Cerro Gordo County Iowa
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The Globe-Gazette
By Ashley Stewart
MASON CITY -- A TV series featuring a Mason City native helping wolves and veterans has been picked up by the Discovery Channel.
The announcement came Thursday evening on the “Wolves and Warriors” Facebook page, stating two back-to-back episodes will air at 10 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, on the Discovery Channel with “more wolves, more heroics (and) more veterans.” “Our show did such a great job on Animal Planet, thanks to all the viewers from Iowa and Minnesota, that the Discovery Channel wants to test pilot our show on Veterans Day,” said Jamie “Doc” Havig, a Mason City native who stars in the series, in an email to the Globe Gazette. “If we create a large enough wave, Discovery Channel will sign us to a second season.”
“Wolves and Warriors” premiered on Animal Planet on Sept. 1 and has aired eight episodes. The TV series follows the work of Lockwood Animal Rescue Center, a private sanctuary owned by U.S. Navy veteran Matt Simmons and Dr. Lorin Lindner, in Frazier Park, California. According to the Animal Planet website, “Wolves and Warriors” provides “a rare glimpse at (Lockwood Animal Rescue Center’s) rescue and rehabilitation work, including never before seen footage of wolf rescues." But for the past two years, Havig has been working with the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center as team leader of its WolfGuard, a group of combat veterans who rescue wolves and wolf-dog hybrids whose lives are threatened by poachers, illegal breeders and other perils.
As team leader, Havig is responsible for recruiting veterans who are struggling to find a new purpose outside the military or have post-traumatic stress disorder or other issues, to assist him on the rescue missions.
Havig said he recruits veterans from across the country through social media, primarily Instagram, to join him on his rescue missions, where their military skills, like shooting, tracking and guiding, come in handy in saving the “incredibly savvy” wolves and wolf-dog hybrids. After interviewing the veterans by phone to learn their skill sets, they’re flown out to California where they’re introduced to wolves before going on a rescue mission.
Once the wolves are rescued, he said they’re microchipped, DNA tested, spayed or neutered and housed in the sanctuary where they’ll live out the remainder of their lives.
Havig said the episodes airing on the Discovery Channel in November will feature the team going to Montana to “chase after poachers and bad guys.”
“The Discovery channel is four times larger than Animal Planet. Our outreach to help preserve wild animals and our nation’s veterans should be on a larger scale, so please tune in and help us get this contract,” he said. “Thank you all for your continued support.” For more information about Havig’s work with the sanctuary, follow him on Instagram @The_Dark_Viking.
The Globe-Gazette
By Ashley Stewart
MASON CITY -- If a school counselor would’ve told Jamie “Doc” Havig of the jobs he’d have after graduating high school, he likely wouldn’t have believed them.
That’s because he’s held a variety of crazy odd jobs since graduating from Mason City High School in 1995 -- serving as a combat medic with the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command in Iraq and Afghanistan, working as a firefighter in California and leading a children’s nonprofit. “It’s been an awesome ride,” Havig said. But perhaps his most exciting — and rewarding — job is the one he’s doing now. For the past two years, Havig, 42, has been working with the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center in Frazier Park, California, as team leader of its WolfGuard, a group of combat veterans who rescue wolves and wolf-dog hybrids whose lives are threatened by poachers, illegal breeders and other perils. As team leader, Havig is responsible for recruiting veterans who are struggling to find a new purpose outside the military or have post-traumatic stress disorder or other issues, to assist him on the rescue missions. “This is my new passion, my new outlet, my new way of giving back to the military brothers and sisters I love,” he said. “It means the world to me.” The work Havig and the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center, a private sanctuary owned by U.S. Navy veteran Matt Simmons and Dr. Lorin Lindner, is featured in the TV series “Wolves and Warriors” premiering at 9 p.m. Saturday on Animal Planet. According to the Animal Planet website, “Wolves and Warriors” provides “a rare glimpse at (Lockwood Animal Rescue Center’s) rescue and rehabilitation work, including never before seen footage of wolf rescues." In the series premiere, the teams travel to rescue a grey wolf named Sadira from a backyard in Oregon, and later await the outcome of her life-or-death medical procedure, the website stated. Havig said later this season, he and other veterans assist with the evacuation of a California sanctuary threatened by wildfire, and combat wolf poaching in the forests of Montana.
Havig, who describes himself as “a huge animal guy,” said the phone call to join the efforts of the animal sanctuary came at a time when he was working “a monotonous 9-to-5 job” at a sporting goods store and was looking to find a new purpose. “By the grace of God, I was allowed to start the next chapter of my life,” he said. Havig said he recruits veterans from across the country through social media, primarily Instagram, to join him on his rescue missions, where their military skills, like shooting, tracking and guiding, come in handy in saving the “incredibly savvy” wolves and wolf-dog hybrids. After interviewing the veterans by phone to learn their skillsets, they’re flown out to California where they’re introduced to wolves before going on a rescue mission. “It’s not about me, it’s about the animals and the veterans 100 percent,” Havig said. Once the wolves are rescued, he said they’re microchipped, DNA tested, spayed or neutered and housed in the sanctuary where they’ll live out the remainder of their lives. "I definitely think this is something Mason City can be proud of, one of its hometown boys doing amazing things,” he said. Havig said he’s grateful for the opportunities he’s had and for his upbringing in Mason City. For more information about Havig’s work with the sanctuary, follow him on Instagram @The_Dark_Viking.
Photographs courtesy of Globe Gazette
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Since graduating from Mason City High School in 1995, Havig served as a combat medic with the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command in Iraq and Afghanistan, worked as a firefighter in California and led a children’s nonprofit.
“How many guys can say they rescued a lion from a zoo?” he said.