A businessman whose plans to reintroduce wolves, bears and wild cats to the Scottish Highlands were thwarted by officialdom has turned to Romania to fulfil his dream.

Paul Lister, heir to the MFI furniture fortune and owner of the 23,000-acre Alladale estate near Inverness, is to turn thousands of acres of ancient forestry in the Carpathian mountains into a haven for wild species.

The mountains are home to 5,000 brown bears, 3,000 wolves and 2,000 lynx — Europe’s largest populations — which are threatened by the rapid expansion of industrial logging operations. Lister, who has worked with the Carpathian Wolf Sanctuary for more than a decade, has created a charitable body, the European Nature Trust, to establish the nature reserve.

Trees and wildlife will be protected by rangers, aided by aerial surveillance, and roads and tracks used by unscrupulous logging gangs will be removed. Visitors will be able to camp or stay in lodges, and go on organised trails to see the “big five” — brown bears, wolves, lynx, wild boar and red deer — in the wild.

Though 16% of the region is under some form of protection, the vast majority is threatened by logging, hunting and development. Lister has turned to the area — which contains a third of Europe’s plant species — after spending five years in a fruitless effort to reintroduce wolves and bears to Scotland for the first time since the 18th century.

Last year he imported a pair of moose from Sweden and already has a breeding population of wild boar on his estate. But his efforts have been frustrated by government red tape and complaints from neighbouring farmers, who fear escaped wolves would kill livestock.

He has been told he must submit a full application to Michael Russell, the environment minister, who would ultimately decide whether to grant a licence to reintroduce wolves under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act. The proposal would be subject to a public consultation, likely to take up to a year, followed by possible appeals.

To satisfy the legislation he would need an area of almost 50,000 acres to house 15 wolves, three pairs of lynx and up to 30 brown bears, which would require the co-operation of neighbouring landowners.

Plans for a three-metre-high electric fence around his estate — which would be the longest in Europe — would fall foul of Scottish Natural Heritage, the government conservation body, which has said that it would breach land reform legislation.

“We are still negotiating with our neighbours. It’s a long slog but it’s a case of people changing their mind-set,” said Lister. “I still believe it can happen but if we can’t bring back the wolf, it won’t be the end of the world.

“Romania and the Carpathian mountains have some of the largest tracts of old-growth forests remaining in Europe. These great woods, which are rich in biodiversity, are under threat from illegal logging, not only on private lands but also within national parks.

“We have a wilderness on our doorstep which is Europe’s equivalent of Yellowstone Park but it’s under threat. We need to raise awareness of this and I will absolutely have to take this to the EU. We need to keep these wild spaces, not just for our own benefit but for that of future generations.”

According to legend, the last British wolf was killed in the Scottish Highlands in 1743. Last week opponents to Lister’s Highland plans welcomed his “change of focus”.

“Scotland isn’t ready for wolves and we have always thought that Lister was ahead of the game,” said Ian McCall of the Ramblers’ Association. “We have had concerns about the fencing and access issues.

Perhaps in Romania, where wolves are in the wild, he can achieve more.”

A spokesman for the Scottish government said: “Mr Russell is not persuaded of the merits of reintroducing the wolf. There are a number of very serious issues which would need to be addressed in full for any such application to be looked at.”

Lister’s bid to create his Highland wildlife reserve will feature in a BBC documentary, The Real Monarch of the Glen, which begins tomorrow.

Times Recommends

• New York threatens London's place in fashion
• Computer game to rewrite evolution
• Teacher shows how to live on £1 a day