The Alladale elk featured in the BBC Natural World programme. Photo: BBC/Mike Birkhead

A controversial Highland estate at the centre of an access row has said it will apply for a zoo licence.

Alladale owner Paul Lister caused alarm when he announced his intention to turn a large swathe of Sutherland into an exclusive wilderness range, with wolves, lynx and wild boar roaming free. Mr Lister, son of MFI furniture retail co-founder Noel Lister bought the 9,300ha (23,000-acre) estate near Ardgay in 2003 and announced his intention to subject the area to ‘rewilding’.

Walkers and climbers have complained that 2m-high electrified fencing erected on part of the estate prevented access under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act and Highland Council was considering enforcement action to compel the estate to remove signs warning off visitors and to ensure gates were left unlocked to allow access to the estate.

Now, the Alladale estate manager Hugh Fullerton-Smith has given notice of the intention to apply for a zoo licence for three wolves, eight European wildcats, and the six wild boar and the two elk that are already on the site. The application will be made under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.

Glen Calvie, close to the Alladale estate. Photo: Lee Carson

The zoo would, in Mr Fullerton-Smith’s words, be unlike any present conventional UK zoo. Visits to the site will be limited to a daily number of 35, and would include guests at the exclusive Alladale Lodge and three other properties on the estate. Occasional school groups would also be permitted, the manager says.

The wolves and boars would be given vasectomies to prevent numbers increasing, though there is confusion in the notice as the Latin name of the European wolf, canis lupus, is transposed with that of the European wildcat, felis sylvestris, in one section of the official document prepared by the Alladale estate.

Ramblers Scotland has already voiced its opposition to the plan, saying if the licence were granted, it would bring public access restrictions and would also open a loophole for other Scottish landowners to circumvent the provisions of the Scotland’s right-to-roam legislation by putting a few wild animals on their estates.

Director Dave Morris said: “We expect to oppose the issue of this zoo licence. Approving such a project would be contrary to the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 as it would prevent people exercising their statutory rights of access over a large area of land.

“There are already problems with his existing enclosure, with its high fence and electrified wires which make it near impossible to cross. The Alladale situation suggests that it is time for us to ask the Scottish Parliament to prohibit the use of electric fencing in Scotland in association with deer fencing or other forms of high fencing.”

The then Ramblers Scotland president Cameron McNeish and director Dave Morris visited the estate in 2008 and discussed the project with Mr Lister. The Ramblers say that, although Alladale is around 23,000 acres, it is too small an area to support wolves naturally, and they believe that what is proposed is a ‘safari park’ encircled by a 3m-high electrified fence in which visitors will pay to be driven around to see the animals.

The Alladale estate says the proposed Alladale Wilderness Reserve will allow the boar to maintain themselves, supplemented by feeding by estate staff. Wolves would be fed natural carcasses and game offcuts. The reserve would participate in conservation research and a breeding programme for the wildcats.