Top 10 Remarquable Facts about Chris Packham

Photos were taken at the rally after the People’s Walk for Wildlife, at Richmond Terrace, Whitehall, London on Saturday 22nd September 2018. Naturalist, writer, and TV presenter Chris Packham starts the speeches at the rally. Image by Garry Knight from London, England-Wikimedia

Top 10 Remarquable Facts about Chris Packham

Chris Packham is best known for his environmental activism. He is also one of the founders of Wild Justice, a non-profit organization. The organization advocates for wildlife in the UK. It serves as a constructive criticizer of the government and holds it accountable by taking it up with the legal system. He was very vocal and against the construction of H2S, the biggest rail investment ever made in the North of England, but lost the petition to stop work on it. He was an active protestor at COP26. He was diagnosed in 2005 with Asperger’s Syndrome. He often speaks openly about his challenges with the disorder.

Despite this, he has led a remarkable life. He has gained international acclamation as a naturalist, television presenter, writer, photographer, conservationist, campaigner, and filmmaker. He has presented notable natural history series such as Nature’s Weirdest Events, World’s Weirdest Events, World’s Sneakiest Animals, Cats V Dogs, The Burrowers, Inside the Animal Mind, Operation Iceberg, and Secrets of our Living Planet. He even appeared in The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon where he presented a Porcupine and baby spotted Hyena, and sent a Black Vulture flying to him whilst in the crowd.

1. Prolific author

Photo by Vlad Deep on Unsplash

Remarkable, brilliant, bold, beautiful, raw, lyrical, and special are all words that have been used to describe his books. His first photography book was in 2014, 100 Things That Caught My Eye, it depicted photographs and his thoughts as he was taking every shot. His 2016 biography, Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir reached number 1 in the Sunday Times Bestsellers in just two weeks. His 2016 picture book, Amazing Animal Journeys was nothing but genius. It tells of annual migration tales from butterflies to whales.

2. Packman swam with a killer whale

Image by Wolfgang Lucht from Pixabay

He started building sets and cleaning cameras in July 1984, when he met wildlife filmmaker Stephen Bollwell, who he developed a long-lasting friendship with. He then went on to present the BAFTA-winning children’s series The Wild Show saw presenters, which included Terry Nutkins and Michaela Strachan as co-hosts, and saw Chris swim with a killer whale and play football in the studio with a cheetah cub.

3. He has always loved animals

Packham’s love for animals came before he could even formulate words. His parents often told stories of how he would crawl looking for ladybirds, fish, tadpoles, and in an old baby’s bath set in the corner of the garden. This naturalist sadly buried a pet black mouse called Batty in his garden under a green wooden cross after it died at age 14. Growing up he had an impressive collection of all kinds of reptiles and up to date, his bedroom wall is adorned with terrariums and aquariums. In 2020, together with his step-daughter, he launched The Self-Isolating Bird Club. He posted this on Facebook every morning. Currently, he owns two miniature poodles, Sid and Nancy, who he has a deep love for.

4. Packham believes people should have fewer kids for the sake of the planet

Photo by Larm Rmah on Unsplash

The thinking of autistic people varies and can evolve. However, many are more literal in their way of thinking. For them it’s never gray, it is either black or white. If the planet is dying then the only logical way would be to reduce the population and not increase it. Packham asserted that people should entertain the thought of having fewer kids for the sake of the planet. This ascertain was made during the promotion of his documentary about the global population. He does not have children of his own but has a stepdaughter who he shares with his long-term girlfriend, and has been very pivotal in her upbringing.

5. He is not sentimental…..or is he?

Image by Ri Butov from Pixabay

Pandas are cute, and cuddly and should be protected at all costs, right? Not to Packham, although he agrees that the creatures are adorable, disagrees with single-species conservation and believes that we should be looking at the broader picture of the environment. He does not favor any animal but at the moment he thinks that the fox is the most beautiful mammal. He is a dog lover and has owned a share of them but when his previous dog, Fish, died, he fell into a period of despair and depression. He now has two poodles as pets who mean the world to him. They helped him get over his depression and he asserts that he would have preferred when he dies his ashes to be mixed with those of his poodles before being scattered in a woodland.

6. He’s a keen photographer

Photo by Nicolas Ladino Silva on Unsplash

Unsatisfied with the 80s photography technics, he sold his punk rock guitar and bought a camera and one telephoto lens and then set off on a mission to try to bring his touch to wildlife photography. He started taking still photographs and trained as a wildlife film cameraman. His [photography has seen him as one of the world’s most inventive wildlife photographers. He has received much success with his photography, claiming prestigious awards and being a judge in various photography competitions. Despite this, he is yet to get satisfaction from his work and others. As a perfectionist, he accepts that all photographers ought to be hypercritical of their work, merciless in their interest of attempting to combine all viewpoints of a moment’s reality into a picture that is both personal and unique to them and which shows something completely new about the subject. An awfully hard task.

7. He is a vegetarian

Photo by Fatane Rahimi on Unsplash

Packham stopped eating meat in the 80s and has never regretted his choice. The 61-year-old naturalist adopted the vegetarian diet while promoting his colleague and former co-host of the BBC children’s nature program, The Wild Show. He occasionally consumed fish and cheese but also gave those up and became vegan in 2019. He notes that the consumption of meat is bad for the environment. It is more expensive to produce meat than vegetables. This plus the population growth strain the world’s resources which should be utilized wisely, especially now that the world is dying.

8. He has a lot of haters and online trolls

His cause is noble. Normally people with noble causes are not a favorite of many. Packham is not excluded from the hate. He has endured physical and online attacks over the years. In the recent past, the gate to his cottage in New Forest was set on fire causing extensive damage. Previously he could find dead animals left at his home, including foxes and badgers. Online, he has received many defamatory and libelous comments which he is unable to follow up on due to the law. In 2019, he received a death threat after campaigning for measures to protect birds from being shot. Despite all these frustrations, he is as determined as ever and never lets the hate deter him from his environmental work.

9. He froze his dead dog in a freezer

Image by Susanne from Pixabay

When his beloved miniature poodle, Itchy, died from prostate cancer in 2016, he was so affected that he kept the dog’s body in the freezer to help cope with his loss. This was done till he could find somewhere to cremate him. Itchy and his brother Scratchy, meant so much to him as it had helped him get over depression and suicidal thoughts after losing an earlier pet, a one-year-old dog called Fish. Scratchy, also passed away a while after.

10. Has received a standing ovation for his conversation work

The conservationist and wildlife campaigner has received various prestigious awards over the years. However, the 2016 award is the most notable one. He joined a distinguished list of former winners of the Wildscreen lifetime achievement award, (Green Oscars) including, David Attenborough and Prince Philip. In a theatre packed with natural history filmmaking’s most respected and accomplished leaders, he received a standing ovation as the award was presented by Sir David Attenborough.