Chris Packham announces competition for Green Britain campaign

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Environmentalist Chris Packham has called on the Royal Family to rewild its estates. But former Tory minister Lord Marland has ridiculed the demand, asking what would happen were the Queen to come face to face with a bear and a wolf on one of her estates.

Packham made headlines in October when he, alongside more than 100 school strikers, delivered a petition signed by around 100,000 people calling on the Royal Family to improve the “ecological condition” of its land.

Ahead of the COP26 conference in Glasgow, he said: “This is a time for action. The time for talking is finished.

“We’re in desperate trouble and if [the Royals] were to embrace this prior to COP26, think what a message that would send to the world.

“They’re in a very powerful position to do something very powerful. I think it’s time to step up.”

For Lord Marland, Packham’s idea of “stepping up” is full of holes.

He told the House of Lords on Monday: “[Packham has urged the Queen to] rewild her entire estate so that we can have bears and wolves back on it.

“Imagine going out of Balmoral with your corgis and being confronted by a bear and a wolf.

“I mean, what sort of people are we listening to?”

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His comments came during a debate on the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill.

Some peers have expressed their concerns about who may be selected to sit on the Animal Sentience Committee to report on the environmental impacts of Government decisions.

Lord Marland said: “Most of us are terrified of someone like Chris Packham, for example.”

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Conservative peer Lord Robathan added: “[How can we] ensure that nobody without knowledge is appointed to the committee?

“By that I mean somebody who thinks he has a lot of knowledge, such as Chris Packham, but does not actually have any knowledge of living off the work with animals.”

He asked whether “animal rights movement members have ‘appropriate expertise’ or would be ‘dynamic’ members of the committee”.

Packham has criticised the Royal Family for using much of its estate land for grouse schooling and deer stalking rather than covering it with temperate rainforest.

It is estimated that the Royal Family owns 1.4 percent of land in England, making it the biggest landowner in the country.

Upon delivering his petition, Packham said: “With 1.4 percent of the land surface they could do enormous good. Leading by example is the best way to lead and a lot of people follow their example.”

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