19 Aug 2021
Vet and MP Neil Hudson is latest voice to join growing calls for vet staff working with Nowzad and Mayhew charities to be given safe passage to, and employment in, the UK.
Joshua Silverwood
Job TitleThe veterinary community has rallied around a UK/Afghan charity as its founder stays behind in Kabul to help extradite vets and vet nurses from the country.
Companies, groups and individuals across the professions have offered support for Nowzad, the Afghanistan-based animal rescue charity, as its founder Pen Farthing attempts to coordinate the evacuation of his staff from the country as the Taliban takes control.
Nowzad is also joined by the Mayhew, which similarly runs a rescue clinic based out of Kabul.
Practice groups IVC Evidensia and VetPartners have offered Nowzad and Mayhew staff positions if they are able to safely make it to the UK, and they have been joined by the RVC, RCVS and BVA in supporting the extradition.
The veterinary bodies have now been joined in their calls by the only sitting vet in Parliament, Neil Hudson.
Dr Hudson said: “I have been shocked by the scenes we have witnessed in Afghanistan in recent days. I am fully supportive of the UK veterinary community’s calls for support for the Afghanistan-based animal charities Nowzad and Mayhew Afghanistan. Their workers and families need our protection, and I have made representations to Government on this issue.
“I will continue to urge the Government to do whatever they can to protect and bring these people to safety, and I welcome that UK veterinary practices are offering them employment. They have so much to offer the animal health and welfare world; I am 100% supportive of calls and efforts to help them and the animal welfare cause that they champion.”
Earlier this week, Mr Farthing pleaded for Government intervention via a video, and during a House of Commons debate yesterday on the Afghan situation prime minister Boris Johnson said he was aware of Nowzad’s situation.
The Kennel Club (KC) has also donated funds to Nowzad’s Operation Arc, a bid to get all of the animals under charities’ care out of the country, which is estimated to cost around £200,000, according to The KC.
