Within the raging and increasingly violent conflict in the Middle East lies an oasis of hope for Afghanistan's stray animals. Dubbed Nowzad Dogs and founded by former British Royal Marine Pen Farthing, the facility currently houses 50 cats, 30 dogs, and even an injured donkey.
With a policy of accepting all animals, Nowzad is quickly becoming one of the most remarkable animal shelter in the world, according to The Daily Mail.
The shelter itself is hidden behind an eight-foot concrete blast wall. To get to the facility, one must first traverse through a maze of heavily armed checkpoints. Louise Hastie, a former British soldier who is currently running the facility, believes that the safeguards are necessary.
"The security situation is deteriorating and it is the minimum necessary if we are going to continue to help the country's dogs and cats both in their care and in finding new homes, often thousands of miles away in Britain, the United States and elsewhere around the world," she said.
Nowzad Dogs has been operating for seven years now, helping send more than 1,000 dogs and cats to live with service men and women to help them deal with the trauma of war. Most of the time, the animals were befriended by the soldiers themselves while being deployed on combat duty in Afghanistan, reports The Huffington Post.
Founder Pen Farthing, who received a CNN Hero of the Year Award for 2014, states that he was inspired to establish the shelter after he created a bond with a dog, whom he named Nowzad, during his stay in Afghanistan. He credits Nowzad as among his saving grace from the stress of war.
Despite the increasing dangers in the country, Farthing and Hastie believe that for the animals and for the service men and women whose lives have been touched by their four-legged friends, the risk is very well worth it.
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