HAMPSHIRE wildlife expert Chris Packham has defended the culling of elephants and deer and urged cat owners to be more responsible.

The Autumnwatch presenter, 50, who has sparked controversy in the past by calling for parents to have fewer children to keep the population down, and for saying that pandas should be allowed to die out, said he actively encourages people to shoot deer near where he lives.

Chris, who got a degree in Zoology from University of Southampton, said: "The deer population in the UK, many would argue, is way too great.

"We have to cull deer because there are no natural predators. We have to cull deer in this country, we have to cull elephants in Africa.

"We have to play a proactive role and that means killing things."

On the subject of cats, Chris said owners needed to change their behaviour.

The former pupil of Bitterne Park Secondary School and Taunton's College in Southampton: "I don't want to harm any cats. I don't want to stop people keeping cats.

"But I pick up my dog poo, I run my dogs on a lead in certain places, I modify my behaviour.

"As a conservationist all I want to do is ask people who keep cats to move on in the way that they keep them."

He added: "Over 200 million animals are killed each year by domestic cats. If you keep them in at night it reduces that figure by 50 per cent.

"If you put one of these new electronic bleepers on them when they're out during the daytime, it can reduce bird predation by 45 per cent.

"If your cats are neutered then you haven't got a surfeit of cats that aren't being properly looked after. I love cats, I think they are beautiful, a wonderful predator. But what's the point of feeding birds in the garden if you're feeding them to your cat?"