08/22/2021
This is Charlotte, the founder and director of the Kabul Small Animal Rescue. A lot of people have asked about the status of our staff and animal evacuation plans, our current security, how our staff and animals are holding up, and how to help, so I will try to give a quick overview of our week. In short, it is brutally hard, very uncertain, and as the Taliban go house to house in some neighborhoods with unclear intentions, our staff are scared. Our animals are receiving nonstop care, and will continue to until we can evacuate them. This is not something we wanted to do. We love these animals, we want to continue offering high quality care to them and all the others. It is heartbreaking to have to leave the place we have put so much blood sweat and tears into, quite literally. We built this from the ground up and it breaks us all to have to leave it.
This has been a frightening week for everyone, especially our staff, who are not automatically afforded the protection that foreigners seem to be given at this time (and that might only last while US Marines are on the ground). Whether or not the Taliban is the recognized government of Afghanistan, they are on the ground and have fully occupied Kabul and are the authority in the city right now. On Monday morning, the first day after their conquest of the city, a group of low level Taliban/Taliban-looking (very hard to tell the difference) thugs came into the clinic. In order to keep our staff and animals safe, and my decision alone, I directly approached a Taliban elder on that morning and formally asked that our staff and clinic be allowed to safely operate until we can evacuate all animals and staff and their families. We have been granted this uncomfortable agreement, and only because of it have we been able to get into Taliban-held compounds to rescue dogs and pets left behind by internationals. It is by no means amiable, but I believe they see the sincerity in the request and have thus far honored it. Pictured here is Dusty, a personally owned dog we rescued from a Talibna held compound on Monday. The old girl is currently sleeping on the cool floor being as lazy as possible.
At this time, all of our staff and eligible family members have been put on a list for United States P1 Visas, which will allow them to go to a third country to finish vetting for a US visa. We are immensely grateful to the team that has pushed this through and recognized the very real danger our staff is in. It is most likely that the first destination they will be moved to is the Middle East, and we can't go into the details of their movements to those flights.
We have a charter company that is willing and ready at a moment's notice to send a cargo plane large enough to move all of our animals, first stop Jordan. We will be moving our own animals, those from Tigger House, Mayhew, and Marnie's Rescue, as well as working dogs from several defense contractors. We are often asked if we have heard of or reached out to Nowzad. We know of them and their great work, and we offered our assistance to help move their staff or animals as needed, and that offer remains open. We continue to keep our offer open to all residents of Kabul trying to move animals, with the promise that we will do our very best, but without guarantees, because this is a very tenuous situation.
It is likely that most of our staff will be allowed to move before the animals, because the US military will not grant a landing permit for a plane whose only manifest is animals, and for reasons involving visa and animal regulations, we can't get them to the same destination at the same time. We will keep with us a small contingent of staff to help us get through the interim period, myself included.
HOW TO HELP
We are working with our partners Puppy Rescue Mission, War Paws, Mutt Mutt Engine, and an army of incredible volunteers to work the logistics of this.
--We need continued help fundraising, because we are working on charter flight options for both our staff and our animals, and all of our animals will need to be boarded and then further transported to their adopters, fosters, owners, and rescues. Fundraisers can be found:
https://fundrazr.com/b1rsmb?ref=sh_87F1b1_ab_4xGRLQH2UL14xGRLQH2UL1
https://www.gofundme.com/f/kitty-evacuation-from-afghanistan
www.warpaws.org/donate
--If you are interested in adopting or foster, please write to [email protected]
--We need a landing permit for our animal charter plane. As we work on options for lobbying for this, we will ask for people to assist.
--We need to keep up the publicity. This is an ongoing need, ongoing danger, and although we have plans in place, it is not resolved until every foot and paw is off the ground.
--We need cash. Banks are closed and ATMs are empty. If you are Kabul based and can help us get cash, we need it so we can build crates and buy food for animals and staff. We can wire cash to anyone or use PayPal, but we need cash in hand.
--Continue to reach out to us if there are animals in need.
