It’s been ten years since 13,000 sheep tragically died of dehydration, starvation and exhaustion during a long sea journey from Romania to Somalia. This devastating event in 2015 exposed the world to the unacceptable conditions faced by millions of farmed animals on long sea journeys each year.
As we approached the 10th anniversary of this tragedy – which led to the creation of the Ban Live Exports International Awareness Day marked on Saturday (14 June) – it was unimaginable that Britanny Ferries would decide to join StenaLine and Irish Ferries in participating in this dreadful trade, 30 years after abandoning the cruel practice of transporting live animals for slaughter or fattening.
This is why Compassion in World Farming is submitting a complaint to the European Parliament demanding urgent action to stop the 18-hour sea journeys endured by unweaned calves from Ireland to France — which the European Commission has already recognised is in breach of the current transport regulation.
To avoid those 13,000 sentient animals being forgotten, we must confront who is allowing this cruel trade to take place: on the one hand, a European Union that fails to implement its current rules while dragging its feet on improving animal protection. And on the other hand, private companies that put profits before the welfare of sentient beings.
In a 2023 audit, the European Commission stated that in its view: “…the transport of unweaned calves from Ireland to France is being carried out in breach of Council Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport.”
But despite the clear pronouncement, the EU’s executive has yet to take action to ensure EU countries do implement these rules.
In 2025 alone, over 140,000 unweaned calves, under six weeks old, have been exported from Rosslare, Ireland to Cherbourg, France. By EU law, these young and vulnerable animals must be fed milk replacer once every nine hours, yet while being transported on this long sea crossing, which takes up to 18 hours, it is simply not possible.
Among the various types of transport, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that sea transport is the most hazardous one to animals.
This traps animals in an impossible situation - with thousands greatly suffering hunger and thirst, experiencing fear and distress.
And as if that isn’t enough, many are then transported further to other EU countries such as Italy, Spain and Poland.
The EU is not only reluctant to properly implement the 20-year-old rules currently in place, but it is also hesitating to reflect the latest scientific findings from EFSA into legislation that better protect animals.
In 2023, the EU’s executive failed to deliver a long-awaited overhaul of the EU’s animal welfare legislation. Instead, it presented a toothless proposal that fell short of delivering real change for animals and merely tweaked some technical aspects of rules regulating the welfare of animals at the time of transport.
The proposal is currently being reviewed by the European Parliament, who buried it in over 3,000 amendments, while some EU countries hint at slashing it altogether.
Regrettably, in their current state, the proposed new rules would do little to offer stronger protection, and there are even suggestions to exclude sea journeys from overall journey times — a shocking move that would cause untold additional suffering.
Instead, European lawmakers should treat this as an invaluable legislative opportunity to better protect vulnerable beings, like unweaned calves, and ban the export of all live animals to third countries while promoting the trade of meat and carcasses – which is already shown to be better for the animals and economically sound.
In March this year, ferry company Brittany Ferries resumed the export of live animals – primarily cattle, including vulnerable unweaned calves - from Ireland to France.
This shocking decision came 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.
This triggered a significant backlash, with tens of thousands of concerned citizens sending complaints to the company and over 120 scientists, MEPs, experts and celebrities - including actors Dame Joanna Lumley and Pauline McLynn, and TV presenter Chris Packham – signing an open letter, urging the company to reconsider.
It’s hard to believe that the resumption of live animal exports will contribute to the “unforgettable experience” Brittany Ferries promises its customers, who are likely to be appalled at the idea of travelling with suffering animals crammed in lorries below deck.
For 15 days starting today, people in Europe are encouraged to raise awareness of this cruel trade and contact private ferry companies to urge them to stop facilitating it. This timeframe mirrors one of the longest journeys ever undertaken by animals from the EU to Jordan, which lasted 15 days.
With more than eight-in-10 Europeans in favour of limiting the transport time of animals, European lawmakers must urgently step up their game and respond to its citizens.
The current rules are old and in urgent need of a revision that puts an end to the cruel trade of live animals once and for all, and drastically improves the welfare requirements for transport.
Enforcing and improving the protection of farmed animals, and especially that of the most vulnerable ones, can not only change the lives of thousands, but will also inform how the EU will go down in history. Borrowing from Mahatma Gandhi, its greatness and moral progress will be judged by the way its animals are treated.
This year, we turn 25 and are looking for 2,500 new supporting members to take their stake in EU democracy. A functioning EU relies on a well-informed public – you.
Vinciane Patelou is head of EU at Compassion in World Farming.
Vinciane Patelou is head of EU at Compassion in World Farming.