Countryside Alliance statement on death threat made to SNH Chairman over cull decision

The Countryside Alliance has released a statement on the back of an article in today's Times [04/05/2018] which states that the Scottish Natural Heritage Chairman, Mike Cantlay, has received a death threat and abusive letters following the decision to allow a trial cull of ravens in a project designed to boost numbers of declining waders. The threats are understood to have arrived following a public email sent by BBC's Chris Packham last week.

Liam Stokes, Head of Shooting at the Countryside Alliance, said; "At the Countryside Alliance we have been campaigning against abuse of the rural community for some time. As the anti-hunting, anti-shooting campaigning has become increasingly fraught, online abuse has increased alongside it. When Mr Packham talks about "bloodied tatters" rather than engaging with the substance of the debate, abuse is always bound to follow. Unfortunately, this situation is the inevitable result of the BBC's failure to enforce their guidelines on their presenter. Mr Packham's rhetoric has become more and more inflammatory, which we have repeatedly reported to the BBC only to be consistently rebuffed. Ofcom have even admitted that even though they are the final arbiter on BBC complaints, they are powerless to address off-screen activities. Despite his position with our public broadcaster, it seems Mr Packham is accountable to no one."