Chris Packham reveals death threats made in bird-shooting row

The broadcaster and wildlife campaigner Chris Packham has revealed he and his family received death threats days after dead crows were strung up outside his home.

The BBC Springwatch presenter has been subjected to a campaign of intimidation since the Wild Justice group he co-founded successfully challenged a licensing system that allowed the shooting of 16 bird species, including crows, jays and woodpigeons.

On Tuesday, he said the campaign against him had escalated, with “death threats of a very serious nature” being made against him and his family.

Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Packham said human excrement had been posted to his home in the New Forest, Hampshire.

He remained defiant but appealed to those targeting him to stop intimidating businesses and charities he was associated with.

Packham said: “It is not just my family. It is businesses that I work with. I’m very resistant to this sort of thing. It is part of a process that I will have to go through to affect change and I’m determined to do that and I’m going to. So they can send me as much human excrement as they like.”

He added: “What worries me is that the charities that I’m affiliated with, the small businesses that I work for, these people aren’t set up to take this sort of abuse, and yet they’ve had to close their websites, their TripAdvisor accounts have had to be shut down, because they’ve been bombarded by these bullies who want to take aim at me.”

Hampshire police were investigating the threats, Packham said.

He added: “My message is clear. Please, take aim at me, but leave all of the charities, all of the other businesses that I work with, leave them out of it. They’re not necessarily sharing my views. They’re not a fair target.”

Packham previously told the Guardian he would not be intimidated into stopping his campaign against bird-killing regulations after two crows were left hanging outside his home and a security gate glued shut.

“People like me with Asperger’s are not affected by this sort of thing. It doesn’t weaken our resolve,” he said.

On Sunday, before the death threats were made, Packham made light of another abusive package he was sent in the post. It contained a block of wood scrawled with a “badly-drawn penis and testicles”, he said on Twitter. In a video about the incident, he said whoever drew it “hasn’t got the balls to come and deliver the message themselves”.

He later put the “woodcock” up for auction on eBay to help raise funds for Wild Justice. It was bidding at more than £2,000 on Tuesday morning.