The willingness of the Potter League for Animals in Middletown to reach out and help animals is pretty much limitless. Last week, it took in 17 dogs and 1 cat from a shelter in South Carolina in anticipation of hurricane rescue needs. It is also the sister shelter to NOWZAD, the only animal rescue organization in Afghanistan.
On October 3, retired Royal British Marine Commando Pen Farthing, founder of NOWZAD and 2015 CNN Hero of the Year, will be speaking at the Potter League. His talk is not just about animals, it’s about the connection between animals and people — in this case — members of the military serving under extremely difficult conditions far from their homes. To date, NOWZAD has reunited over 1200 animals with the military members they spent time with while deployed in Afghanistan. Some of those are simply “happy ever after” stories for the animals, and in some cases the animals serve in almost service dogs role for soldiers struggling with the physical and mental aftermaths of the deployment.
Joan Johnson-Freese, the Potter League For Animals Board President, joined Tim Towey and I on for the first thirty minutes of this edition of What’sUpNewp Radio on AM 1540 WADK.
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As you might imagine, funding is always an issue for NOWZAD. Donations will be accepted at the October 3 event, and at a fundraiser at Cappy’s bar on Thursday, October 4. Their goal is to raise $9k, as that would feed their animals for 3 months.
Evidencing the compelling nature of their story, the Animal Planet recently ran a 1 hour special on NOWZAD, as part of its “Hero” series. https://www. animalplanet.com/tv-shows/ dodo-heroes/full-episodes/pen- and-the-dogs-of-war NOWZAD is currently the focus of a 10-part series on the Discover Channel as well, being filmed right now.