THERE are no dangerous lions, tigers, giraffes or elephants at Monk Park Farm.

Visitors come instead to see cuddly rabbits, lambs, goats and some deer that graze quietly in a field.

But now bureaucrats are insisting that if the fallow deer are to stay in their field, the farm and visitor centre at Bagby, near Thirsk, must be treated as a zoo. Visitors have been urged to sign a petition in protest at the move.

According to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Hambleton District Council, the deer will have to be removed from public display on the farm unless it applies for a zoo licence.

The protest petition signed by hundreds of visitors to the centre, which is hugely popular with families from the York area, states: "As a small business, we cannot afford to become a zoo. Please help us save our fallow deer by signing our petition."

Mark Hebdon, who runs the farm with his father, John, said he had built up his stock of deer after the entire herd had to be shot during the 2001 foot and mouth epidemic - after a neighbouring farm was hit by the disease.

"I've restocked them and now they say I can't keep them," he said. "I don't know what to do.

"A lot of people like the deer. We'll just have to find a new attraction to go into that pen."

One visitor, Jim Taylor, of Redcar, who was bringing his six-year-old grand-daughter Lauren to visit the farm, told the Evening Press: "It's absolutely ridiculous. They aren't exactly tigers, are they? They are all quite tame."

Steven Richards, of Middlesbrough, said: "It's scandalous. They are only deer." He said he understood that a park in Middlesbrough featuring deer had also been hit by similar red tape problems.

Eric Kendall, head of environment, health and housing at Hambleton District Council, said the move was a result of regulations laid down by the Zoo Inspectorate that meant deer were officially classified as wild animals.

He said Monk Park Farm would be able to carry on operating without a licence if it obeyed certain conditions, including removing the deer from public display and reducing its stock of 15 wallabies to no more than six.

"What the Zoo Act is there to do is to prevent the display of wild animals for public entertainment," he said. "They don't need to be classified as dangerous."

Updated: 10:57 Tuesday, September 06, 2005