Highland councillors yesterday over-ruled their own countryside access officer and agreed to allow wild boar and elk to continue to roam over part of a Sutherland estate.
The animals have been introduced to a fenced enclosure at Alladale estate as part of the owner Paul Lister’s plans to establish a private safari park.
The millionaire businessman could have been stopped in his tracks had the decision gone against him at yesterday’s meeting of the council’s Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross licensing committee.
The 17 wild boar and two elk are kept in a 500-acre compound on the 22,000-acre estate, but Sutherland access officer Matt Dent claimed the development breaches access rights conferred under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
At the meeting at Helmsdale, he said: “The public have the right under statute to access the ground which runs through the enclosure.”
Mr Dent said a track through the enclosure gives access to surrounding hill land and 2,772ft Carn Ban.
“For people coming off the hill, this would be the natural route,” he said.
Mr Dent said his attempts to negotiate with the estate to reduce the size or relocate the enclosure came to naught.
He said the public has legal access to the whole of the estate, apart from areas immediately in front of the lodge and two self-catering cottages.
His concerns about the estate’s plans are shared by the Ramblers Association and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland.
Committee clerk Donald Somerville advised councillors that they should disregard the challenge under the public right-to-roam legislation, and that the application should be determined solely under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act.
Area environmental health manager Chris Rattar said there have been no concerns raised under the previous licence granted two years ago.
He said: “There’s been no animal welfare issues and the electric fence means people can’t get in and the animals can’t get out.”
The committee unanimously approved the renewal of the licence which runs until the end of the year. The estate recently confirmed an intention to apply for a zoo licence to display three wolves, eight wildcats, six more boar and two more elk. It hopes to eventually add lynx, bison and brown bear.
Helen Todd, development officer with the Ramblers Association, yesterday said it was very concerned about the estate’s plans.
She said: “We certainly share side with the council’s access officer in the stance he’s taken about access but the licence is judged purely on animal welfare grounds. We’d have no objections to a small wildlife enclosure of a few acres but our members are unhappy about the size of the current compound and the plans to take in the whole of the estate. We’re keeping a close eye on this as we think it could be a very unwelcome precedent.” The Scottish Mountaineering Council access and conservation officer Hebe Carus said it is unhappy that the wildlife reserve is being created without a formal planning application where the access issue could have been fully explored.