Hunt for the Shadow Wolf: Derek Gow In Conversation

Britain’s favourite maverick rewilder Derek Gow uncovers the mythology, mystery and history of wolves in Britain in this lively in-conversation and the launch of his new book Hunt for the Shadow Wolf. Having helped return the beaver and many other lost species to Britain’s shores, Derek’s dream is that one day we will see the return of the wolf as well.

With wolf rewilding projects having been successfully implemented around the world – Derek asks what is holding us back?

The wolf used to walk proud through these lands, an integral party of Britain’s ecology, but its extir-pation was seen as a ‘civilizing mission’ and it was eventually hunted to extinction. Derek asks what the underlying motives were behind our hatred of this animal, and how its legacy has endured through folklore and mythology, the records of grand estates and parish churches as well as wolf heads, both real and recreated.

He believes we must reconcile our relationship with this majestic animal before we can begin to bring it back to these lands.

Derek Gow is a farmer, nature conservationist and the author of Bringing Back the Bea-ver and Birds, Beasts and Bedlam. Born in Dundee, he left school when he was 17 and worked in agriculture for five years. Inspired by the writing of Gerald Durrell, he jumped at the chance to manage a European wildlife park in central Scotland in the late 1990s before moving on to devel-op two nature centres in England. He now lives with his children on a 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border, which he is in the process of rewilding. Derek has played a significant role in the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver, the water vole and the white stork in England. He is currently working on a reintroduction project for the wildcat.

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