Veteran BBC nature programme host Sir David Attenborough appears to have lashed out at hunting tourists, calling them ‘psychopaths’ who want to show-off how much money they have. He apparently posted the rant to his 90,000+ followers on Facebook.
However, this David Attenborough Facebook account is a fake, set up by antis from Bahrain.
Fake: the David Attenborough Facebook page
According to Facebook, the page launched on 25 September 2020. Facebook lists the page as a ‘personal blog’, which makes it look like it is Sir David’s personal views.
This is a ‘social hacking’ attack, where criminals try to gain access to influence people without proper permission. The antis get away with it because Facebook doesn’t police ‘personal blog’ pages for social hacking or personality hijacks. It only polices personal accounts, which it calls ‘profiles’.
Since its launch, the antis who have hijacked his name have posted publicity pictures from Sir David’s long career as a wildlife presenter, and images of wildlife, all of them available on the internet. They use American spelling.
The antis pepper these posts with anti-hunting hate messages, such as, “Insecure humans show off to other humans that they can afford to kill animals minding their own business” and, “what better way to flaunt their status than to share photos of themselves on social media smiling ghoulishly next to animals’ dead bodies?”
The Facebook page has fooled a large audience but it is dwarfed by Sir David’s official Instagram page, which launched to a media fanfare and has 6 million followers. Sir David’s debut on Instagram landed him the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to reach 1 million followers. It only took the prolific broadcaster and naturalist 4 hours and 44 minutes to obliterate the record, previously held by Jennifer Aniston.
Antis have previously set up David Attenborough fan pages to push their agenda, such as this one, which identifies itself only as ‘David Attenborough’ and could be confused with an official account.
Meanwhile, Extinction Rebellion activists are trying to hijack David Attenborough for their cause. Members sent the BBC celebrity a letter asking him to support their civil disobedience campaigns, which have irritated commuters across the country and cost taxpayers tens of millions of pounds in extra police costs. Several people from the group campaigned outside the naturalist’s home in West London, and livestreamed the visit on Facebook. After revealing their location, the camerawoman insists the group respects Attenborough’s privacy. Attenborough says the cult should “be careful not to break the law” because it might “disenchant people” about the perceived ‘climate emergency’.
Sir David, who is in his 90s, admits he doesn’t manage his own social media. His Instagram account is managed by two production assistants who worked on one of his programmes.
Social distancing: Attenborough does not write his own Instagram posts
Speaking in a video on Instagram, Sir David explains how he doesn’t know much about the relatively new technology but it might help him spread his messages to more people.
Sir David turned to Instagram to make points about global warming. He has not used it to push an anti-hunting agenda or suggest that hunting and declining wildlife are linked. His website promotes the work of WWF, which supports regulated hunting as a conservation tool.
Sir David reportedly said in 2016 that he would not go ‘trophy hunting’. He has a reputation for being a realist on the subject of hunting. During the debate preceding the 2005 foxhunting restrictions in the UK, he famously commented: “The fox doesn’t care what kills it.”