Dogs, cats and ‘slippery friends’ among the 15,000 pets to have travelled in NorthLink cabins

Border collie Jessie enjoyed her stay in the pet friendly cabin.

Dogs, cats and snakes were among the 15,000 creatures to have travelled in pet friendly cabins since their introduction in summer 2020.

NorthLink Ferries managing director Stuart Garrett presented the “astonishing” figures to Tuesday’s meeting of the external transport forum.

He said there had been a total of 15,398 cabins booked with a pet.

As well as dogs and cats, Mr Garrett said there had been some “feathered friends - and probably some slippery friends as well”.

“Rest assured, the slippery friends left the cabin with their owner,” he added.

Forum chairwoman Moraig Lyall joked that some passengers may have had trouble sleeping if they thought there was a snake in the cabin next door.

Mr Garrett said the pet friendly cabins had been introduced based on customer feedback.

There are now eight of these on the Hjaltland and Hrossey.