A former British Royal Marine Commando who previously taught in North Wales has pleaded with the British Government to help his staff at an Afghanistan animal sanctuary leave the country.

Paul ‘Pen’ Farthing was a Marine instructor at The Joint School for Adventurous Training Instructors in Llanrwst, Conwy, and now runs the Nowzad charity in Kabul.

Following the Taliban’s seizing of the Afghan capital, Mr Farthing is campaigning for the Government to have 71 people flown to the UK.

Nowzad, founded by Mr Farthing in 2007, aims to relieve the suffering of animals in Afghanistan, and to provide and maintain rescue, rehabilitation and education facilities for the care and treatment of such animals with no voice but theirs.

Contributions towards the £200,000 needed to charter a cargo plane to fly Mr Farthing and his staff to safety, in what has been called ‘Operation Ark’, can be made at www.nowzad.com/donate.

Mr Farthing has been posting regular video updates on Nowzad’s Facebook page, which can be found at www.facebook.com/nowzadrescue/videos.

In his latest video, posted on Wednesday (August 18) morning, he said: “This fight is not over. We have not yet been given safe passage for our Afghan staff to be relocated from here to the UK.

“I don’t have words for the love that has been shown towards Nowzad to get them out of Afghanistan.

“Can you please message, via social media, MPs and Ministers and just remind them that the Nowzad team do not deserve to be abandoned and left here in Afghanistan.

“I want them to know that they’ve made a mistake and it’s time to at least do something positive out of this growing humanitarian crisis.”

Mr Farthing, who is also trying to get more than 200 animals at Nowzad to safety, added he will not leave Afghanistan until the rest of his team has been safely evacuated.

A post on Nowzad’s Facebook page later read: “If we are able to secure any kind of evacuation for Pen and our team, it simply can't happen without guaranteed safe passage from their compound into and through Kabul airport.

“If any move was to happen without this security in place, we risk the safety and lives of many.

“Please, please can we ask you today to write to the Ministers to push this message as much and as hard as you can.

“Please do all you can - we must rescue the animal rescuers, we will leave no one behind.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in Parliament earlier today: “Like many of us, I have been extensively lobbied on behalf of the excellent work done by Mr Pen Farthing.

“I am well aware of his cause and all the wonderful things he has done for animals in Afghanistan.

“We will do everything we can to help Mr Pen Farthing, and others who face particular difficulty like himself.”