Brittany Ferries has announced that it will stop transporting live farmed animals, including young calves, on its ships between Ireland and France by September 2026.
The decision follows more than a year of campaigning by animal welfare organisations across Europe, including Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), Four Paws, Ethical Farming Ireland, L214, Eyes on Animals and Eurogroup for Animals.
The ferry company restarted transporting live animals in March 2025 after a break of nearly 30 years. The move sparked protests in Ireland, France and the United Kingdom.
Brittany Ferries
Brittany Ferries stopped carrying farmed animals for slaughter back in 1994. For 30 years, the company stayed out of the live animal transport trade.
That changed in February 2025, when Brittany Ferries announced it would start transporting live animals again, mainly on the route between Rosslare, Ireland, and Cherbourg, France.
Most of these transported animals were calves. Many were just two weeks old. They had not been weaned yet, which means they still needed their mother’s milk to survive.
Animal welfare groups criticised the decision. Over 120 scientists, celebrities and experts, including Dame Joanna Lumley and Chris Packham, signed a letter asking Brittany Ferries to change its mind. The company did not listen. In 2025 alone, more than 220,000 calves were forced on ships and taken to France.
Uweaned calves
Unweaned calves cannot digest solid food. They depend on milk, given regularly, to get enough energy and to stay hydrated.
The trip from Ireland to France takes around 18 hours by sea. After the ferry, the journey for many calves was still not over. From France, they were often driven onward to the Netherlands, Spain or Poland, on trips that could last up to 50 hours in total.
Some ended up being fattened for veal. Others were exported even further, beyond the EU, to countries with far weaker animal protection rules.
EU law says animals this young must be fed at least once every 9 hours, but that didn’t always happen, according to undercover footage by animal welfare organizations. Without food, calves become weak, dehydrated and stressed.
Long hours of standing on a moving ship wear out their young muscles and joints. Loading calves onto trucks and ships is also dangerous. Floors can be slippery, and a stumble can mean a bruise, a sprain, or a broken bone for an animal this small and fragile.
Irish Ferries now the only operator
With Brittany Ferries leaving the trade, Irish Ferries will become the only ferry company transporting live farmed animals on the Ireland–France route. Animal welfare organisations are now calling on Irish Ferries to make the same decision.
A survey published earlier this year found that 82% of people in the European Union are concerned about the transport of very young animals. Great Britain banned the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening in 2024, citing animal welfare concerns.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theanimalreader.com
