A Christmas festival has cancelled its reindeer parade due to an outbreak of bluetongue disease.
The animals have been axed from the Beverley Festival of Christmas as the East Yorkshire market town is in a restriction zone for the virus.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council said the Cairngorm reindeer were due to take part in the festival parade on Sunday.
Councillor Nick Coultish, the local authority’s cabinet member for culture, leisure and tourism, said: “We are disappointed that the reindeer will not feature at this year’s festival but as the welfare of the animals is of utmost importance, we have been directed by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs that they are unable to travel into our area.’
“The festival will now feature an additional live ice carving sculpture in Saturday Market and Santa will still be in attendance to spread Christmas cheer at this wonderful time of the year, along with over 125 stalls offering a range of food, drinks and Christmas gifts.”
Bluetongue is an animal disease that affects livestock including cattle and sheep, as well as goats, deer and llamas, with symptoms including a blue and swollen tongue, fever, reduced milk yield, and, in the most severe cases, death.
It does not affect humans or food safety.
A restriction zone for the virus currently covers areas in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, North Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, East Sussex, Essex, Greater London, Hampshire , Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Leicestershire , Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire , Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex and Wiltshire.
