Today 19th Nov 2020 the French side of the Eurotunnel have made the unilateral decision to stop transportation of dogs in quantities of more than 5 across the Eurotunnel. The ruling is effective with immediate effect and no further bookings will be taken.
This decision is devastating for the future of international dog rescue and will end up costing hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. Limiting the number of dogs to 5 changes the economics of transport for rescuers making it prohibitive. We are calling on every dog lover around the world to take action NOW to put pressure on Le Shuttle to reverse their draconian decision which has appeared overnight with no prior warning.
The dogs we have already committed to save will no longer be able to travel from 20th Nov 2020 and this will be replicated hundreds of times over across the rescue world. This means no more freedom rides for the innocent dogs waiting and hoping for help until something is done.
Covid 19 has been beyond challenging for rescues, with DEFRA authorising continued life saving transport. This decision today will be even more disastrous for international dog rescue.
PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE. We have to overturn this for the dogs who need us the most.
This is not a huge surprise as I wrote earlier in the year that it was being muted as a possibility. Main issue communicated to me was that with up to 30 vans (600 animals) being in the car park at peak times (Saturday morning) and with the animals being swapped between vans, and the vans being cleaned an increasing number of ‘regular’ customers were complaining., especially the high paying Flexi Plus ones.
Now I must say that in the best part of ten years I can count on one hand the amount of irate customers I came across, and without fail the transporters were always happy to step aside and let them be processed.
I rarely saw any sign of resentment from customers or staff, and the transporters as a rule tidied up after themselves.
That said I understand the (assumed) basis behind the decision BUT I disagree with it and think a combination of increased prices and specific time slots would have been something that the transporters and rescues could have worked with, and I would urge as many people as possible to make this point to Eurotunnel.