There’s a five-page news feature on Chris Packham and Wild Justice in the June edition of BBC Wildlife.
Features Editor Ben Hoare interviewed Chris about Wild Justice’s legal challenge to Natural England’s General Licences, about Crowgate, death threats, science and agriculture.
We’ve been asked not to publish the article in its entirety but the magazine is now on sale for those who want to read more.
Here are a few excerpts:
“Crowgate has exposed the fact that a percentage of those opposed to what we are doing are very unpleasant bullies. They’re not people who want a rational discussion in any creative form, they’re people who want to intimidate, bully, suppress, terrorise….”
“I’ve never been anti-shooting, you know, not at a fundamental level“.
“Let’s keep one thing at the forefront of our minds. Crows and other predators are not responsible for the declines in our farmland birds in any shape or form. What’s responsible, and it’s been proven without any ambiguity, is the intensification of agriculture. We know full well that early cutting for silage is decimating the curlew and lapwing population, as are practices such as rolling and topping and so on“.
“People who attack me verbally and issue threats are frightened. They’re cornered, so are lashing out. That’s to be expected, which is why I always say that this is just part of a process. It’s something I predicted would happen, and I predict it will get worse“.
“Change is coming“.
By happy coincidence, at the end of the editorial box titled ‘General Licences: where are we now?’, Ben Hoare writes:
‘A review of the licensing system is underway and Wild Justice has reserved the right to mount further legal challenges’.
Indeed. Watch this space!
Raptor Persecution UK 
Important not to confuse issues ;
Raptor persecution is carried out to optimise grouse density.
It is also carried out to a lesser extent on lowland shoots to reduce losses of gamebird poults.
It is pointless as well as illegal on lowland shoots.
The massive loss of farmland birds is down to agricultural change and problems elsewhere for migrant birds.
Massive increases in farmland birds can easily be accomplished with cover crops, winter feeding , provision of flower strips on field edges, hedge management, scrub growth etc. etc.
This work is underway and is proving very successful in many areas.
It is also perfect for targeted support systems and many farmers are very willing to participate.
The loss of breeding waders is a complex issue and the factors involved vary in different habitats.
The reduction of predation by corvids, foxes and badgers does have benefits in certain situations to ground nesters which is why it is used by conservation agencies.
This has been well documented.
Grazing levels, water level management and survey of nests is also vital.
Carry on the good work Chris – publicising illegal persecution is definitely needed and it is now what they call “squeaky bum time ” for the game shooting industry.
Raptors are now at maximum density in many areas and are doing incredibly well after the dark days of pesticides, egg collecting and persecution in the lowlands of the UK.
Keep up the pressure !
Thats GREAT news!
As a lot of the drew from Springwatch are staying at xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx thank you Chris et al
should be crew not drew !!!
I am proud to have such valiant and courageous people as Packham, Tingay and Avery, as stalwart defenders of wildlife in the UK. Over the past few years, the destruction of the marine and terrestrial landscapes have accelerated all over the Earth, as have human rights in many areas. The rampaging juggernauts of the big industrialised economies have deleteriously impinged on vulnerable states holding considerable mineral and food-growing land, to sustain their rising populations, with Africa as a prime target, and for some time, a wildlife poaching and trophy shooter paradise. Excellent television programmes, such as the Aerial View ones, which highlight the threats to many of the areas over which they fly. The scale of destruction has been considerable, with huge areas of natural forest being obliterated, along with millions of wonderful and unique forms of Life, each expressing evolutionary wonderments. Much of this philistine destruction is being done by individuals and companies, hell bent on carving out a niche for themselves, to mine, cattle ranch, create palm oil and other vast plantations, frack and drill for oil, or strip bare to access coal. Much of this is either sanctioned by governments, or a blind eye has been experienced. All of that sad carnage of this planet, is relevant to the challenge being put up by our two heroes and a heroine, for every bird of prey or creature classed as “vermin” in the UK, is an important part of the present planetary hecatomb, for world wide similar defiant groups are fighting battles to save plants and animals from selfish and irrational exploitation.
Nearly every advertising slot on television has some appeal for sponsorship of some endangered creature, e.g. Amur and Clouded Leopards, Elephants, etc. Exposures are clamouring for attention on Twitter, on the threat of extinction of life forms formerly unheard of by most people. Australia is appearing as a horror story for marine and terrestrial life, as its wildlife has become severely threatened by climate change and government sanctioned mining for coal, and allowance of large fishing ships from Asia to scoop up every marine creature in their paths. The iconic Koala is dying of thirst and from its forests being felled. Resistance groups have sprung up there to ensure animal welfare and environmental protection.
All of this drive to destruction of the natural world of the Earth, is really a World War against Creation, and the installation of a climate inimical to Life necessary for an almost infinite display of life forms. Plastic polluted oceans bereft of corals and the resplendent array of marine forms, will lap the shores of the land; a potentially sustainable source of protein and other resources for many creatures, including mankind, lost forever. Those who oppose Wild Justice and attempt to intimidate its founders, are relicts of a class that imposed itself on our society hundreds of years ago, with its blood sports descendants violently trying to continue their retard faux sports on our threatened countryside, threatened by over-development that could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, if the battle to save beleaguered creatures and their habitats fail.
I popped along to my local Tesco and read the article there, a cracker. Trying to pretend that predators have killed alI of our waders and it’s nothing to do with farming is becoming a joke. When you also realise that much of the intensification has not only cost us our wildlife, but been driven by public subsidy at a time when a third of our food gets chucked in the bin and we have an obesity crisis it becomes an obscene one. Change certainly needs to come! Ittuu was really great to see there was also a feature about the effect of releasing 35 million pheasants into the countryside each year on our wildlife. Sadly it didn’t mention the land that was intensively farmed to produce the feed for them or the woodland that’s been choked with non native invasive plants that were to provide them with cover. There’s still a lot more to come out to the public about the havoc the field sports lot have done to our wildlife. This programme from Iolo Williams does a great job of showing where the problems really lie, it’s not predation. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0004qzk/iolo-saving-the-land-of-the-wild
Its also becoming increasingly obvious that the chemical run-off from intensive agriculture is affecting our rivers – in addition to increased turbidity from grouse moor burning and clear fell forestry…time for radical government action on all these fronts…
If your waiting for any changes from a Conservative government you will be waiting a bloody long time!