Eamonn Holmes’ description of a hunt as ‘murder’ provoked a mass of death threats against hunters and shooters on social media. The ITV This Morning presenter made the comment while interviewing Fieldsports Channel’s Charlie Jacoby and a representative from the League Against Cruel Sports on the daytime show.
Holmes, co-presenter Ruth Langsford and LACS policy director Chris Luffingham agreed on TV that ‘trophy hunting’ should be banned. Charlie Jacoby made the point that trophy hunting is no more than animal management with the extra benefit of providing money for the conservation of species and habitats.
“By using the word ‘murder’, Eamonn Holmes legitimised the death threats we received after the ITV show went out,” said Charlie. “We get two dozen death threats a month from the small group of hardline antis who seem to enjoy our hunting shows on YouTube – but this is a new level of abuse. Happily, we are living proof that antis don’t carry out their threats.”
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In the TV interview, Holmes led the attack on hunting, calling a video of an elephant shot in Namibia ‘murder’, while refusing to accept arguments that the death of the animal resulted in significant payments to locals via the community scheme NACSO.
It was always going to be a tough one for Charlie. When the elephant hunt story came out, Holmes Tweeted ‘Dear God … Heartbreaking.’