After a seven-month investigation into Call of the Wildman, Mother Jones revealed not only the shady staging of the "rescues" on the show, but also some serious allegations of abuse and neglect of some of the animals featured. They described the production as "a culture that tolerated legally and ethically dubious activities."

Citing multiple examples of alleged animal mismanagement, Mother Jones suggests the production team was complicit in illegally drugging animals "in violation of federal rules," as well as failing to properly document "wildlife activities" for Kentucky officials. One such incident was the sedation of a zebra that Turtleman "caught" which show producers admitted they procured from a local drive-thru animal safari. There was also the episode in which Turtleman cleared bats from a beauty shop that resulted in the death of one bat, and possibly violated local laws that prevent "bringing a bat to a new location for entertainment purposes alone," which show producers admitted they did to stage the scene.

Then there was the supposed rescue of three baby raccoons, which Turtleman stumbled upon after capturing the "mother" in a Kentucky family's laundry room. Turns out the momma raccoon was a male, and the babies had been trapped days earlier in preparation for the episode, according to raccoon expert Karen Bailey, who runs the Kentucky Wildlife Center. After Turtleman "rescued" the raccoon cubs, Bailey was only able to save two of them at her center after show producers brought them to her in what she described as an "emaciated" and "almost dead" state. "I have no beef against (Ernie Brown) personally. I think this is a bad TV show, a badly scripted reality show. Animal Planet should know better," Bailey told LexGo. And her words must have resonated with viewers, because after the initial Mother Jones exposé, which was published between seasons three and four, Call of the Wildman saw a 43% drop in ratings. Although there was never an official cancellation announcement from Animal Planet, the Turtleman never returned after that dismal fourth season.