...and with this motley crew behind new law, no wonder f lying pests are safe
THE TV ACTIVIST
NEVER one to hide his opinions when it comes to the treatment of animals, Chris Packham has become a major face of conservation in Britain.
The 57-year-old BBC presenter was at the centre of Extinction Rebellion protests, climbing on a bus shelter while holding a sign demanding ‘tell the truth’.
He is also a co-founder of Wild Justice, a private not-for-profit company created with fellow conservationists Mark Avery and Ruth Tingay.
A prolific naturalist, television presenter, writer, photographer, campaigner and filmmaker, Packham has been a vociferous opponent of badger culling and grouse shooting, blaming it for the disruption of habitats and killing of protected birds of prey.
In April 2014 he and a small production team covering the illegal slaughter of migratory birds on Malta were arrested but later released.
And he is likely to be unapologetic about his role in forcing Natural England to revoke three general licences for controlling certain wild birds.
Born in Southampton in 1961, he created his own jam jar menagerie as a child, developing in his own words into a ‘nerd in training’.
A zoology degree at Southampton University was accompanied by a dalliance with punk rock.
In 2015, Packham wrote an article in BBC Wildlife attacking many of Britain’s leading conservation organisations for a policy of silence on fox hunting and badger culling.
This elicited a call from the Countryside Alliance for his sacking – the organisation arguing that he had used his position within the supposedlyneutral BBC to push his own views.
The BBC maintain that he is not employed by the Corporation, so is not bound by their impartiality rules. His campaigning has earned him a CBE in the New Year’s Honours list for services to wildlife and conservation.
EX-RSPB DIRECTOR
A FORMER conservation director of the RSPB, Mark Avery is an ardent online campaigner against grouse
shooting and predicts the sport’s demise within his lifetime.
The 61-year- old – along with Chris Packham – has been labelled one of the ‘usual suspects’ in opposing shooting by Baroness Mallalieu, the president of the Countryside Alliance.
A Cambridge graduate, he worked in the zoology department at Oxford. He has argued that hunting red grouse results in the mass killing of foxes and crows, as well of protected birds of prey such as falcons, kites and harriers.
Licensing grouse estates should be a first step towards curbing shooting, he says. But ultimately this ‘damaging hobby’ must be banned. Avery has said: ‘Mass killing of wildlife under the general licences has been going on for nearly 40 years –it’s time that this casual killing ended.’
RAPTOR DEFENDER
A LONG-time friend of Packham and a conservationist specialising in the protection of raptors, Ruth Tingay is seen as a bogeyman by some in the shooting community.
The 51-year-old academic blogs prolifically and believes in the strong enforcement of existing laws protecting birds of prey.
She has accused some police forces of being ‘appalling’ in enforcing the law in cases of bird poisoning, trapping and shooting.
Her current research focuses upon the ‘illegal persecution of raptors and its link to grouse shooting in the British uplands’. She has repeatedly attacked grouse shooting, arguing that comparing grouse moors to nature reserves is like equating ‘abattoirs with animal sanctuaries’.
In 2018, she led a legal challenge against Scottish Natural Heritage over its decision to allow the culling of ravens in Perthshire.
After leaving school with few qualifications she found work at Battersea Dogs’ Home before studying for a PhD. Packham has spoken of how Dr Tingay has endured a torrent of abuse on social media for campaigning against shooting.
GREEN SOLICITOR
A SOLICITOR specialising in the environmental sector, Carol Day began her career in as an environmental campaigner.
As well as being hired by Wild Justice, she has worked with county wildlife trusts, studying conservation before qualifying as a solicitor in 2002.
Day has taken on the oil and gas industries, is a member of a number of environmental charities and believes there should be tough laws to protect the environment.
Representing residents opposed to fracking in their local areas, she has written: ‘Addressing global warming raises difficult choices for all of us.
‘It means more wind farms (in the right places), tidal power (ditto … and less oil, gas, coal and foreign travel.’
TRENDY BARRISTER
A MEMBER of trendy London human rights chambers Matrix – founded by Cherie Blair – barrister Anita Davies, 34, counts environmental cases among her specialities.
As well as Wild Justice, in November last year she represented Extinction Rebellion activists following the first ‘Rebellion Day’, in which dozens of protestors were arrested for blocking routes in London.
Oxford- educated, she has worked for the United Nations, taught humanitarian law in Nepal, and worked for an array of human rights organisations. She also specialises in public law and extradition cases, as well as inquests.