Planeload of abandoned dogs and cats from Afghanistan arrives in Vancouver

Some of the animals will be reunited with their owners while others will be put up for adoption

Hundreds of animals stranded in Afghanistan arrived in Vancouver on Tuesday night, after more than six months of rescue efforts by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

A total of 158 dogs and 146 cats touched down at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) aboard a specially converted Russian Ilyushin 76-TD aircraft after stops in Turkey and Iceland.

SPCA International said partners in Kabul reached out to them regarding the pets when U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan.

The groups hoped to evacuate the animals to North America at the time of the withdrawal, but the volatile situation combined with logistical issues resulted in the delay.

“These animals have been on the plane for quite some time,” Lori Kalef, director of programs for SPCA International, said prior their arrival. “We had to reroute at the last minute due to the conflict going on in Russia.”

From YVR, the animals will be transferred to a specially constructed 1,600-square metre facility.

Kalef said about 66 of the animals will be reunited with their owners, while another two dozen will stay with the SPCA until their owners are able to retrieve them. 

The others will be put up for adoption across North America. 

Anyone interested in adopting one of the animals can visit the SPCA International website. Applications will be handled by SPCA International and the B.C.-based RainCoast Dog Rescue Society.

Treacherous rescue mission

In a statement, the SPCA said numerous pets were left behind in shelters when their owners fled the country following the Taliban takeover.

A local charity, Kabul Small Animal Rescue, had saved more than 70 dogs from Kabul International Airport and rescued dozens of other animals abandoned by owners when they were forced to flee.

Before his rescuers showed up to free him, a homeless dog who had been stuck in a well for three days had given up hope.

Stray dogs in Thailand are “invisible” for most people. Nobody usually notices when one of them goes missing, but luckily for Simba, a stray dog who lives on the streets of Phuket, Thailand, a good Samaritan who uses to feed the homeless dogs of the area noticed he had been missing for three days.

He immediately went out to look for him, walking the streets of his town far and wide, with no results. Just when he was about to give up, he heard a cry coming from the bottom of a well. Simba was there, standing in the water, hopeless and terrified.

The good Samaritan called the local Soi Dog shelter, and two Animal Rescue Officers rushed to the scene, and managed to save Simba, raising him out of the well with the help of a rope.

“When Simba arrived at the Soi Dog Hospital, we noticed he had no nails left” Dr. Hope, the vet who treated Simba, told Just Something “He’d ripped them all off in his desperate attempts to climb out of his cold, dark prison. The vets immediately treated him with pain relievers and antibiotics, trying to cure the infection that ripping off his nails had caused, and gave him the first meal in three days”.
As you can see from the photos below, Simba made an incredible recovery in just a few weeks, and found in the Soi Dog Foundation a safe place to heal.
Simba is now a healthy and energetic 5-year-old dog, and is up for adoption here, ready to give endless love and kisses to his new forever family.

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