Dr. Vernard Hodges
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Nat Geo WILD
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Business
Nat Geo WILD premiered its newest series CRITTER FIXERS: COUNTRY VETS this weekend. Airing Saturday's at 10/9c, the show follows lifelong friends Drs. Vernard Hodges and Terrence Ferguson who own and operate Critter Fixer Veterinary Hospital, located 100 miles south of Atlanta. Together with their loving staff, these physicians bring real heart, soul and a lot of humor to their treatment and care of more than 20,000 patients a year across their two locations. Between emergency visits to the office and farm calls throughout rural Georgia, this special team is constantly bombarded with unique cases. From a police dog with cactus thorns around her eye to a potbellied pig with life-threatening lacerations, for the Critter Fixer team, there is no such thing as "normal."
Fort Valley State University
Dr. Hodges was born in Norwalk, Connecticut but was raised in Fort Valley, Georgia. Growing up in rural Peach County is where his love and passion for all animals and knack for trying to heal all things developed. He grew up on a small farm with goats, cows, dogs, a cat, turtles, and countless other pets. As an only child it was these “pets” that he spent countless hours nurturing and taking care of. He is a 1988 graduate of Peach County High School – Go Trojans! He graduated in 1993 from Fort Valley State University as a Fish Biologist. He spent his summer before Veterinary school in Nepal and India working for the Agency for International Development developing an Aquaculture program at Lake Phewa, Nepal. This program was for growing and developing fish as a source of inexpensive protein for the village residents. Dr. Hodges also participated in an Aquatic Internship at the University of Mississippi with hopes of becoming a Marine Biologist and the next “Jacques Cousteau.” Nonetheless, his true passion for Veterinary Medicine was fulfilled when he applied and was accepted to Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine and graduated with a DVM in 1997. Dr. Hodges has one son and three dogs. He also raises Koi on a fish farm in Peach County.
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