14 Jan 2022
Operation Magic Carpet rescued 92 people – including 13 vets who had worked with the Mayhew – to safety in Pakistan, and is now seeking support and financial aid to help secure them new lives in the UK.
James Westgate
Job Title
Some of the Mayhew team evacuated as part of Operation Magic Carpet from Afghanistan to Pakistan.
A British vet who played a pivotal role in rescuing 13 vets and their families from Afghanistan has asked for help finding new lives for the refugees in the UK.
The vet (who has asked to remain anonymous) masterminded a mission named Operation Magic Carpet to rescue 92 people from the troubled country – including 13 vets who had worked for UK animal welfare charity Mayhew.
At the time she spoke of how she “couldn’t turn her back” on the vets and their families who were left facing a perilous future under the Taliban regime following the withdrawal of western troops from Afghanistan last August.
Now the group – who are being kept safe in Pakistan – are in dire need of support and financial aid as they work to gain full refugee status.
Much of the initial finance for Operation Magic Carpet was provided by wealthy private donors, but more donations are desperately needed to keep the group safe and housed in Islamabad while they attempt to secure their futures elsewhere.
Anne (not her real name) – alongside campaigner Dominic Dyer – has launched a Go Fund Me page in a bid to raise at least £50,000 to support this crucial stage of a journey she hopes will end with the ex-Mayhew refugees being welcomed into the UK veterinary profession.
Anne said: “Obviously there is a lot of trauma and conflict that they are facing because they have left family behind. You can’t even begin to imagine what they are going through, but they are all very relieved and very grateful to everybody that supported them in getting out.
“The main problem is there are so many restrictions and barriers for anyone coming to the UK – asylum seeker or not – and that’s a big issue, but to have the profession behind this and the associations behind this in a way that has been so open and pragmatic for me has been a massive win. It’s a very clear message to Government to say ‘bring them home’.
“I really hope they can forge confident, comfortable lives in the UK. I think they have an awful lot to offer.”
She continued: “The vets would love to come to the UK – if they had their choice that’s where they would choose to go, but ultimately, for the circumstances they are in, they just want to go anywhere that they can rebuild.”
As well as the UK, Anne has been in contact with various other countries to help the group – including Germany, Italy, Portugal, Canada and several other Commonwealth nations.
The refugees are currently in the process of meeting with representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to have their refugee status officially recognised.
Once this process has been completed in the next few weeks, the next hurdle will be to secure entry for the group into either the UK, or one of the other countries Anne and her small team are in contact with.
This could be done using their refugee status, but work visas could be another route and Anne has urged the major veterinary groups in the UK to come forward with firm offers of work to help expedite that process.
She added: “It seems that many countries are really putting in barriers and obstacles to bringing these people out, and are only just re-opening their settlement processes. We are representing 92 among a hell of a lot of other people, all fighting for someone to come along and support them, and to come to somewhere that they can contribute.
“So as well as financial support for these wonderful people to keep them safe and fed in Pakistan, we would love the big groups in the UK to come forward with job offers for these people. Not as vets, as we know there is a process there with the RCVS to work through, but they could come over as veterinary care assistants and could maybe do that through a work visa if they had firm job offers.
“We certainly need the help in the UK profession at the moment and it would be a wonderful end to their story as I know they could make a massive contribution.”
Vet Times contacted several of the large UK vet groups that have pledged support, including Linnaeus and IVC Evidensia.
A spokesman for Linnaeus said: “We would be more than happy to welcome any veterinary professional to the Linnaeus family who is suitably qualified and demonstrates our values and purpose.”
David Martin, group veterinary welfare advisor at IVC Evidensia, added: “We will do all we can to assist those veterinary professionals forced to leave the country. We will offer employment for all Afghan veterinary professionals and paraprofessionals, supporting them through the process of gaining the necessary UK qualifications and obtaining visas for permanent residency.”
Operation Magic Carpet has also received support from the RCVS, which published a statement on 23 December urging the Prime Minister to lend his support to the cause.
The statement reads: “The British Veterinary Association, British Veterinary Nursing Association and ourselves have written to the Prime Minister to urge the UK Government to support a group of 13 Afghan veterinarians and 7 veterinary care assistants, and their families who have exited Afghanistan as part of ‘Operation Magic Carpet’.
“We have urged the Prime Minister to support them resettling in the UK so that they can live freely and safely and, if they wish, contribute to the UK veterinary professions.
“We recognise that these individuals will have fled extremely difficult circumstances, and that the UK veterinary professions will welcome and support them, so that they can continue to contribute to animal health and welfare, and public health.”
The BVA also confirmed this week that its lobbying efforts on behalf of the vets evacuated by Magic Carpet are ongoing and has offered free membership to BVA for any refugees joining the UK workforce.
