Paul Farthing, also known as Pen, had an animal rescue shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan. In his shelter, he had around 200 cats and dogs, and as a foreign citizen, he was forced the leave Kabul recently. The good news is that he and his wife Kaisa were allowed to leave the country along with 150 cats and dogs. The bad news is that he left the staff behind as well as another 70 animals and all of them are terrified what happens next.
A Complicated Situation
Pen is an ex-marine who was highly criticized over evacuating the poor animals from Kabul. He’s working around the clock to get the remaining animals and his staff home. Now in Oslo, Farthing has criticized the government for not helping enough. While leaving Kabul, he was allowed to board the plane with his cats and dogs, but he left the staff behind. UK soldiers helped board the animals up while preparing Farthing’s trip home to the UK.
In a recent BBC interview, Pen remained adamant that he’s not giving up. He says that he’ll do anything to get his staff out along with the remaining animals. He also said that his staff tried getting to the airport, but were stopped by a Taliban commander who told them to turn back.
The 150+ animals he managed to return are in good health and will be rehomed pretty soon. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace hasn’t exactly been very supportive, saying that Farthing’s strong supporters have already taken a lot of time of senior commanders who are doing their best to evacuate UK citizens from Kabul.
We’re hoping that the remaining animals and Farthing’s staff will be home soon. These are troubled times for foreigners in Afghanistan, so the sooner they’re allowed to leave, the better.
