P&O Ferries marks decade of Pet Travel Scheme

P&O Ferries recently celebrated the Pet Travel Scheme on the occasion of its tenth anniversary.

The company said that the initiative has provided a "decade of liberation" for owners of cats, dogs and ferrets.

Before the introduction of the scheme, pet owners planning to take ferries from Dover to Calais and other destinations with P&O Ferries were subject to six-month quarantine requirements, making it very difficult to take animals abroad.

Now, passengers can travel with their pets as long as they follow guidelines set out by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The first animal to travel under the scheme was a pug dog called Frodo, who sailed on P&O Ferries' Dover to Calais ferry route on February 28th, 2000.

Hundreds of thousands of pets have since been carried overseas by the operator.

Michelle Ulyatt of P&O Ferries said: "Dogs and cats travel as a matter of routine, ferrets less so, but it'll be interesting when a customer turns up with all three!"

The company also operates ferries to Dublin from Liverpool as well as a Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry service, which will be available until September.

Posted by Andrew Smith