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<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en"><i>Feral</i>
(Monbiot book)</h1>
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<caption style="font-style:italic;padding-bottom:0.2em;">Feral
- Rewilding the land, sea and human life <span
class="Z3988"
title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Feral+-+Rewilding+the+land%2C+sea+and+human+life&rft.author=%5B%5BGeorge+Monbiot%5D%5D&rft.date=October+2013&rft.pub=%5B%5BPenguin+Books%5D%5D&rft.pages=316"></span></caption><tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" style="text-align:center"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Feral_(Monbiot_book).jpg"
class="image"><img alt="Feral (Monbiot book).jpg"
src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Feral_%28Monbiot_book%29.jpg"
data-file-width="128" data-file-height="193"
width="128" height="193"></a>
<div>Searching for enchantment on the frontiers of
rewilding</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Author</th>
<td><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Monbiot"
title="George Monbiot">George Monbiot</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Language</th>
<td><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language"
title="English language">English</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Subject</th>
<td><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewilding_(conservation_biology)"
title="Rewilding (conservation biology)">Rewilding</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Genre</th>
<td>non-fiction</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Publisher</th>
<td><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_Books"
title="Penguin Books">Penguin Books</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">
<div style="padding:0.1em 0;line-height:1.2em;">Publication
date</div>
</th>
<td>October 2013</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">
<div style="padding:0.1em 0;line-height:1.2em;">Published in
English</div>
</th>
<td>October 2013</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Media type</th>
<td>paperback</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Pages</th>
<td>316</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)"
class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a></th>
<td><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1846147487"
title="Special:BookSources/978-1846147487">978-1846147487</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><i><b>Feral</b></i> is a book about <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewilding_(conservation_biology)"
title="Rewilding (conservation biology)">rewilding</a> by
the British environmentalist <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Monbiot"
title="George Monbiot">George Monbiot</a>. It was
published by <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Lane"
title="Allen Lane">Allen Lane</a> (a hardback imprint of
the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_Group"
title="Penguin Group">Penguin Group</a>) in 2013 with the
full title <i>Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the
Frontiers of Rewilding</i>. The book has also been
published as <i>Feral: rewilding the land, sea and human
life</i> (paperback and American editions).<sup
id="cite_ref-Penguin_1-0" class="reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)#cite_note-Penguin-1">[1]</a></sup>
</p>
<p>Monbiot looks at <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewilding_(conservation_biology)"
title="Rewilding (conservation biology)">rewilding</a>
projects around the world. However, he pays particular
attention to the scope for rewilding in the United Kingdom.
He argues that <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overgrazing"
title="Overgrazing">overgrazing</a> is a problem in the
British uplands and calls for sheep numbers to be reduced so
that areas can be rewilded.<sup id="cite_ref-i_2-0"
class="reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)#cite_note-i-2">[2]</a></sup>
Such ideas received criticism from organisations
representing farmers, for example the <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers%27_Union_of_Wales"
title="Farmers' Union of Wales">Farmers' Union of Wales</a>.<sup
id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup>
On the other hand, the book received favourable reviews,
including in publications normally hostile to Monbiot's
work, such as <i><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spectator"
title="The Spectator">The Spectator</a></i><sup
id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup>
and <i><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Telegraph"
title="The Daily Telegraph">The Daily Telegraph</a></i>.<sup
id="cite_ref-telegraphreview_5-0" class="reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)#cite_note-telegraphreview-5">[5]</a></sup>
Many reviewers were impressed by the lyrical nature of the
book's prose style. According to the <i><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Statesman"
title="New Statesman">New Statesman</a>'</i>s reviewer
"something about the charm and persistence of Monbiot’s
argument has the hypnotic effect of a stoat beguiling a
hapless rabbit".<sup id="cite_ref-NS_6-0" class="reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)#cite_note-NS-6">[6]</a></sup>
</p>
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<h2><span
id="Origin_and_Definition_of_.E2.80.98Rewilding.E2.80.99_Concept"></span><span
class="mw-headline"
id="Origin_and_Definition_of_‘Rewilding’_Concept">Origin
and Definition of ‘Rewilding’ Concept</span></h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>By Monbiot's own account, rewilding was a fringe interest at the
time he published the book.<sup id="cite_ref-NP_7-0"
class="reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)#cite_note-NP-7">[7]</a></sup>
However, there had been attempts at rewilding in Britain such as
"Wild Ennerdale" at <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennerdale,_Cumbria"
title="Ennerdale, Cumbria">Ennerdale, Cumbria</a>, a project
which Monbiot finds limited in scope. </p>
<p>The word ‘rewilding’ entered the dictionary in 2011,<sup
id="cite_ref-NS_6-1" class="reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)#cite_note-NS-6">[6]</a></sup>
with its definition greatly contested from the start.<sup
id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)#cite_note-8">[8]</a></sup>
Initially, it was defined as releasing captive animals into the
wild, but the definition was soon expanded to describe the
reintroduction of animal and plant species to <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat" title="Habitat">habitats</a>
from which they had been excised. In other circles, the term is
used to indicate the rehabilitation of entire ecosystems, instead
of particular species only. The definitions preferred by the
author differ slightly from these, as they entail permitting
ecological processes to resume (without human intervention), and
embracing the fluctuations in the physical environment (instead of
attempting to keep it in a state of arrested development). In
summary, Monbiot defines the concept as follows: “Rewilding, to
me, is about resisting the urge to control nature and allowing it
to find its own way.” <sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)#cite_note-9">[9]</a></sup>
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