British Man Running Animal Shelter in Afghanistan Refuses To Leave Without Staff

Paul Farthing, an ex-British marine has refused to leave the country without his 71 staff members.

Pen Farthing, founder of Nowzad, an animal rescue shelter in Afghanistan.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram/@NowzadRescue)

Stories of bravery and courage have been coming from Afghanistan since the very first day the crisis broke out in the country. One such story is of Paul "Pen" Farthing, an ex-British Royal marine who runs an animal shelter in Afghanistan.

Farthing has been running Nowzad, his animal sanctuary since 2007 along with 25 other staff members, that also include three of Afghanistan's first ever female veterinarians. In an interview with news agency Reuters, Farthing demanded that his staff and their families be evacuated from the country too, and has refused to return without them. "My staff don’t deserve the fate that awaits them if they stay here in Afghanistan," he said.

The team at Nowzad looks after 140 dogs and about 40 cats at their organisation. The total number of refugees are 71, and Farthing plans to use his status as a British national to help these local Afghans leave the country.

"I had an opportunity, the fact that I am a British citizen, I'm going to use that to full effect - so I've said I'm not going until my staff leave this country," he said.

Farthing had also tried to arrange for his wife and business manager to leave the country through a commercial flight, but there have been a lot of logistical issues from the authorities that have prevented them from leaving.