Chris Packham spent yesterday evening at a Wild Justice event in London.
He and his family arrived home shortly after midnight to be confronted by this savagery:
This is an escalation in the harassment campaign that has previously included dead crows being hung from his gate, a snared fox being dumped on his drive, and excrement and death threats being sent to him in the post.
It’s part of a wider hate campaign, manufactured and perpetuated by some particularly nasty individuals from the shooting industry, who are trying to intimidate Chris in to stopping his wildlife and conservation campaigning work.
Chris’s response to this latest atrocity is a measure of his integrity – a calm reply requesting restraint:
Raptor Persecution UK 
Scum do as scum are.
This is horrific.
I would seriously think about covering all angles of the house and entrances with CCTV. So sad that Chris and his family have to endure this cruelty.
The other side are already claiming Chris did this himself as well as the crows and fox. Others (80 plus) have clicked on the laughing emoji on this post on his fb page. Maybe only the particularly nasty fringe of the shooting community would go this far, maybe, but I suspect an awful lot of the rest are cheering it on. Perhaps it’s only surprising this hasn’t happened more often. They’ve got the wrong measure of Chris P if they think this will deter him.
Funnily enough, I had a long and friendly chat with the editor of Sporting Gun who bravely accepted the Wild Justice invitation last night. I explained to him that the way shooting interests were behaving was actually making it easier for their critics. Can you imagine anything more designed to totally antagonise all reasonably sensitive people than hanging a dead badger on Chris’ gate ? Yet again the nasty mob have shot themselves firmly in the foot and lost even more support.
My sympathy to Chris – yet again a horrible thing to experience – impossible not to be feel some fear when faced with people who are prepared to behave like this, and also the horror for the animal and the mindset that abuses our wildlife like this.
That revolting picture of a dead badger perfectly illustrates the nature of the sub human lowlifes who indulge in wildlife crime. They clearly do not possess the intellect that should cause them to realise that such pictures can only result in driving more people against them.
The picture probably tells a story that extends beyond the obvious implied threat to Chris Packam. I suspect that anyone who would hang a dead badger up in that manner is the type who gains pleasure from animal cruelty (zoosadism). There can be little doubt that the culprit will be aggressive and would harm a person.
100% agree Dougie. It does make it easier for more people to support Chris and our wild animals though. We will not ever stop supporting Chris and we will never give in to these sub-humans.
This is a rather horrible attempt at intimidation from some very ugly or damage minded folk who have lost both the plot and the argument. My sympathy goes out to Chris and his family who are bravely putting up with this nasty nonsense. Very nasty thing to do to a badger too, no self respecting human would do such a thing.
I know that all three of the directors of Wild Justice are having to put up with some very nasty stuff from the small or no minded idiots who oppose what they represent. These sad and nasty people should remember that we are all Spartacus——Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ
I’d hazard a guess that this is the work of a local farmer/farm worker rather than someone from the shooting fraternity; the baling twine used to hang the corpse is a clue. Whoever has done this must have a warped mind, and certainly isn’t the brightest of people.
For a start that is not a mutually exclusive combination – farmer / shooter. Secondly I suspect most gamekeepers and many shooters have a bit of baling twine handy in the back of their vehicles.
Can’t Chris electrify his gate with a few thousand volts when he isn’t there and fry these twisted bastards? One way of catching them.
That poor badger – sick bastards.
I beg to differ from those who think the culprits are merely ‘scum’, ‘low-life’, ‘sub-human’ etc… This is the unacceptable face of the British Royal Family, the aristocracy, the landed ‘gentry’, the lords, ladies and lick-spittles who gain pleasure from blood sports but now feel threatened by public opinion.
Know your enemy.
Time for me to join The League Against Cruel Sports
Your probably right, though I’d hazard a guess they didn’t get their hands dirty, but ordered some poor serf (reliant on them for job and housing) to do the job for them.
I do admire Chris for the way he responds to such awful intimidation, its easy to say but less easy to do, ignore these sick people.
