Pen Farthing

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Paul "Pen" Farthing is a former British Royal Marines commando and founder of the Nowzad Dogs charity.

Animal rescue

During his deployment to Afghanistan in 2006, as part of the Royal Marines in 42 Commando Royal Marines,^[1] Farthing and his troops broke up a street dog fight in the town of Nawzad. One of these dogs, later named Nowzad, would go on to follow him for the following six months. After the end of his deployment, Farthing sought to bring the dog home to the UK. This inspired him to create Nowzad Dogs, a charity^[2] which seeks to reunite servicemen with the dogs and cats who befriended them, and humanely control Kabul's stray animals through a trap–neuter–vaccinate–return (TNVR) programme.^[3] The charity also aids animal welfare in Afghanistan,^[3] and reported as the first animal rescue centre in the country.^[1]

Farthing, through Nowzad, connects members of the public with animals brought to the UK. Sarah Singleton adopted one such dog, Wylie, who won dog of the year at Scruffts 2014, the non-pedigree competition run by The Kennel Club.^[4] Later that same year, Farthing published the book Wylie: The Brave Street Dog Who Never Gave Up.^[5]

For his work with the Nowzad charity, Farthing received nomination for the "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the Daily Mirror and RSPCA Animal Hero Awards in 2013 ^[1] and was awarded "CNN Hero of 2014" by CNN.^[6]

Evacuation

After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021, Farthing vowed to stay in the city until his Afghan staff members and their immediate family members, comprising a total of 71 people, could leave Afghanistan as well.^[7] His supporters raised money for privately chartering a flight to evacuate his staff as well as the pet animals sheltered by his charity.^[8]

Farthing on 24 August accused the British Ministry of Defence of blocking his evacuation flight from landing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The Defence Secretary Ben Wallace rejected his claims, stating his department could not get his staff as well as pets through the Taliban checkpoints and the crowd around the airport, and the plane would have had to wait for hours for them. He added that he was not going to "prioritise pets over people".^[9]

While visas for 68 people, including the staff of the charity and their family members, were granted on 23 August, the Government of the United Kingdom did not immediately agree to allow him to evacuate the animals of his charity as well. The government however relented on 25 August and allowed him to use his privately chartered plane, in order to fly out through the Hamid Karzai International Airport with both the staff and the animals.^[10]

Farthing, however, stated on 26 August that he and his staff had been stuck for over 10 hours outside the airport along with 173 dogs and cats. He directly appealed to the Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen on Twitter for safe passage. He further stated that about 15 men stopped their convoy around midnight while they were heading to the airport, and one accidentally fired at them but missed. He also warned that the animals might die due to the heat.^[11] Farthing later stated that they were forced to leave the area after finding out that the United States government had changed the rules for getting inside the compound. As his convoy left, they witnessed the suicide bombing mounted by ISIS-K at the airport on the same day, and he stated that one Taliban gunman had fired at his convoy's bus containing children. As they fled, they were also tear gassed. Farthing further stated that his staff had told him to leave alone for his own safety, and take as many animals with him as he could.^[12][13]

Wallace on 26 August accused Farthing of interfering with the efforts to evacuate British nationals and Afghan allies from Kabul, while also accusing his supporters of intimidation and lies.^[14] Farthing's friend, Nowzad campaign coordinator^[15] and chief executive of the Badger Trust Dominic Dyer claimed that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson had personally intervened in the case. The Prime Minister later rejected this claim directly.^[14]

On 27 August, the British Armed Forces assisted Farthing and his animals in getting to the airport, while his flight was permitted to land.^[16] The Afghan veterinary staff were turned away at an airport checkpoint by the Taliban, who said they did not have required visa stamps; the staff insisted that Farthing should leave with the animals. Nowzad campaign coordinator Dominic Dyer said that Farthing will help evacuate the staff at a later date, possibly via Pakistan.^[17][18] Farthing and his animals left Afghanistan on 28 August,^[19] landing at the Heathrow Airport in London on 29 August. The animals were later sent to quarantine kennels.^[20] Dr Iain McGill, a vet who travelled on the private plane to the UK with Farthing, said five cats died in the transfer process.^[21]

The Sunday Times meanwhile obtained a recording of the threatening voicemail Farthing had earlier sent to Peter Quentin, a special adviser to Ben Wallace, accusing him of blocking his flight, while also warning to "destroy" him if he did not approve his flight and grant the proper travel documents to his staff. Sources within the Ministry of Defence stated that officials within the ministry were left with lesser time to focus on the general evacuation of British nationals and Afghan allies because of Farthing. One minister anonymously criticised him and called him "odious", adding contention that some coordinating the rescue attempt were "fed up to the teeth with him". Tom Tugendhat, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee chairman, criticised British troops being used to evacuate his animals instead of people. Dominic Dyer defended the voicemail to The Sunday Telegraph, stating that Farthing was holding Quentin to account for blocking his flight. Supporters also accused the defence ministry of deliberately leaking the audio as part of a smear campaign.^[22][23] Farthing apologised for the call on 30 August, stating that he did it out of frustration.^[24]

Bibliography

• One Dog at a Time: Saving the Strays of Helmand - An Inspiring True Story (St Martin's Press, 2009) ISBN 9780312607746
• No Place Like Home: A New Beginning with the Dogs of Afghanistan (Ebury Publishing, 2010) ISBN 9780091928841
• Wylie: The Brave Street Dog Who Never Gave Up (Hodder, 2014) ISBN 9781444799606

Personal life

Farthing's wife Kaisa Markhus is from Norway and before her evacuation from Kabul, worked as the country director for Ascend Athletics, which helped Afghan girls in getting opportunities to take part in sports competitions.^[25]

References

External links

• Nowzad official website