hits off a whipped-cream can administered by Donita, and they sleep in the couple’s bed — it’s obvious they love the monkeys. The couple only seems “out-of-touch” in their paranoia regarding Louisiana officials.
Eastwood and Schultz are pleasant enough, but future episodes need to be more compelling, rather than trying to force drama around a catchy title.