The 56-year-old presenter of BBC’s BAFTA Award winning Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch series believes that the “world is waking up” and praised the government after it was announced by that MPs will not vote on whether to repeal the Hunting Act for at least two years.
The Conservatives promised a free vote on fox hunting in their general election manifesto, with May admitting that said she was in favour of bringing it back during her campaign.
However, May lost her majority in the election and now ministers say there will be “no vote in this session”.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Chris said: “Obviously I’m very pleased that that vote won’t be held. I think that fox hunting has well and truly had its day. It’s the 21st century.
“The vast majority of people, 86 per cent, recently polled as opposed to fox hunting and I think that one of the principle reasons that they’re opposed to it is that it’s inhumane and we don’t like animals being killed for nothing any longer. The world is waking up to the fact that there’s not enough wildlife left.
“It’s disappearing at an alarming rate and our fox population in the UK has declined by 34 per cent since 1995 so even foxes are in decline. I think we’re moving towards an age where people won’t be as tolerant of animals being killed for absolutely no reason as they have been in the past.”
He continued: “I think we all recognise that animals sometimes need to be culled in order to maintain environments, and obviously animals are killed for meat for the meat industry.
“But when you’re killing them just for fun, I really do think… well as I say on my T-shirt, killing wildlife for fun is a dying business. I believe that that’s the case and this is, I think, another nail in that coffin.”
The naturalist, conservationist and campaigner also revealed that he feels a duty to combat measures by those who are “wicked” towards the planet.
He explained: “I feel a real pressure to try and make as much positive difference as I can as quickly as I can. There’s never any rest. There’s always something. There’s no rest for us that don’t like the wicked.”
Speaking about his new show Earth Live, Chris added: “It’s probably one of the most ambitious shows I’ve had the privilege to play a part in.
“My vocational hope is that we inspire some of them to take a greater interest in wildlife and its welfare because we need as much help as we can get given the parlous state of some parts of the world.
“I think it’s unique in terms of its ambition and its scale and we’re just at the cusp of being able to use the technology that is available to try this programme on.”
Chris Packham‘s Earth Live premieres on on Nat Geo WILD on Sunday July 23 at 7pm.
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