Following a highly rated season one finale, Animal Planet has renewed Call of the Wildman for a second season. The new 20 episodes will premiere sometime in 2013.

‘Turtleman’ Ernie Brown Junior was understandably excited by the renewal, exclaiming, “Yi yi yi yi, come git some!”

Here’s the press release with some additional details:

ANIMAL PLANET’S “CALL OF THE WILDMAN” ENDS ON HIGH NOTE AND SNARES SECOND SNAPPERLICIOUS SEASON

— Back-to-back Finale Episodes Each Deliver 1.3M P2+ Viewers With Season-High Episode Grabbing 1.8M P2+ Viewers —

(New York, September 10, 2012) – There’s no rest for the wickedly loveable… Deep within the Kentucky backwoods, Ernie Brown Jr., aka ‘Turtleman,’ worked hard this Labor Day weekend, ending his CALL OF THE WILDMAN season with a huge, live-action snap, helping Animal Planet achieve its best-ever Labor Day Weekend ever!

The network’s all-day CALL OF THE WILDMAN marathon led up to back-to-back season finale episodes, which each delivered nearly 1.3M P2+ viewers and helped Animal Planet rank among the top five ad-supported cable networks in the 10pm timeslot among M25-54 and M18-29. The week before, on August 26, CALL OF THE WILDMAN hit an all-time series high with the episode premiere of “Pig Wallow Predator,” delivering nearly 1.8M P2+ viewers.

The Planet plucks up a second season of 20 new half-hour episodes for 2013 of this immediate snapperlicious sensation, which nabbed 1M P2+ viewers in its first season. CALL OF THE WILDMAN ranks as Animal Planet’s top three series year to date among P2+ viewers, P25-54 and P18-49.

“Yi yi yi yi, come git some!” said ‘Turtleman’ Ernie Brown, Jr., in reaction to the renewal of his series.

CALL OF THE WILDMAN features the bare-handed, backwoods animal-trapping skills of “Turtleman” Ernie Brown, Jr. For the past three decades, Turtleman has been diving into Kentucky’s murkiest ponds in search of feisty snapping turtles, capable of biting through bone. No job is too tough or dangerous for Turtleman, and his years of bonding with wild animals allow him to use his animal instincts to save them. CALL OF THE WILDMAN is produced by Sharp Entertainment for Animal Planet. Matt Sharp is the executive producer for Sharp Entertainment. Dawn Sinsel is executive producer 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, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. 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.

What do you think? Are you a fan of the Call of the Wildman TV series? Are you glad to hear that it’s coming back for season two?