P&O Ferries ends calf transport over welfare concerns
Reporter Sam Poling followed one of the trucks for six days as it transported calves from Scotland to Northern Italy.(Stock photo)
P&O Ferries has confirmed it will no longer carry calves from Scotland to Europe, after an investigation by BBC Scotland raised animal welfare concerns.
The BBC documentary, ‘Disclosure: The Dark Side of Dairy’, revealed that shipments of calves were being transported from Scotland to Spain and Italy.
Journey logs suggest that up to 200 calves were being shipped out of Scotland every fortnight, all of which were unweaned, despite P&O having a policy of only shipping breeding livestock.
Reporter Sam Poling followed one of the trucks for six days as it transported calves from Scotland to Northern Italy. At one point in the journey, the driver was reportedly seen striking the cattle with a stick, forcing them back into the truck.
P&O Ferries said on Twitter: ‘We place the highest priority on animal welfare across all of our routes and can confirm that we will cease co-operating with the Scottish Government to transport across the Irish Sea young calves destined for continental Europe with immediate effect.
‘We will not hesitate to act decisively and close the account of any customer which breaches our policies in this area.’
National Farmers’ Union Scotland said the ferry company’s decision was “disappointing”. It branded the documentary “sensationalised and inaccurate” and revealed it would be making an official complaint to the BBC.
President Andrew McCornick said: “Although the scenes are distressing there is actually no evidence to indicate that the Scottish calves travelling to Northern Ireland, Ireland and continental Europe were subjected to this kind of treatment.
“The distressing scenes were those of cattle being shipped onto boats, which we have discovered were obtained in Romania and were Hungarian cows.
“The scenes in the Egyptian slaughterhouse were wholly unacceptable but again, there is no evidence to indicate that these are Scottish cows. Even the clips of the dairy calves in the market were not Scottish calves.”
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
