Elephants could soon be setting up home in a specially built enclosure at a Noah's Ark Zoo Farm.

Bosses at the Wraxall site have applied to North Somerset Council for permission to build an elephant enclosure.

The new enclosure, which would be fenced off, would stretch over about seven acres of the site and feature a purpose-built elephant house.

There would also be large water pools for the elephants to bathe in, a number of sand pit areas and acres of grazing land.

A minimum of three elephants would live at the farm and would either be sourced from abroad or from zoos in the UK.

A planning application has now been submitted and if agreed, work could start on site as early as next year.

A spokesman for the zoo said: "It has always been part of our longer term plans to have elephants at the zoo.

"It is something we have always wanted to do and it is likely that the elephants would be rescue animals either from abroad or from other zoos or collections in this country.

"Our plans are still very much in the early stages.

"We have not got any definite costs for the new enclosure, but it will be along the same lines as our current tiger enclosure, only a lot bigger.

"Having elephants at the zoo farm is a massive undertaking and we need to be sure the right measures are in place and that the animals are right for us and Noah's Ark is the right place for them."

Elephants can live up to 60 years old and eat a vegetarian diet of mainly grasses, leaves and fruit.

The zoo farm is currently at the centre of an investigation into allegations of animal cruelty.

The inquiry follows claims by an undercover investigator for the Captive Animal Protection Society (CAPS) who secured work at the zoo farm last summer.

She claimed to have witnessed three acts of animal cruelty involving rabbits and mice.

She also claimed to have discovered that the zoo was breeding animals to be used in the Great British Circus and that the zoo farm was in breach of animal disposal regulations following the death of female Bengal tiger Tira earlier this year.

Farm owners Anthony, 70, and Christina Bush denied any direct link to the circus although they admitted breaching animal disposal regulations and rectified the matter immediately.

Mr Bush has always vehemently denied the animal cruelty allegations, branding them 'preposterous.'

Members of the Bristol Animal Rights Collective (BARC) say they are planning another protest at the zoo farm this Saturday to object to the news that elephants could soon arrive at the centre.

The zoo farm opened in 1998 and now is home to more than 100 species of animals including giraffes, rhinos, tigers, emus, wallabies, camels and this year welcomed more than 130,000 visitors through its doors.