We have seen an increase in the number of vehicles shipping loaded with puppies/kittens into the UK, along with this increase  is has been highlighted that there has been some concerns about the animal welfare for the following reasons:

• Bookings requested to ship with a high volume of puppies
• Incorrect or no documentation presented on arrival at the port
• Puppies/kittens being as young as 2 months old
• Puppies/kittens not being in good health

We have also seen cases where if a driver is refused shipment with the puppies, they just leave the puppies behind.

After careful consideration, it has been agreed that we will make a change to the policy when shipping with animals with particular focus on dogs /cats.

This change will be that we will only authorise the shipment of dogs/ cats if they are over 1 year old.

Going forward Included in the animal shipment request we will now ask for the age of the animals and when referring to dogs and cats we will not allow shipments for animals less than 1 year old.

We ask that the you support us with this and ensure that the details declared are accurate and correct and remind your customers that the details will be checked on arrival at the Ports of departure and if they are found to be incorrect unfortunately shipment will be refused.

DFDS