I get a bit wound up by this stuff. People are desperate to get out of Afghanistan. Sod the pets, get the people out.
Cats and dogs may be lovely and cuddly and look helpless but a cargo plane full of animals is a cargo plane that could have been filled with genuine people, men, women and children, who desperately need to get out to stay alive with the Taliban going to probably slay people who helped the westerners during the last 20 years.
Actually there was a animal charity that chartered a normal pax plane to get their staff and animals out of Kabul. The aircraft had a normal baggage hold that humans can’t go in, so the animals were not going to take up human space. In addition, they didn’t need all the passenger seats for their staff, but were making sure every seat was filled with people who needed to leave. Not sure if they’ve made it, they were having difficulty getting a slot for the aircraft.
Pen Farthing is an amazing man, the work he does in Afghanistan (and the UK and US arms of Nowzad) is an inspiration to so many in both the animal rescue and military family communities. He and the Nowzad staff have my utmost admiration.
I hope he, his staff, and his animal charges make it out safely.
Indeed. For a government that has a reputation for being far better at politics than policy, they're doing a terrible job of politics at the moment. Getting Pen Farthing, his people and his animals out would have been such an easy PR win, and they've messed it up at every turn. In the meantime, that group and all the additional people they'll be able to take are suffering unnecessarily
Well he needs to get training them to do more than fetch then. He's more or less on his own now and the Telly ban aren't that massive on former western soldiers.