Derek Gow
Derek Gow is a UK-based reintroduction expert, farmer and author known for his work with watervoles, beavers, white storks and wildcats. He also imported the first Heck cattle to the UK. However, after aggressive behaviour could harm or even kill handlers, a significant proportion of the herd was culled. Gow owns a farm in Lifton, Devon, which is home to captive breeding facilities, accommodation and a working farm. Much of the land is under the process of rewilding, alike to the Knepp Estate. The farm is home to many species, including Eurasian lynx, wild boar, beavers, white storks and harvest mice. Gow has helped to setup Celtic Reptile and Amphibian.
Derek Gow is a farmer, nature conservationist and the author of Bringing Back the Beaver. Born in Dundee in 1965, 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 develop two nature centres in England. He now lives with his children, Maysie and Kyle, 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 and a book on our lost wolves.
