Echo and Syah are two Afghani rescue cats. They were rescued by Nowzad, founded by Royal Marine Sergeant ‘Pen’ Farthing. Since the first day he was involved in animal rescue in Afghanistan, Nowzad has flourished. There has been a lot of hard work setting it up and a lot of animals in need of rescuing and medical attention.
Here is Echo the bacon cat (she loves bacon) at the time she was forming her relationship with her soldier friend. Echo was eventually shipped to her new home in America to live with her soldier buddy:
You may know that Nowzad started when Sargeant Farthing adopted a fighting dog in the village of Now Zad in Helmand Province where he was based as part of the military presence in Afghanistan. He named his dog Nowzad and then his animal rescue charity after his dog. Incidentally his dog has his ears cut off. They do that with fighting dogs in Afghanistan. They like dog fights there.
The Nowzad Dog shelter outside Kabul is the only one in Afghanistan and it looks very professional. There has obviously been lots of funding. I wonder if the army funded some of this.
For me, the Nowzad animal rescue center, clinic, and shipping agency (!) is one of the few good things to come out of the West’s military presence in Afghanistan. I hate this pointless, misguided war but I love what Nowzad has achieved.
They do all the usual excellent work that animal shelters and clinics do in the West: spaying and neutering, surgery, vaccinations etc in the veterinary clinic (Nowzad Conrad Lewis Clinic), excellent shelter facilities for 100 dogs and 30 cats and more….they ship cats and dogs to America, Canada and I presume the UK or any other country where a soldier returns to after his deployment in Afghanistan.
A lot of soldiers form attachments to dogs and cats. When they go home sometimes Nowzad is able to ensure that they stay together. Pretty amazing work.
Syah was another street kitten in need of TLC and he got it from Nowzad. He had no serious illnesses and was given his vaccinations, decent food and some quality human companionship. Syah also got lucky. He was shipped to Canada in Feb 2013 to be cared for by Sandra and Onne who had already adopted two Afghani dogs. Syah gets along well with the dogs and has a new life.
Thank you for visiting. I love to publicize good stuff and this is top of the range rescue. Exceptional.
I was looking for NOWZAD related photos and found my cat! Thank You for highlighting NOWZAD and ECHO’s and Syah’s stories. Much gratitude. What has always struck me is how ECHO’s coat matched her soldier’s cami.
As for Syah, he is doing great. He has two much older black cats to live with and five dogs. He’s a real attention wanter too. Here he is with Murphy (nee Buddy, from NOWZAD).
Thank You again
Onne
I have a sneaking suspicion that Echo has some wildcat genes. Could be second generation perhaps. It is common for the Near Eastern wildcat (a species of wild cat) to mate with domestic cats. They are very similar. The wildcat is the ancestor of the domestic cat as you no doubt know. They are all over that region.