This Pen Farthing guy

[TheGenealogist]

The bloke with the animal shelter in Kabul.

Refusing to leave unless he can take ALL of his 60 odd staff and ALL of his 200+ cats and dogs with him. Expecting the government to make special rules for him and his friends.

Getting people out - understandable. The Taliban aren't going to look kindly on people who have translated for the military, or "collaborated" in other ways. But staff at an animal shelter?

And as for the refusing to leave without the animals and making this all out to be the UK government's fault? For not falling over themselves to arrange transport for a bunch of ownerless animals nobody wants when there are human beings in fear of their lives?

What is this guy playing at?

I will get flamed for this, but animals are not a priority, people are and working in an animal sanctuary should not give you a ticket out of Kabul ahead of staff who have worked with the British army and who will now be in imminent danger of torture and death.

The blame for these people not getting out should be laid squarely at the door of the Home Office who had their thumbs up their arses for so long. Those eligible for relocation because of work for HMG/HM Forces have repeatedly had applications delayed/declined/not responded to for MONTHS. Time is limited. Of course those people need to be evacuated. But others do too, and they shouldn't have to suffer because of inaction by our shitty, shitty government.

Also, as an aside, the people aren't just working in an animal sanctuary. They're working for a UK registered charity, for an ex-Royal Marine, and have trained over 500 new vets, some of whom are women. Educated women, working for a UK organisation, for an ex soldier. All stuff the Taliban just loves.

*Rescuing not recurring.

'And for the hard of thinking upthread: it's possible to love animals but also prioritise people over animals in a war situation. And it's also possible to think this particular person is wrong, AND think that the powers that be completely mismanaged the withdrawal from Afghanistan.'

Totally agree.

Also, we don't want a film. Please god do not let this over hyped bizarrely insensitive situation continue.

The horror and chaos was caused by human beings. The poor animals are suffering because of it. I will rehome a cat or dog if it comes here. Animal treatment is extremely poor in the Middle East anyway, it makes me weep.

Yes, YABU. This man has dedicated his life to saving these animals (after having dedicated 22 years of his life previously to serving this country) OF COURSE he won't leave them behind and nor should he be expected to. The plane is entirely funded by donations and many rescues here in the UK have stepped up to offer rescue and eventual rehoming to the animals.
Unless you personally have done anything to help anyone coming out of Afghanistan (either human or animal) I would question the validity of your complaints about the actions of those who ARE trying to help.

@percheron67

The horror and chaos was caused by human beings. The poor animals are suffering because of it. I will rehome a cat or dog if it comes here. Animal treatment is extremely poor in the Middle East anyway, it makes me weep.

I don't wish pain on animals but considering the plight of the poor children, I just do not care to be honest

@AuntMargo

I am totally behind him he gets my admiration , cannot wait to see him and his animals landed

Same here. It has been an absolute rollercoaster watching all this pan out. I wont be breathing a sigh of relief until they land on the tarmac here.

I have not read the whole thread.
The plane is a private one and not funded by taxpayers. He is not filling a plane with animals that would otherwise be full of people. He is putting his staff and their families onboard, then opening up the rest of the seats to people eligible to leave. The animals are going in the hold, which no person would have been in anyway. Not all the animal could fit in the plane. They euthanised the elderly/sick (that would possibly not survive the journey anyway) and released former street dogs (who kept trying to escape anyway).
I don't see how anyone can think this operation is a bad thing, when there has been photos of empty planes leaving, and one taken up by a car! Pen could have walked away on his own and be here by now. But he wont abandon his staff, their families or the animals.

I don't hate animals, far from it, but I do treat them as animals, and not as little furry humans.

Excellent. Nor does his organisation, looks like you’re on the same page, there

Animals. Are. Not. Taking. The. Place. Of. Humans. On. The. Plane. btw.

Pen has stated his has a plan to get into the airport that doesn't involve the British military helping.

Possibly relying on the Taliban knowing this is a big story and not wanting to be the bad guys. The Taliban have played the media themselves to seem calm, controlled and- in certain circumstances- merciful, when it suits them. They're probably not all immune to a few well stuffed brown envelopes either.

