Love Island’s ‘trophy hunter’ must be axed to prove ITV has ‘environmental morals’, says Packham

Chris Packham has criticised ITV for putting profit ahead of ‘environmental morals’ as he backed calls for an alleged trophy hunter to be axed from Love Island.

Oliver Williams, 23, was pictured smiling by the carcasses of a warthog, water buffalo and sable antelope in Africa.

A petition seeking his removal from the ITV2 reality show has gained more than 18,000 signatures.

Now wildlife conservationist Packham has added his voice to the chorus of disapproval. 

‘We should be naming and shaming,’ said the host of BBC’s Springwatch. ‘Why on earth are ITV thinking about giving this man a platform? You can’t give a platform to people who are killing wildlife for fun.’

The now-deleted images of Williams, who claims to be the ‘heir’ of the Lanhydrock estate in Cornwall, were allegedly used to promote his hunting business, Cornish Sporting Agency.

Oliver Williams, 23, was pictured smiling by the carcasses of a warthog, water buffalo and sable antelope (pictured) in Africa

Packham has previously railed against ITV for using animals for entertainment and successfully campaigned to ban the eating of live insects on I’m A Celebrity.

‘They’ve never replied to any of my letters,’ Packham said of ITV executives. ‘I’ve written to Ant and Dec too about I’m A Celebrity. They’re making huge sums of money.

‘In this instance [Love Island] they’re prepared to put profit in front of environmental morals. They’ve got to wake up to the fact the world is changing.’

A petition seeking his removal from the ITV2 reality show has gained more than 18,000 signatures

He added that killing a warthog for conservation is ‘nonsensical’ as the species does not qualify as threatened, near-threatened or conservation dependent.

Asked if Williams should stay on the show, Packham replied: ‘A very, very positive no.’ 

A friend of the contestant said he was a ‘passionate conservationist’, adding it was ‘categorically untrue’ to suggest he takes part in hunting for sport.

‘There is a very big difference between trophy hunting and the conservation work Ollie has previously been involved in,’ the friend told the Daily Mirror.

Packham branded the statement ‘rubbish’, claiming a culler would not pose with dead animals.