TV Packham: Mix my ashes with poodles who saved me
CHRIS Packham has revealed he would like his ashes to be mixed with those of his dogs and scattered in the woods when he dies.
The Springwatch star, 60, has told how his two miniature poodles, who have both since passed away, saved his life.
Writing in the Radio Times, he says: “Itchy and Scratchy were there in my darkest moments – if they hadn’t been, I wouldn’t be here to write this.
Puppies
“When I die, I’ll be cremated and my ashes will be mixed with Itchy and Scratchy, and scattered by a particular tree.
“My ashes will become part of the soil. I’ll become part of the fabric of my dogs, and of the woods that we loved so much.”
When Itchy died in 2016, the star was so bereft that he kept the dog’s body in the freezer to help cope with his loss.
Itchy’s brother, Scratchy, died three years later, just two weeks short of his 16th birthday. Chris, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome in 2005, said at the time: “He was the light and epicentre of my universe.”
His zookeeper girlfriend, Charlotte Corney, and stepdaughter Megan McCubbin, have since acquired miniature poodle puppies named Sid and Nancy.
Commenting on the pets in 2019 Chris, who lives in the New Forest, Hants, said: “They’ve got big paws to fill. They are relatives of Itchy and Stratchy.
“I’m bonding with them, but I don’t know if they have helped me. It’s too early to ask that question.”
In his 2016 memoir, Fingers In The Sparkle Jar, Chris revealed that he has endured depression throughout his life and experienced suicidal thoughts after losing an earlier pet, a one-year-old dog called Fish. lRadio