Well, what a week it’s been: I’m back at school, the Queen has become the longest reigning British monarch and the solidarity against wildlife crime movement is more active than ever! The latter is the subject of this article, and in particular one particular piece that has had the hunting brigade see red (and not just their uniforms). I refer to Chris Packham’s monthly column in BBC Wildlife, which has had the Countryside Alliance demand he be sacked from the institution.
What exactly did Chris Packham do to create this demand? Well, it appears to be he has expressed a view of his. Specifically, his latest column has called for “more from Britain’s conservation groups, not fence sitting and ineffectual risk avoidance”, referring to issues such as fox hunting, the badger cull and persecution of hen harriers on grouse moors. This has caused Tim Bonner, fresh in from his new position as head of the Countryside Alliance, to pen a post on his own blog about what Chris said.
Tim begins by saying “he has continued to happily use the fame given to him by his work for the BBC to promote an increasingly extreme agenda.” But what does Tim mean by “extreme”? Look up the definition of extreme, you’ll find “(of a person or their opinions) far from moderate, especially politically”, with synonyms including radical, extremist, or militant, definitions applicable to groups such as ISIS or Britain First, but not to a magazine columnist communicating ideas through the written words. Is Chris advocating blowing up laird’s mansions or beheading gamekeepers? No. So you’re not convincing me there, Mr Bonner!
Tim Bonner then goes on to accuse Chris of “blatant political propaganda”. Bear in mind, when considering this, that the man saying this stood for eight years as Conservative candidate for Truro and St Austell, and has called for people to vote a Conservative majority into power to allow the Hunting Ban to be repealed. So Bonner is being a hypocrite here.
In fact, this is far from an isolated case of bad-mouthing from the field sports lobby. Bert Burnett, one of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association Committe members, spoke angrily on his Facebook page about how the Glen Turret Hen Harrier Day protesters “interfere wi legal traps, let oot the decoys and try tae get the man [whoever ‘the man’ is] prosecuted for damage they did” (we did none of this; all we did was talk and do a few photos-trust me, I was there) before declaring “I wouldna go any place near them unless I had permission tae set them on fire“.
And who can forget Modern Gamekeeping’s March 2015 issue, in which the columnist ‘Predator’ ranted off at “A bunch of antis calling themselves Birders Against Wildlife Crime” and how “They’ll be calling on all birdwatchers, hikers and dog-walkers to turn amateur crimespotters, poking about looking for trouble where none exists, and reporting the slightest suspicion to the police”.
Tim Bonner ends by saying “the BBC’s only answer can be to remove the BBC from Chris Packham’s biography [sic] by refusing to employ him any more.”
This incident only shows we are winning. Wildlife crime is becoming an issue of increasing public awareness, people now know about the death of hen harriers on grouse moors and the criminals within the shooting industry, leading to the industry trying to defend themselves in increasingly fascistic ways. And if Chris Packham were to be sacked by the BBC and his human rights to free speech revoked, it will only make us stronger.
You may write me down in history, with your bitter, twisted lies.
You may trod me in the very dirt.
But still,
like dust,
I rise.
A Naturalist Writes 