#pen farthing

At last some good news. Let’s hope they can get the staff out too.

Operation Ark has not gone to plan.

On Thursday night the whole of the Nowad team, their families and the animals were inside the airport circle in Kabul, but were refused entry due to a change in America's rules (two hours previously!) as to which Afghans were allowed to travel.

Despite having all the required paperwork to travel to the UK, the Nowzad team and their families have been left behind in Afghanistan because they do not have visa-stamped passports - an American requirement.

They were forced to head back to the rescue centre, narrowly avoiding getting caught up in the terror attacks that evening. Only then did the Ministry of Defence offer to help ensure their safe passage, by which point it was too late to secure the passage for the Afghans. Too little too late. And still patronising referring to the charity's animals as "Pen's pets", when they know full well that this has been a humanitarian mission from day 1.

Pen and the charity's dogs and cats are on their way to the UK. That is brilliant news. But I'm devastated for those left behind. Veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses and animal care staff who had job offers waiting for them in the UK have all lost out on a chance at a better life in safety. Brave, selfless people who told Pen to go without them and take as many dogs and cats as he could. They deserved better.

CW for article: references to human deaths, human suffering, animal deaths

“Caring about animals doesn't mean not caring about people, I don't understand where all this is coming from. It's the people that haunt me.”

Sky News: Afghanistan: Pen Farthing and animals awaiting transportation from Kabul airport, UK government says.

2014: A Good Year

Before we let 2014 become a shadowy impression in our minds – whether that memory is positive or negative – we’d like to offer a reminder that it’s always a good thing to manage the meaning of things before we let them slip into our emotional archives.

Of course the past year had its lows, but there were so many amazingthings that happened in 2014, and we’d like to highlight a few here, ending…