He says he has got a plan to get the animals loaded within 60 mins
Could be as simple as every staff member grab a pet carrier in each hand, run across tarmac, hand them up to the strongest staff doing the hold loading and scramble up the steps to the cabin.

I don't imagine the animals will need much paperwork processing at Kabul airport either. The department of agriculture here and in the transit countries might have given them special dispensation to bung them all on as fast as possible and sort them out when they get here. Worst case scenario anything carrying exotic diseases can be euthanased in quarantine.

@JaniieJones

'I think the publicity he's getting somehow is taking away from the real story of human suffering of those who don't have a hotline to the British Press.'

This.

It's all about 'Pen's' dogs and cats. There are desperate people yet Farthing with his ex marine status and Twitter pals is dominating news updates. I bet the the government are probably quite relieved that the 'Operation Ark' Twitter warriors are destracting from the real actual suffering of people in Kabul.

He wouldn’t have had to do that if the government hadn’t back tracked, delayed their exit and then blocked it.

If they’d done what they were meant to, it would never had hit the media in this way

FFS!!! He has even offered the rest of the plane that has been chartered and paid for to take other people leaving. Some people j;ust have to have a hateful attitude to anyone trying to make a difference.

Won't these poor animals all end up being PTS anyway, wherever they end up?

@SofiaMichelle

Won't these poor animals all end up being PTS anyway, wherever they end up?

Only in a “we are all going to die” way. They’ve sadly had to put some to sleep that wouldn’t make the journey

'The plane is a private one and not funded by taxpayers. He is not filling a plane with animals that would otherwise be full of people. He is putting his staff and their families onboard, then opening up the rest of the seats to people eligible to leave. The animals are going in the hold,'

And they all lived happily ever after?

Resources on the ground are scarce. People to you know load these animals, to process them etc, all scarce. Resources and personnel all under pressure.

Some of you seem to think they'll appear by magic in an empty organised airport, helpful staff just waiting to load cats and dogs whilst ignoring the crush of desperate people outside. Cloud cuckoo land.

@Comedycook

Sorry but after seeing the desparate people clinging onto planes and others trying to get into the airport, I cannot bring myself to give a dam about dogs and cats.

Let’s hope you’re doing what you can then to help them. I remember raising money for an animal charity at work and a colleague just sniped and said she’d rather help starving children. I told her if she set up a fundraiser, I’d be the first to contribute. She didn’t.

Fortunately, the real world isn’t as populated by hard-hearted, animal-hating fuckwits as this thread, so they’ll be rehomed. no. The real world is full of people who either A, would rather the animals be brought over here than the people, B, are already complaining about the refugees before we even bring animals into the mix, or C, think that people are more important than animals and that if they hadn’t spent so much time faffing around about the animals the people would probably have been out or at least on their way to being out by now.

How long are these people’s departures being delayed for the sake of dogs and cats who are probably not even rehomeable anyway due to poor socialisation.

@JaniieJones

'The plane is a private one and not funded by taxpayers. He is not filling a plane with animals that would otherwise be full of people. He is putting his staff and their families onboard, then opening up the rest of the seats to people eligible to leave. The animals are going in the hold,'

And they all lived happily ever after?

Resources on the ground are scarce. People to you know load these animals, to process them etc, all scarce. Resources and personnel all under pressure.

Some of you seem to think they'll appear by magic in an empty organised airport, helpful staff just waiting to load cats and dogs whilst ignoring the crush of desperate people outside. Cloud cuckoo land.

I have been watching the Nowzad feeds. They are well aware there will be no help at the airport and have been practicing loading etc themselves.

@Comedycook
You don’t care about animals. But we do. No one is stopping you from helping those you care for. Or maybe you care for no one? If you are so moved by state of those children, do something. It’s easy to give opinions on which lives matter more but in reality the guy is only doing a good thing by rescuing his staff and harmless animals who are suffering because of human mistakes evil.

It’s also strange other poster saying he is doing it for his ego. If a good deed comes out of someone’s ego, then I see no harm.

This just shows the true selfishness of the human race. Why wouldn't he want to get the animals out?! Their lives are just as worthy as humans. Absolutely sick of people and their speciesism - its disgusting.