Chris Packham has vowed to keep fighting for the environment despite being the target of attacks.
Chris Packham has vowed to keep fighting for the environment despite being the target of attacks
The 62-year-old TV star, who is best known for hosting ‘Winterwatch’, has been the victim of several attacks due to his environmental activism - having seen his New Forest home firebombed in 2021 and narrowly missing “a good beating” while in Cyprus to stop illegal bird hunting. Now, Chris has insisted these intimidation tactics do nothing but “spur [him] on to do more” for nature.
During an appearance on the ‘The RadioTimes Podcast’, he said: “There’s always going to be pushback.
“A tiny percentage of people tend to lash out, whether that’s on social media or you’re in a field in Cyprus and someone’s weaving a big iron bar at you.
“That’s part and parcel of the job really and you can’t allow that to intimidate you.”
Chris previously revealed he had received “death threats” following his environmental campaigning.
He told Saga Magazine: “I had a death threat sent by email last week that was reported to the police.
“A threat of violence the previous week. On my social media platforms, the climate change deniers, the pro-shooting, pro-hunting lobbies are very active daily. I spend quite a lot of time alone in the countryside with my dogs and you don’t know who’s around the next corner.”
The former ‘Springwatch’ star also admitted he had taken on extra security guards for the BBC show to ensure his safety after “specific threats” against him were made.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, he said: “A couple of times recently, before the Watches, we’ve had specific threats for me. So we’ve had a person who’s there and stays at the hotel, and then goes with me to the place.
“We have had several threats recently that are not death threats but they’re saying, ‘We’re going to harm you.’ And they come, unbelievably, from emails. We’ve got the person’s email address, obviously, I’ve reported them to the police.
“I haven’t heard back from the police but they’ve acknowledged receipt of them. So we’ve had two in the last month, saying, ‘I’m going to harm you and harm your family.’”