Remaining carrier of unweaned calves faces legal action from NGOs, following four days of protests at international ports, including Dover

A formal legal notice has been issued to Irish Ferries, over alleged breaches of animal welfare legislation during the transport of unweaned calves between Ireland and France, today (28 September).

The notice, sent on behalf of Compassion in World Farming France, QUATRE PATTES (FOUR PAWS France) and WELFARM, alleges that current transport practices fail to meet EU regulations in relation to feeding requirements, designed to protect unweaned calves, and calls on the company to cease their involvement in the trade. The notice gives Irish Ferries an opportunity to address concerns before any further legal steps are considered. The company now has fifteen days to respond.

This formal legal notice to Irish Ferries coincides with four days of protests in ports across the UK, Ireland and France, in which Compassion in World Farming France, FOUR PAWS and WELFARM, joined by Ethical Farming Ireland, OABA, East Kent Animal Action and Merseyside Animal Rights, called on the company to “stop the cruelty”. This included a protest at Dover Port on Sunday 27 September to highlight Irish Ferries involvement in this trade to their UK customers.

With pressure mounting on the ground, Irish Ferries has also been inundated by 70,000 people across Europe contacting its customer service team to condemn the practice. In parallel, Compassion in World Farming France, QUATRE PATTES and WELFARM, have written to the European Commission calling on it to ensure that animal welfare legislation is fully enforced and to begin infringement proceedings against Ireland for allowing unweaned calves to be transported to France.

This year alone, more than 160,000 calves, some as young as two weeks old, have been shipped from Ireland to France on roll-on, roll-off ferries, before onward transport by land for fattening and slaughter. By the time they arrive in France, they have already faced several hours on the road and around 18 hours at sea without food. This is a breach of EU Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport.

Irish Ferries is an outlier as the last remaining operator to carry the live animals from Ireland to mainland Europe, following both Stena Line’s and Brittany Ferries’ recent withdrawal. Brittany Ferries stopped transporting live animals at the start of this month, following a coordinated public pressure campaign by a coalition of NGOs in Ireland, France and the United Kingdom.

This formal legal notice follows a major commitment by the Dutch Food and Safety Authority (NVWA), earlier this month, to impose fines up to €27,000 on Irish transport companies who fail to feed the young calves at the required intervals, as set out in legislation. This action demonstrates that enforcement authorities can and should act on the continuing failure to comply with the feeding requirements of EU law.

Eloise Shavelar, Compassion in World Farming's Global Head of Campaigns and Advocacy, who was at the protest in Dover, said:

It is completely heartless to transport unweaned calves, some as young as two weeks old, on such unnecessary long journeys. Going up to 24 hours without food is not only cruel, but it is unlawful. So why is Irish Ferries allowing this suffering on its ships? That is the question we are asking at ports in Ireland, the UK and France - and it is the question at the core of our legal notice. We won’t stop campaigning until the cruelty ends.

Yvan Savy, Head of CIWF France said:

More than 160,000 unweaned calves arrive in France each year after gruelling journeys that raise serious concerns about compliance with EU animal welfare transport rules. After these long and stressful sea journeys, the lorries pass through France to countries such as Poland, Netherlands and Spain. As scrutiny intensifies and other ferry operators step away from this trade, Irish Ferries should not be facilitating journeys that breach the law.

Stéphane Boissavy, Head of Campaigns, Advocacy and Legal, WELFARM said:

These journeys subject vulnerable young calves to hunger, exhaustion and stress at an age when they require special protection. This suffering is avoidable. The requirement to feed unweaned calves is being breached during the Irish Ferries’ sea journey. The company has a responsibility to ensure animal welfare laws are respected and to stop enabling a trade that causes unnecessary suffering.

Corinna Reinisch, Animal Welfare Issues Navigator for Farmed Animals, FOUR PAWS International said:

With public opposition against the horrors of live animal transports growing, the Netherlands introducing fines, and other ferry operators like Brittany Ferries withdrawing from this practice, Irish Ferries can no longer ignore these developments. People want to see better conditions for farmed animals.

~ends~

For more information please email media.team@ciwf.org or call +44 (0)1483 521 615

Images from the Dover protest can be downloaded here.

Notes to Editors:

Compassion in World Farming was founded in 1967 by a British dairy farmer who became horrified at the development of intensive factory farming. Today Compassion is the leading farm animal welfare organisation dedicated to ending factory farming and achieving humane and sustainable food. With headquarters in the UK, we have offices across Europe, in the US, China and South Africa.
Compassion in World Farming’s Ban Live Exports campaign resulted in a British ban on live exports for slaughter or fattening in 2024, but Irish Ferries, who operate from UK ports, are still profiting from the trade overseas.
A copy of the formal legal notice issued to Irish Ferries is available here
Protests took place at Irish Ferries’ office in Liverpool, UK (Fri 25), Dublin Port (Sat 26), Dover Port (Sun 27) and will conclude at Calais Port (Mon 28).
In its audit report dated 22 December 2023 (DG(SANTE) 2022-7503) the European Commission stressed that, in its view, the transport of unweaned calves from Ireland to France is being carried out in breach of EU Regulation 1/2005. The Commission interprets the Regulation as requiring unweaned calves to be fed after a maximum of 19 hours of transport. This 19-hour point is reached during the long sea crossing by RORO ferry from Ireland to France. However, the calves are not fed during the crossing.
A Commission overview report (DG(SANTE) 2023-7925) states that “including loading and unloading, the calves may go without feeding for up to 24 hours”. In some cases it may be even longer than this. This is confirmed by van Dijk et al (2023) who state that calves sent from Ireland to France by RORO: “can experience repeated feed withdrawals of longer than 24 h”.

Irish Ferries threatened with legal action to stop calf transport