They want me dead... but I won’t be silenced
TV wildlife presenter says he’ll keep campaigning despite death threat letter
TV’s Chris Packham has vowed to carry on despite a death threat.
The Springwatch host received a letter saying: “We want you dead,” over his fight to stop “pest” birds being shot.
He said: “It will never sway me from my cause. There are too few people fighting to protect our environment.”
CHRIS Packham says the death threat sent to him as part of a campaign of shocking abuse will not stop him fighting for environmental causes dear to his heart.
The letter arrived at the Springwatch host’s home on Monday.
But Chris said he would not be intimidated by the “calculated death threat towards myself and my family”, which he shared exclusively with the Mirror.
It says in block capitals: “We know where you live Packham and we will get you some way or another. We want you dead and we will succeed.
“R.T.A? Poison there are numerous ways... as long as you f***ing die thats all that matters”.
Conservationist
Chris, 57, has been repeatedly targeted since helping secure a ban on the shooting of “pest” birds.
We revealed yesterday how he was stepping up security at his home in the New
Forest, Hants, after packages containing human excrement and a wooden plaque bearing a drawing of male genitalia were sent to him.
It came after two dead crows were hung from his gate last week.
Chris, who also joined the recent Extinction Rebellion protests, said his stepdaughter, Megan, 23, was “shaken” by the letter, but it would not stop him fighting to protect the environment.
He said: “For me this is part and parcel of the process. I’m campaigning for change. It will never sway me from my
cause. They can threaten to organise a car crash or poison me – it’s not going to stop me. People might think this is bravado from me, but I cannot allow these sorts of things to sway me.
“There are too few people fighting to protect our environment and our landscape. And I have to carry on.”
His partner, Charlotte Corney, 43, was also at home when the letter arrived. It has been taken away for testing by Hampshire who being A spokesman Chris brilliant”. said Police, “are for received the force a said: report “We of malicious communications/threats sent through the post. Enquiries are ongoing.” It comes after a weekend of online abuse targeting Chris’s family and businesses he is linked with, including the Isle of Wight Zoo which Charlotte runs, and this month’s Dogstival festival in the New Forest.
Their address has also been leaked on social media and Chris took aim at Facebook for not taking it down.
He said: “I can’t speak kindly about Facebook – they are extremely resistant to things. My address is out there and there’s definitely incitement to violence.”
Determined not to be defeated by prohunting fanatics, Chris is auctioning the wooden plaque he was sent on eBay, to raise money for his conservationist group Wild Justice.
Last night, 70 people had bid on the plaque, lifting the price to £2,350.
DEATH threats and the intimidation of wildlife champion Chris Packham shame human vermin who wrongly think it is acceptable to hound the Springwatch star.
Hopefully, the police will respond vigorously and hunt down whoever is menacing Packham and his family, because tolerating this harassment would itself be intolerable.
People who get a bizarre kick out of killing animals are entitled to disagree with the wildlife campaigner – but not to behave like cowardly, violent bullies, hiding behind an anonymity we can’t wait to be stripped away when their faces are hopefully revealed by the authorities and they are disgraced in the dock.
Packham’s knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for the living world is inspiring and he excites the interest of children and adults in the species around us year after year.
Sick threats to kill him are the intolerance of idiots who need help to curb their anger.