Scottish Wildcat at the Highland Wildlife Park: SNH / ©Lorne Gill
The Alladale Estate has finally submitted its long-awaited planning application for the animal enclosures and change of use on its controversial ‘Wilderness Reserve’. The national newspapers and outdoor magazines may have been awash for several years with articles about ‘rewilding’ and the ‘reintroduction’ of native species including wolves, with attendant controversy about supposed plans to enclose the entire estate. The actual plans detailed in the application lodged with Highland Council are very different – for a small zoo together with restoration of forest habitats. Cynical observers may feel that the ambitious plans to have wolves roaming free around a vast fenced estate could just have been a clever public relations ploy – certainly the idea has gained massive media coverage for Alladale including a BBC TV series. Others think that Lister is playing a very long game, and plans for wolves and massive access restrictions still lie in the future.
The estate currently has a limited enclosure for elk and a large further fenced area of 173 hectares (420 acres) which has been used for experimental grazing. It is the access to this latter area – large but nothing like the 23,000 acres often suggested in the much-discussed wolf plans – which has been causing access issues on the ground, with Highland Council’s access officer calling for the installation of more stiles. The new application acknowledges the access concerns and suggests that the fences around this area will now be removed; the only fenced areas will be much smaller, with a retrospective application for the enclosure housing 2 elk (with 2 more to be bred) together with plans for an enclosure for 6 bison (5 more to be bred) and a series of pens for 8 wildcat (with plans to breed 12). There is no definite history of Bison living in Scotland.
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland’s Access and Conservation officer Hebe Carus said “The MCofS welcomes the apparent change of direction in the plans at Alladale. None of the 3 enclosures in the planning application have any hill walking access implications and are small enough and appropriately enough located not to have significant extra impact on the landscape. The meaning is unclear on the removal of only part of the larger enclosure fencing, but the MCofS are optimistic this will at least partially ease the access issues that have been ongoing for several years.”
The full planning application can be found on the Highland Council website; search for application number 10/03303/FUL.