THERE'S one almighty PR job to be done, to counteract centuries of cultural negativity featuring Big Bad Wolves threatening to eat little pigs and little girls, not to mention the werewolves propagated by Hollywood.

Supporters of the carnivore say it is actually frightened of humans, and the incidence of attack in the many countries where it lives in the wild is negligible. But farmers understandably fear that if the wolf returned to these shores, it could present a serious threat to their livestock.

Scottish landowner Paul Lister is planning to bring back the European grey wolf to roam a vast enclosure on his Ardgay Estate, alongside brown bears, lynx, and elk – also long-extinct on this island.

The bear disappeared 900 years ago, and the last wolf was shot in Scotland in 1743, long after the mammal had become extinct in England and Wales. The wolf's natural woodland habitat was removed to give land over to agriculture, and the previous harmonious co-existence between man and wolf became more hostile.

Bounties were put on wolves' heads, and their skins fetched good money. Wolves, though they rarely injured or killed humans, became man's number one enemy.

Planners have now given the go-ahead for a huge fenced safari park-style enclosure on Lister's land, 40 miles north of Inverness, straddling Sutherland and Ross and Cromarty.

He bought 23,000 acres of Highland glens, lakes, rivers and forest for £3.2m in 2004, with the intention of restoring to this stunning wilderness its natural ancient eco-system. That included large carnivores which once roamed free across the whole of the country.

A businessman and son of MFI furniture store founder Noel Lister, 48-year-old Paul Lister is a great animal lover and founder of a charity which protects wolves in Romania's Carpathian Mountains.

He eventually plans to offer wildlife safaris to visitors on ranger-led day trips and to guests who take breaks at the luxury Alladale Lodge on his estate. Visitors already pay between £1,900 to £3,500 a night to experience the magnificent facilities at Alladale, as well as its rich flora and fauna, and school groups stay in wooden cabins during ecological study visits.

The larger scheme could provide up to 100 jobs in an economically depressed area, as well as possibly generating millions of pounds in tourist income. It has its supporters and detractors, but it appears to be the idea of "rewilding" European wolves, albeit within a remote fenced area, that's causing
most ripples.

In a report published earlier this year by the Royal Society, scientists from Imperial College, London and Norway said that putting wolves into the Scottish countryside once more would help to reforest the Highlands by controlling the population of red deer, which would be their main prey.

The population of red deer in the region is thought to be close to maximum capacity, with thedeer munching their way voraciously through vegetation and destroying habitats essential to other species.

The report said wolves would be a good alternative to expensive deer culls, and would help to rebalance the eco-system. Reforesting the area would also be easier. Around 60,000 new Caledonian pine trees have recently been planted on Lister's estate.

Scientists, conservationists – and no doubt Paul Lister – look to Yellowstone National Park in the US, where 31 grey wolves, considered to be the "apex predator" of the food chain, were released completely into the wild in an area the size of Wales 10 years ago.

Hundreds of wolves now roam across Yellowstone and adjacent wilderness in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

Birds and vegetation have prospered, the wolves have brought in millions of dollars from tourism, and the reintroduction is considered to be largely successful ecologically. While there are undoubtedly lessons to be learned from the Yellowstone project, there's no such plan to have wolves wander beyond the Alladale reserve.

Paul Lister is understood to be in talks with owners of adjacent estates about increasing the enclosed area to 50,000 acres – the size considered feasible to sustain two packs of wild wolves.

"We don't really support the idea of 'reintroduction' (as in Yellowstone)," says Hugh Fullerton-Smith, Lister's estate manager. "What we're doing is enclosing the animals in a large area as part of a plan to regenerate the land. The fencing would have two or three strands of electric wire.

"Obviously, you can't give a cast-iron guarantee that a wolf would not escape, but we have a few tricks up our sleeves.... These areas are dying on their feet, and what we're doing is re-establishing prosperity on the back of conservation."

The Ramblers' Association is concerned about access for the many walkers who would expect to be able to cross any fence. It's difficult to imagine the same sort of fence keeping a wolf inside it.

"Some members are for the idea of the wolves, and some are against it, and we can all appreciate why farmers are worried," said RA spokesman David Black. "Wolves roam naturally through places in Europe like Bulgaria's national parks, but there's plenty of space over there."

He can see the benefits for the Highlands, though. "It would be nice to have a fully functioning eco-system, and there's no doubt that people would come a long way to see wolves."

Ten years ago, the UK Wolf Conservation Trust successfully paired the first European grey wolves to breed in this country in many centuries. Most of the charity's work is to do with education and wolf conservation in natural habitats around Europe where the animals have survived.

Co-director Tsa Palmer says the lack of space would, in her view, rule out a longer-term plan to let wolves roam more widely across the countryside.

"There is nowhere big enough, because so many people live close to and travel through our country areas. There is also a difference with public perception between Scotland and Yellowstone. At least there have been wolves over there naturally within living memory. There is a much bigger public education process to be gone through in Scotland."

Richard Morley, co-director of the Wolves and Humans Foundation, believes Paul Lister's experiment is "interesting and worthwhile".

True "rewilding" is not an option in the forseeable future, with so many sheep all over adjacent hillsides near Alladale.

"You could put wolves back into the open countryside tomorrow, and they would adapt to the environment, they'd survive. But farmers, ramblers and the public are the problem. Even enclosing the animals presents a huge problem – that of fencing in 36 square miles and making sure the fence is not breached.

"On a personal basis, I would love to see wolves in Scotland, and the Highlands would be the richer for them."

Mr Morley adds: "To even think about reintroducing wolves properly, it would have to be combined with a dramatic reduction in sheep agriculture, otherwise it would not be acceptable. But, seeing as Scotland is owned by relatively few people, you could possibly see that happening over time."