A wildlife rescue expert is distraught that his TV series is being axed after almost 18 years.

Wildlife SOS will screen its last episode on May 12 on Discovery Channel’s Animal Planet.

Simon Cowell, the programme's presenter and founder of Leatherhead's Wildlife Aid Foundation, said he was very sad that their important messages about conservation would no longer reach millions of viewers.

Mr Cowell said: "All TV seems to want is sensationalised drivel, which is a shame."

But he vowed to continue filming for their own website while hoping that another broadcaster will step forward to screen the show.

He said: "Getting the message out there is so vital."

The last series of Wildlife SOS starts this Sunday, April 7.

It sees Mr Cowell save hedgehogs and badgers close to home as well as meeting crocodile rescuers in Belize and coming face to face with wolves in Russia.

Mr Cowell said getting up close to the wolves was not as scary as an incident last year for the series when he unwittingly swam into water inhabited by great white sharks.

Last year he also relied on armed guards to protect him and the film crew them from rebels and insurgents on route to see mountain gorillas in the Congo.

He said: "That’s one place I have felt so outside my comfort zone."

Mr Cowell, who has been part of the series since the start, said he had thousands of favourite memories from filming in the UK and all over the world.

He said: "I have loved being able to get the message out to millions of viewers worldwide about what they can do to help.

"You have got hardened conservationists out there, but Wildlife SOS had an audience who would not ordinarily have watched this sort of program.

"They began to realise what to do to protect the environment in all sorts of ways."

Wildlife SOS is produced by Leatherhead-based Wild Productions.