Mr Farthing, real name Paul, is a 52-year-old former Royal Marines commando from Plymouth, who went on to found the Nowzad Dogs charity in Kabul.
He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 during Operation Herrick 5 with K Coy, 42 Commando Royal Marines.
There he met a fighting dog called Nowzad – after the town he was staying in – who became the catalyst for his charity.
Nowzad seeks to reunite servicemen with the dogs and cats they befriend while serving, and humanely control Kabul’s stray dog and cat population using trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) methods.
Nowzad has now helped and rehomed more than 1,700 animals – many of them with soldiers who formed bonds with them on the front lines during their deployment. The charity has also trained more than 500 veterinary students in Kabul over the years.
Mr Farthing and his wife Kaisa Markhus had been travelling back and forth between their Exeter home and Afghanistan, but they were trapped in the central Asian country early last year when the pandemic hit.
Mr Farthing announced in the media that he has 130 spare seats for Afghans who have permission to travel to the UK. The Taliban‘s spokesperson said the group will stop Afghans from fleeing the country.
He told i on Wednesday : “I’ve had lots of Afghans trying to reach me, they’ve been coming to my door. It’s been overwhelming.”
He added that he refuses to leave his staff and animals behind.
“My staff and animals are in danger too. My employees have teenage daughters. They are afraid they will be forced to marry fighters and kept as sex slaves,” he said.
“I had to make the agonising decision to put to sleep 17 of my dogs and release 25 on to the streets. We simply haven’t got the room on the plane. We chose to euthanise the older ones and let go the fittest who are the most feral.
“It was heartbreaking making that list and myself and my staff shed tears. I can’t leave the rest. Many of them will not survive on the streets. Dog fighting is rife here.”
https://inews.co.uk/news/pen-farthin...latest-1168831
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