Former Royal Marine Commando and Nowzad founder Pen Farthing joins The Pets Mag Podcast to discuss the extraordinary bond between people and animals during times of war, crisis and displacement.
From rescuing a fighting dog in Afghanistan in 2007 to leading emergency evacuations from war-torn Ukraine today, Pen shares the remarkable story behind Nowzad and explains why responsible pet ownership should never end when circumstances become difficult.
In this powerful and moving conversation, we explore the human-animal bond, the ethics of pet abandonment, Operation Kramatorsk in Ukraine, and the reality of rescuing animals from some of the world’s most dangerous places.
Compassionate, candid and often surprisingly humorous, this is a fascinating insight into the work of a man who has spent nearly two decades proving that animals are not collateral damage – they are family.
Listen now and discover why Pen Farthing refuses to leave animals behind.
Find out more about Nowzad and support Operation Kramatorsk: https://www.nowzad.com
Transcript
Welcome to the latest Pets Mag Podcast. Today I have the pleasure of being joined by Pen Farthing. Pen is probably known to a lot of you. He’s a former Royal Marine and the founder of the Nowzad charity, known for his extraordinary work rescuing animals in conflict zones and for highlighting the deep bond between people and their pets, even in the most extreme circumstances. We’ll be talking about responsible pet ownership, resilience, and what animals can teach us about loyalty and survival. Welcome, Pen.
Hello, thank you very much for having me on. It’s a pleasure.
For those who may not know the full story, can you briefly take us back to how Nowzad began? Well, we’re actually coming up to our twentieth anniversary as a charity next year, so time has flown. But all the way back in 2007, I was serving as a Royal Marine Commando in Afghanistan and ended up befriending a stray dog that was sadly being used by the locals for dog fighting. That’s how I ended up with this dog I wanted to do something about. I couldn’t just leave him there – he was a friend to me – so I needed to get him out and bring him back to the UK. It was a long, drawn-out process. Lots of bureaucracy. We had to smuggle him out of Afghanistan and into Pakistan, where he was vaccinated and blood tested, and then he was shipped over to the UK on a commercial flight, where he underwent six months of quarantine. That’s the ten-second condensed version. But he became the legacy for the charity – this former fighting dog who had been a bit of a magic carpet for me while I was in Afghanistan. I could just sit with him and pretend we weren’t going through the horrors of the conflict around us. That’s how it all started.
And what happened to Nowzad, the dog? Thankfully, he stayed with me for another seven years before he became too old, far too quickly for my liking, and I had to say goodbye to him. But the legacy was there.
You’ve seen first-hand how strong the human-animal bond can be, even in war zones. What has that taught you about pet ownership more generally? I’ve always liked dogs. Before I rescued Nowzad, I had two dogs at home before I deployed, so I knew their loyalty – whenever you came home from work they were so happy to see you, even though you’d left them on their own all day. It was the same with this dog in Afghanistan. Even though I was only with him for five or ten minutes a day, there was that loyalty. They have no preconceived ideas. They don’t tell you off for leaving them alone – they’re just so happy to see you. And the comfort they give you is a way of completely de-stressing from what might have been a hard day. It doesn’t have to be a war zone – just the stress of everyday life is enough to drive some people crazy. Dogs and cats help us regulate our day. They give us purpose, they get us off our bums and out walking even in the rain, and they’re great moderators of our moods, because they live in the moment. We all strive to do that and never quite achieve it, but they’re very grounding.
‘Afghan dogs don’t like the rain. If it’s raining, I’ll be stood at the door ready to go, and they’re like, “Nah, not today.‘
It’s not in the DNA! Afghan dogs are very much: if it’s sunny, we’re happy, we don’t care how hot it is. But if it’s raining, that’s not happening, they’re not coming out.
There’s often a debate around animals being rescued from conflict zones. What do you say to those who question it? There is, and we’ve had a lot of controversy over the years, with people assuming we’re just bringing in thousands upon thousands of dogs. It’s not like that at all. If there’s responsible pet relocation and adoption, then I have absolutely no problem with it – I’ve made that point clear several times. The dog doesn’t know it was in Afghanistan to start with. And if that dog has given a soldier comfort during their time out there, why can’t the soldier return the favour and give the dog a forever home for however many years it has left? As long as there’s responsible pet ownership, that’s the key. And as a charity, Nowzad has always taken care of the animals. If we’ve brought an animal back and someone later has a problem – because circumstances change – we’ve always stepped in and said the dog or cat comes back to us, and we’ll rehome it. As long as the safeguards are in place, people shouldn’t have a problem. Sadly, in this country there are a lot of people who take on dogs and cats without realising the responsibilities involved. We saw a lot of that after Covid, when people dumped animals back at the kennels because they’d got their lives back and the dog or cat no longer fitted in.
It’s almost as though they regard the animal as a product to fit neatly into their lives, and don’t consider what will happen when they go back to work full-time. Exactly. The human condition is slightly selfish.
Have you heard what’s happening on the ground in Dubai? There’s been a crisis, and it’s deepening – a lot of expats have left the region. The mind boggles at how they could leave these poor animals chained to poles or even left in the desert. It’s heartbreaking to think about. But sadly, there’s no test for people to have a dog or a cat. Let’s be honest, there isn’t a test to have a baby either – anybody can decide to be a parent. So the issue is trying to give people the knowledge beforehand about what’s involved. Even if you think the place you’re living is safe, Dubai, Bahrain, Oman and so on have, after this recent conflict between America and Iran, proven that the places you thought were safe aren’t as safe as you imagined. And it’s the same here. If there’s a fire in the street and people have to evacuate, have they got a plan for where they’ll take the dog? It’s about people taking five minutes to sit down and think, “What would we do?” That’s part of responsible pet ownership – having those contingencies in place for when the worst happens.
It’s also worth having a support network, or even plans in place for when the inevitable happens and an older pet dies. It doesn’t take five minutes, does it? When you’re writing your will, putting something down to say what you’d like to happen to your animals. Exactly. You can even speak to a shelter and say, “When I die, will you take my dogs and cats in? I’ll leave a percentage in my will for their care.” Most shelters would be very happy with that.
A clause in a will, or a letter of intent – I’m sure most solicitors would be happy to help with that. Coming back to Nowzad, what do you feel are the biggest challenges facing the charity right now? Right now, without a doubt, it’s donations. Sadly, Britain wasn’t a thriving economy going into 2026, and this conflict has exacerbated the problem. We’re seeing donations drop off week by week. I’m hoping that if the Iranian-American ceasefire holds and there’s progress on reconciliation, people will start feeling confident again. But at the moment we’ve seen a decline, the same as any charity across the board. And donations are what keep us ticking over and able to do the animal welfare work.
How can people support your work, aside from giving money – especially if money’s tight? Could they do a sponsored walk, or a coffee morning? We would absolutely love that. Whether it’s a fundraiser, having people round for a coffee morning, or organising a talk – we love talking about Nowzad and what we do.
How do people go about arranging a talk? If they reach out to us, we’ll talk through what we’d need for the evening, the sort of space, and how we do it. If they can help with advertising locally, usually by word of mouth, we can get people along to listen. One of the great things about doing a talk is that afterwards people tell others about it, so it helps us spread the word without paying for advertising. So if anyone can do a fundraiser, or has a venue where we can come and talk about our work, we would absolutely love to do that.
Pen, thank you so much for speaking to us today. It’s been an absolute pleasure. Hats off to everything you do – amazing work in unimaginably difficult circumstances, rescuing animals who would otherwise face very bleak futures. Thank you. Thanks for having me on, I really appreciate it. Thank you.
