16 Aug 2021
Nowzad, Mayhew and campaigners are calling for members of the veterinary profession to support attempts to add a number of Afghan nationals to the emergency evacuation list.
Joshua Silverwood
Job TitleCharities dedicated to helping stray cats and dogs on the streets of Afghanistan are calling on the Government to help rescue vet staff from the country.
Animal charity Nowzad is asking the Government to add a number of Afghan nationals to the emergency evacuation list at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, after the Taliban took control of the country.
Joined by Mayhew, the charity has been working to vaccinate and neuter street dogs, put in place rabies control programmes, care for working animals, and rehome rescue dogs and cats in the UK and around the world.
Nowzad was established by former Royal Marine Pen Farthing and works to reunite Afghan dogs with the soldiers who befriended them.
Pat Murchison, grant manager for Nowzad, detailed how the Nowzad founder and chief executive was still in Afghanistan as he tries to acquire entry visas into the UK for its staff.
Mrs Murchison said: “We have vets, vet nurses and clinical staff who have worked with us for a number of years and they are in great danger because of their association with a British charity and because Pen Farthing is a former Royal Marine.
Mrs Murchison added: “It’s just appalling, and we have got lady vets who are just in dire need and terrified of what will happen to them. They’ve had the chance to have a really good education, and now they’re just being abandoned by the west.
“At the moment we have had no contact from anyone at the Foreign Office to help us get them out. We also have lots of animals that we are trying to get a cargo plane for.
“Pen has stayed there because he is trying to get our staff visas. He’s sent in their documents to the UK Government and hasn’t received any acknowledgement or reassurance that they will be able to get out. Any support the veterinary world could give us in helping to get these talented and helpful [people] out would be much appreciated.”
Dominic Dyer of the charity Born Free, which is working alongside Nowzad and Mayhew to put pressure on the Government, said: “With American and NATO forces withdrawing from Afghanistan and the Taliban about to regain control of the country, this work can no longer continue, and the dedicated animal rescuers of Afghanistan are now to be left at the mercy of the Taliban.
“The centres that have been set up by the charities in the country have been able to train up a whole new generation of Afghan men and women to become qualified vets and vet nurses.
“Not all of these individuals are on the priority list for getting out of the country because they aren’t military personnel; they aren’t diplomatic personnel; they’re not interpreters.”
Mr Dyer added: “But what we are saying is there are a relatively small number of people and their dependants, who have done some incredibly important work, in really dangerous positions.
“They are particularly skilled in an area where we have a shortage and there is a very strong moral case to get them here.”
Vet and campaigner Iain McGill joined Mr Dyer in calling on the Government to add the charity staff to the list, and called on the veterinary industry to voice support.
Dr McGill said: “Mayhew and Nowzad have done fantastic work for the animals and veterinary science of Afghanistan. A rescue plan needs to be put in place immediately – they cannot now be left at the mercy of the Taliban.
“As the Taliban enters Kabul, the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence must get them out of there within hours. Whether by helicopter or cargo plane, the UK Government has a duty to act now, and the veterinary profession needs to pile on pressure for that.”
UK veterinary group VetPartners has offered employment to members of the Nowzad veterinary team after it secures safe passage from Afghanistan to the UK.
The company said its 160 practices across the UK were also launching fund-raising efforts to help repatriate the team members and cats and dogs in the care of Nowzad, Afghanistan’s first official animal sanctuary, to the UK.
