BBC's Chris Packham rages at Jacob Rees-Mogg over 'hideously cruel' policy reversal

express.co.uk:

Chris Packham has raged at MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, after measures to scrap the import and sale of fur and foie gras have been abandoned.Taking to Twitter today, the environmentalist, 60, hit back at the idea of backtracking on the policy, claiming that the government was "capitulating to the ideas and the whims of people like Jacob Rees-Mogg" by abandoning the policy.On the micro-blogging platform, the naturalist shared a petition for his 537,300 followers to sign.Chris wrote: "Act now!

The government is right now considering abandoning proposed bans on the import & sale of cruel fur and foie gras. Appalling!!"Please join me with @HSIUKorg @animal_equality and sign my petition to say #DontBetrayAnimals."In a tweet posted earlier today, the Springwatch star hit out at the Conservative MP for attempting to "maintain some out of date status quo".The policy would have seen the importation and sale of animal fur and foie gras into the UK banned, both of which it is already illegal to produce in the country.Chris told his fans: "Recent news reports suggest that the intended bans on the import of fur and foie gras into the UK may not happen because some members of the cabinet don't agree with them."This is completely outrageous."The fur and foie gras industries are among the most cruel in the world," he said, before going on to detail the treatment of the animals in the facilities.He went on: "So if something like fur farming and foie gras production are so cruel that they are not permitted in the UK and let's be clear, they're not permitted in the UK, then why is it ok to import them from overseas?"Isn't that in some way making us complicit in the extreme suffering of millions of animals?"Most of us agree we shouldn't be importing.