PIGEON and poultry classes at one of the region's largest farming events have been cancelled because of fears of bird flu.

The organisers of the Great Yorkshire Show announced their decision last night.

This year's show runs from Tuesday, July 11, to Thursday, July 13.

It takes place at the showground in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

Classes for pigeons would have been held on the Wednesday with the poultry section on the final day.

Honorary show director Bill Cowling said: "We have been monitoring the situation for a number of months and took the decision after speaking to our vets. We feel it would not be in the best interests of exhibitors to go ahead, and indeed we would not want to do anything which may compromise the bio-security of commercial flocks.

"Naturally, we are all disappointed as the classes are an important element of the show as a whole, but we feel it is better to make the decision now rather than plan to go ahead and have to cancel at a later stage."

The show, organised by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, attracted record figures of almost 135,000 people last year.

The society also runs the Countryside Live Food and Farming Fair at the Harrogate showground.

In October, the fair became the first event of its kind to fall victim to bird flu. Poultry and pigeon classes were cancelled on the orders of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The poultry section at Countryside Live was launched in 2004, and a total of 1,078 entries had been received across a range of classes.