The district's farmers fear that they could be on the verge of another foot and mouth crisis as more cases are discovered in North Yorkshire. The latest to be confirmed was this morning in Gargrave, a few miles from Skipton.
More than 200 Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) officials have been drafted into the Settle area to deal with the latest outbreak while Bradford farmers anxiously await to see whether the disease has been contained on their doorstep.
John Gullett, West Riding council delegate for the National Farmers Union, said: "We are extremely concerned because if they haven't managed to contain it up there it could be here in the Wharfe Valley and Aire Valley next.
"If that happens it will be disastrous. We're just hoping that it isn't going to be another Cumbria.
"We're very anxious because if this goes on much longer there are farmers who won't be able to keep going. It's already hurting now, and every week it goes on it hurts more."
Mr Gullet said MAFF had sent 25 extra vets to the region on Monday and a further 16 Australian vets yesterday to help to contain the outbreak.
He said: "The worrying thing is that in a place like Settle which is surrounded by open countryside like Malham Moor the disease could have been there for two or three weeks without having been spotted. Who knows how far it could have spread in that time? It spread like wildfire if you don't catch it in time.
"I've spoken to farmers up near Settle are they are extremely nervous."
But Mr Gullett added that he believed that the disease was on the wane nationally.
He said: "I think we're getting to the end of it and winning nationally. It's just worrying when you get an outbreak like this one because I don't think they are sure where it came from yet."
Steve Hunter, MAFF director of operations for Yorkshire, said 17 cases of foot and mouth had now been confirmed in the North Yorkshire area and that 69,000 animals had already been, or were waiting to be, slaughtered.
He said: "We are trying to get on top of this as quickly as possible, hence the rapid increase in the number of staff.
"We can't predict how long it will take us to contain this outbreak but we will do everything in our powers."
Speaking on Radio Four's World At One programme yesterday the Bishop of Bradford, the Right Reverend David Smith, said he believed farmers were not being given enough support in the run-up to the general election.
He said: "The farmers concerned have not had nearly enough attention and care.
"It is a tragedy on a massive scale. The farmers I have spoken to feel that people do not understand, and largely do not care.
"When they turn on the television or read the newspapers it is full of the General Election, it is full of people selling themselves. Nobody appears to be listening and nobody appears to be caring for them."
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