Actors Dame Joanna Lumley and Pauline McLynn have joined forces with Compassion in World Farming, and over 120 other high-profile individuals, experts and other NGOs to condemn a decision by Brittany Ferries to resume transporting live farmed animals from Ireland to France.

The news, reported in Agriland on 27 February, comes just weeks after the 30-year anniversary of Brittany Ferries’ widely celebrated decision to stop carrying farmed animals from Britain to mainland Europe, due to the suffering it causes.

This shocking reversal has prompted actors Pauline McLynn, Dame Joanna Lumley, French personality Laurent Baffie, Chris Packham, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, French activist Camille Etienne, international experts Professor Peter Singer, Jonathon Porritt and Professor John Webster, and NGOs including Ethical Farming Ireland, L214 and Eyes on Animals to write a letter urging the company to reconsider its decision. Supporters are also being urged to take part in a hard-hitting social media campaign which references the company’s latest marketing campaign promising customers an ‘unforgettable experience’.

Scientific evidence shows that when live animals are exported or transported long distances they may suffer extremes of temperature and are often deprived of sufficient rest, food or water. As sentient beings, they also experience fear and distress. While Great Britain introduced a ban on the live export of farmed animals last year, and Australia has announced the end of the live export of sheep by sea from 2028, the trade continues in the EU.

Brittany Ferries is planning to start transporting livestock – likely to be primarily cattle - from Rosslare Port, County Wexford, to Cherbourg Port in France this month. Co-signatories of the letter have expressed concerns that vulnerable unweaned calves may be included, which is likely to be in breach of EU regulations. Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport stipulates feeding requirements for unweaned calves that cannot be met on the 18 hour ferry journeys from Ireland to France.

The company’s decision was made just months after Compassion wrote to Brittany Ferries, thanking it for refusing to transport live farmed animals for further fattening and slaughter for the past 30 years, which both EU legislation and animal welfare experts acknowledge to be inhumane.

The change means Brittany Ferries now joins competitors, Irish Ferries and Stena Line, which continue to facilitate live animal exports for fattening and onward EU transport, despite growing pressure from international NGOs, scientists, and the public. P&O, however, continues to refuse to export live farmed animals for fattening and slaughter.

Peter Stevenson, Chief Policy Adviser at Compassion in World Farming, said: “For 30 years Brittany Ferries has been doing the right thing. Now, it has decided to prioritise profits over the welfare of sentient animals. This policy change will expose thousands of animals to tremendous suffering on long journeys.

“The European Commission interprets EU law as requiring unweaned calves to be fed during the long ferry crossing from Ireland to France but it’s simply not possible to feed unweaned calves while they are on a truck which is on board a ferry and so carrying unweaned calves from Rosslare to Cherbourg will likely be in breach of European law.

“The company’s own customers are likely to be appalled at this decision, and will not want to travel with suffering animals. We will do all we can to persuade Brittany Ferries to reverse this terrible decision and to stop this inhumane trade in live animals.”