The foot and mouth crisis has created a surge in unwanted and distressed dogs across North Yorkshire.

With many country footpaths and bridleways closed because of the epidemic, owners are finding it more difficult to exercise their pets.

Fewer people are choosing to adopt dogs and more are giving them up to animal shelters.

The Blue Cross adoption centre, at Thirsk, has experienced a 30 per cent drop in the number of dogs re-homed.

Manager Wendy Ellison thinks the decline may be because the public mistakenly believes the centre is closed.

She said: "The situation is now serious and many of the animals, especially the dogs, are showing real signs of stress. With few public visits and restrictions on exercise, they're going stir crazy."

At the start of the crisis the RSPCA introduced a 14-day quarantine period for all dogs brought in to guard against any risk they might be carrying the virus. Some shelters have found this has slowed their re-homing process.

The RSPCA Adoption Service in Scarborough is now home to up to 20 dogs, rather than the usual 14.

Dog co-ordinator Barbara Bunfield said although nobody has mentioned foot and mouth as a reason for returning dogs, the increase may be because people are no longer allowed to walk them on the beach.

Vivian Kent, co-ordinator of Petsearch in Harrogate, was unable to adopt a pet because of the epidemic. She said: "I was offered a puppy in Northumberland, which I would dearly have loved to have taken. But I had to turn it down because there was no way I would want to go up there and risk spreading the disease."

Dogs in York have been affected less than their more rural cousins. But Michelle Coupland, the City of York Council's animal health officer, did report a big increase in fouling as people are forced to exercise their dogs on the streets.

She said: "People think they don't have to clean up after their dogs in the countryside, although of course they do, and they get into the habit of not doing it in the city either."

Thirsk animal centre, the Jerry Green Foundation Trust, lies surrounded by farms and has been significantly quieter since the outbreak. But manager Hilary Milnes is trying to look on the bright side.

She said: "Because we haven't as many visitors, we can spend more time with the dogs."

Updated: 13:28 Friday, April 06, 2001