Bird flu outbreak in the North East forces closure of animal tourist attractions

• Video report by Chris Conway.

An outbreak of bird flu across the region has forced a North Yorkshire Christmas attraction to close for the festive period.

Although there have been no cases on its site, Monk Park farm in Thirsk has sacrificed around fifty thousand pounds and turned away an estimated 3,500 visitors in order to safeguard their own flocks.

Their head animal keeper, Paul Elgey said: "We would have to have our birds culled on the farm and we really don’t want to lose them, because we want to protect our own animals and we don’t want it to spread to other people’s farms either."

An exclusion zone has also been put in place in Washington following the outbreak.

The Washington Wetlands Centre has also closed its doors as a precautionary measure to protect birds at its site and it's now a legal requirement to keep birds indoors, separate from wild birds, which spread the disease.

Monk Park Farm remain optimistic and are now organising safety measure to be able to open in the new year.

Their head of events, Hayley Cooke said: “What’s been really encouraging is the public have been really supportive of our decision and based on our decision they will show their support next year and that gives an opportunity to get things right, in terms of getting the site infrastructure, new developments and changes”