British colonial administrator and conservationist
Peter Moss
Peter de Vere MossFRGS (2 August 1938 – 22 April 2017) was a British colonial administrator who later became a park ranger, conservationist, and pioneer of eco-tourism.
Early life and family
Peter de Vere Moss was born in Shillong, Assam, on 2 August 1938, the son of Lt. Co. Harry de Vere Moss of the Punjab Frontier Regiment. His family left India when he was seven at the time of the break-up of the country. He received his early education at Glen Gorse preparatory school followed by Malvern College.[1][2]
Moss's first marriage, to Judy, was dissolved. His second marriage was to Jill.[1]
Career
At the age of 19, Moss joined the provincial administration of the Northern Rhodesia Government as a trainee. In 1961 he attended a one-year Colonial Service course at Cambridge. He returned to Northern Rhodesia and became a district officer. Internal political strife caused him to become disillusioned with public administration, however, and in 1965 he took a post with the Department of Game and Tsetse Control in Chilanga, near Lusaka.[1]
He took a break to complete his education, returning to London to take A levels which he followed with a degree with first class honours in Fish and Wildlife Biology at Guelph University in Canada. On his return to Zambia he became a park ranger at the Kafue National Park, an area larger than Belgium in western Zambia. He produced the first park management plan for the area.[1]
In 1978, back in England, he opened the Cardigan Wildlife Park, now known as the Welsh Wildlife Centre, with Ian Manning and David Lloyd. It included rare breeds of sheep cattle and horses as well as species not native to Wales such as bison, wildcats and wolves.[1]