There are only 2 words that sums this up. ***k ***t***s. Chris you need CCTV at your gates.
Horrendous but whoever the perpetrator is has shot themselves in the foot, and sincerely hope they were caught on CCTV/trail cams.
As Roderick says, can you imagine anything more designed to totally antagonise all reasonably sensitive people than hanging a dead badger on Chris’ gate ?
If I was Chris I would have a trail cam and (motion activated) floodlights at my gate.
Any worthwhile clips should just be posted to facebook (open a dedicated page).
No legal process – but names may be forthcoming.
These revolting people are simply vile, immoral and evil. Chris’s amazing response is incredible. What a wonderful person. I wish I could give him a squeezy hug and cuddles.
Chris, Ruth, Mark – you are a total inspiration and a huge example to us all in the fight for wildlife justice and common decency to each other. Keep up the great work. xx
There are some sick and twisted individuals in this country. Where is the local Plod and what action have they taken to protect Chris from this campaign of harassment?
Chris Packham top bloke the scum that left the badger on his gate low life. That’s another nail in the coffin 😂keep it up scum
There can be little doubt that the culprit will be aggressive and would harm a person..(Zoosadism)..”In Psychology, a lack of empathy for all wildlife is indicative of a psychopath” ..Factual!
Chris, Revive coalition, keep up the good fight! DGS MUST END!
Teddy, I agree with you, but must repeat my suggestion that banning DRIVEN grouse shooting alone is not enough to significantly reduce the persecution of Hen Harrier and other species which the bloodthirsty shooting ‘elite’ consider to be “pests.” Presumably the reason for focusing on DGS is out there somewhere. Is it tactical? I can’t believe that any of the leading campaigners aren’t fully aware of what the killing brigade has up their sleeve. There are other profitable ways of shooting grouse which they can turn to if a ban on DGS. It requires the illegal killing of Hen Harriers to continue, as far as most managers and gamekeepers are concerned. Walk-up shooting can involve groups of up to twenty or more walking in a line across the moor, shooting grouse as they are flushed from the heather. No need for butts or beaters. I have memories of groups from Germany and other European countries presumably paying a fortune for a week’s grouse shooting which included walk-up days.
I hope Chris Packham reported this incident to the police.
Firstly badgers are protected by law, so if the badger has been deliberately killed or injured then a criminal offence has occurred contrary to the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
As regards hanging the badger of the gates to Mr Packham’s home, this may well constitute an offence contrary to Sect 5 of the Public Order Act 1986.
Bearing in mind that some blame badgers for the spread of Bovine TB, then if the badger carcass left hanging on the gate was that of an infected badger then there is also a risk that the culprit could risk spreading this disease. The Govt actually require badger carcasses which are suspected of being infected by TB to be disposed of by way of class 1. under the Animal by Product rules.
So there appears to be plenty of legislation for the authorities to justify an investigation to identify who was responsible, and hopefully bring a prosecution.
This probably wouldn’t deter the pathetic individual responsible…an individual so sad and small minded that they had to sneak up the Chris Packhams gate and hang a dead badger on it, rather than having the courage to engage in meaningful debate regarding the issues Chris Packham supports.
But everyone who reads this blog is probably already aware that those who work to protect wildlife are frequently opposed by some particularly nasty and “challenged” individuals. People who prefer to sneak about and put poison down to kill birds of prey, or blast them with shot guns when no one is looking. People of low morals with no courage, and little regard for the law.
Good stuff, John L. However I couldn’t help being mildly amused at the thought of the perpetrator of the killing of the badger “not having the courage to engage in material debate…”. Apart from the fact that he (or she?) is almost certainly a sneaky coward, I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t understand the term “material debate.” He might even think you’re looking for an argument about clothing.
Looks like the classic Pink Baling twine that you would associate with all things agriculture and countryside that’s around this poor creatures neck. Not a product that’s widely known or available to the general public is it.
The police have a clue to the background geography here, hope they use it.