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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/10/derek-gow-the-rewilding-enthusiast-wants-to-bring-back-the-wolf>
"Across the River Wolf and along several miles of muddy Devon lanes lies Derek
Gow’s lair. Inside a crepuscular barn filled with a pungent aroma, an imposing,
bearded Scot sits surrounded by his collection of animal skulls, stuffed
beavers, taxidermied badgers and birds of prey. A distinctive stench wafts from
the head of an ibex mounted on the wall. The barn is badged as an education
centre but it would terrify some visitors.
This gothic scene reaches its climax when – bang! – a shot is fired nearby. Gow
looks relaxed. “She’s not shooting anything,” he says of his neighbouring
farmer. “It’s a gas gun, trying to scare a bunch of complacent geese.”
Gow, a former sheep farmer, has become one of the most remarkable figures in
British conservation. After working in various zoos, he began captive-breeding
water voles 25 years ago. Since then, working with conservation groups and
landowners, he’s repopulated wetlands with 25,000 of the highly endangered
mammal. The “vole room” on his rewilded farm still produces 1,000 each year.
Alongside voles, he started breeding beavers for fenced rewilding projects
across Britain. A number escaped and now form a burgeoning population living
freely along the 60-mile River Tamar between Devon and Cornwall. Over the past
15 years, other beavers mysteriously materialised on river systems across the
country; Gow denies it was his work but beavers are officially recognised as a
native species once again. After writing a popular book about bringing back the
beaver, this former lover of sheep is following it with a book about the
sheep’s mortal enemy, and the most controversial candidate for returning to
Britain: the wolf.
At rewilding conferences, meek conservationists will say to Gow, “We’re not
here to talk about the wolf.” “Why?” he asks now. “The opponents of rewilding
hate you anyway. You’re never going to convince these people.”
He wants to start a conversation about bringing back the wolf, and not just
because this much-traduced carnivore has loped back into western Europe and is
thriving in densely populated countries including the Netherlands, Belgium and
Germany which, like us, are burdened by a long history of beastly folklore.
“The big predators were the things we went for first,” he says. “It’s not very
mature to view every animal from the badger up as a major threat, and the only
solution is to destroy them. We can never come to terms with nature, with other
life on this planet, if we can’t come to terms with big predators.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
