There is a new show on Animal Planet (Thursday 9p) and it looks fascinating! Battleground: Rhino Wars is a new 3-part mini series about 4 ex-military who travel to South Africa to help the locals protect the endangered Rhinos from poachers after their horns. The Greater Kruger area of South Africa, just north of Johannesburg, is the new ground zero in a war to protect magnificent creatures on the edge of extinction. The death toll is astonishing; last year alone, nearly 700 rhinos were killed with baby rhinos and calves separated from their mothers and left to fend on their own.

Craig “Sawman” Sawyer brings more than three decades of military experience to the battlegrounds of South Africa. Sawman began his tactical skills career in the U.S. Marine Corps before transitioning to the U.S. Navy to pursue high-level Special Operations experience as a U.S. Navy SEAL, resulting in a promotion to SEAL Team 6 and decoration for “Heroic Service” in combat operations.

Sawman shares what it was like in the thick of the bush at night while waiting for the poachers. “I was thinking, man, I’m a part of the food chain and not on the top right now. I’m used to engaging the bad guys, I’m used to that kind of fight. But, I’m not used to watching my six from a 600lb. cat, hungry and I’m in his backyard.”