Last Thursday, two explosions occurred at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan, killing more than 100 people.
At the scene of the explosion, in addition to the European and American people and Afghan people waiting to be evacuated, there was also such a special group of "passengers."
That is Paul Pen Farthing and the more than 140 stray dogs and more than 60 stray cats in his animal protection organization "Nowzad".
They were blocked from boarding the plane at the airport and were about to leave to discuss countermeasures when they encountered an explosion caused by ISIS-K.
Fortunately, after going through various difficulties and obstacles, Pan Fassin and his cats and dogs finally boarded the plane successfully at the last moment of their evacuation from the UK. Late yesterday, their special plane landed safely at Heathrow Airport.
But this incident caused an uproar in the UK and even the world. Even Pan Fassin himself became the target of public criticism. He was criticized for "putting the interests of animals before the interests of people". He left countless poor Afghan families without saving, but chartered a special plane to rescue some cats and dogs.
So, what exactly is going on?
Why was Pan Fassin attacked by netizens, and why did a large number of netizens speak out for him and support what he did?
Let us first understand who Pan Fassin is and his animal protection organization "Nowzad".
Paul Pen Fassin is a former British Royal Marines commando. In 2006, he was deployed to Afghanistan.
Here, he adopted one of the puppies because he broke up a dog fight on the street. He named it Nowzad after the town where the puppy lived.
The puppy has been with Farthing since then. During the days of heavy artillery fire in Afghanistan, the puppy gave him the only comfort.
So, after the six-month mission, he tried to bring the dog back to the UK.
This incident inspired him. Since then, he founded the animal protection charity organization "Nowzad Dogs" to help British soldiers' local cat and dog "partners" to reunite with them in the UK.
At the same time, we also help local animal welfare through humanitarian rescue and the implementation of sterilization and vaccination of local cats and dogs.
This is the first animal rescue organization in Afghanistan.
Fassin was also awarded the 2014 "CNN Hero of the Year" for his arduous and great cause in Afghanistan.
From this, we know that most of the cats and dogs in the "Nowzad" organization are not ordinary cats and dogs. Some of them are working dogs, some are rescue dogs, some are psychological assistance dogs, etc. During the war, they accompanied the soldiers who were far away from home and were full of loneliness and fear. They were their only "partners" besides their comrades.
No, it can be said that some of these dogs are also their "comrades in arms."
Therefore, when the British evacuation began, Fassin vowed to leave safely with these cats and dogs, as well as all the staff of the "Nowzad" organization and their families.
To this end, he ran around and launched a rescue operation code-named "Operation Ark".
Finally, with the help of kind-hearted people, they chartered a special plane, and the British visas for Nowzad’s 68 Afghan employees and their families were also processed. They were ready to leave Afghanistan with all the animals at any time.
However, as countries are evacuating and the explosions have thrown the airport into chaos, adding any unscheduled flights may paralyze the airport's work.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace refused to allow Fassin's chartered flight to land at Kabul Airport for this reason.
Unless the plane lands, there is no room for boarding, let alone evacuation.
Faxin was so anxious that he directly called out the British Ministry of Defense and Minister on Twitter.
However, the minister’s reply was simple and straightforward: In the face of a humanitarian crisis, no one wants to jump in line.
It is said that animal-loving British netizens found out about this and directly searched out the private contact information of British Ministry of Defense employees. In the words of the Minister of Defense, this kind of online violence, bullying, and threats are "unacceptable and a shameful (unacceptable and shameful)."
The Minister of Defense was so angry that he tweeted five or six times to clarify, "It's not that we won't help, it's that we can't help. We must act according to the rules."
Finally, after many negotiations and compromises, the Minister of Defense relented and allowed his chartered flight to land at the airport and evacuate as soon as possible with people and animals.
Some unreliable foreign media reported that British Prime Minister Boris and his animal protectionist wife Kelly personally intervened in the matter. But the British Ministry of Defense and the defense minister have denied this statement.
However, plans can never keep up with changes, and that little glimmer of hope is fleeting.
On August 26, the U.S. government announced changes to the visa requirements for entering the airport. The visas of Fassin's 68 employees and their families suddenly became "unqualified" visas, and they were unable to enter the airport to board the plane.
They, including nearly 300 people and animals, were stranded at the airport for more than ten hours.
Fasseen was forced to tweet again to Suhail Shaheen, the spokesperson of the Taliban regime, saying that he was a non-profit organization that would return to Afghanistan, and hoped that the Taliban would behave well, assist and let him go.
On this day, they were blocked outside the airport, witnessed and experienced the airport explosion, and narrowly escaped death.
On the 27th, Fassin’s team rushed to the airport again, looking for opportunities to evacuate.
This time, the Ministry of National Defense finally agreed to allow Fassin to board the plane with the animals, but the Afghan employees and their families were not allowed to board the plane because they did not meet the conditions for their visas..
In this way, after weighing the situation, Fassin had to accept the government's proposal and evacuate first with 140 dogs and 60 cats. Fassin's partners and friends would then help the employees and their families to take a detour to Pakistan and get to the UK.
On the evening of the 27th, the British Ministry of Defense officially tweeted that "Fassin and his "pets" boarded the plane with the assistance of the British military and were waiting to take off.
At the same time, it seemed to add intentionally or unintentionally: "To clarify, Fassin's flight did not occupy British government resources. "
It was these two tweets that rekindled the whole incident.
In addition to those who questioned and condemned Fassin for "only saving animals but not people", a large number of animal rights activists left messages saying that the Ministry of National Defense used the wrong word -
These cats Dogs are not Fassin's "pets", but are partners of soldiers, warriors, and heroes!
Some people say that these dogs, like British soldiers, have served the British people. They are not "pets", but heroes.
Some are even more radical. The voice said that humans are not the most important creatures in the world.
Currently, the comments under this tweet are basically one-sided, with only the occasional weak voice questioning why more resources cannot be used to save more people.
Fassin tweeted yesterday afternoon that he had successfully arrived at Heathrow Airport and that the "Ark Operation" part had been successfully completed.
I hope these cats and dogs can find foster homes as soon as possible and live a happy life from now on.
In fact, this Neither party can completely justify this matter. Those cats and dogs claimed by animal rights activists are "heroes". Are these more than 140 dogs all rescue dogs and working dogs? What about the other 60 or so cats?
In addition, they also said that pets ride in cargo warehouses, and humans cannot sit in cargo warehouses, so there is no waste of resources to save animals instead of people.
So what if you use the funds from charter flights to charter another plane that can accommodate more people?
On the other hand, it is not It's not that Fassin didn't want to save people but only animals, but the government's visa policy changes prevented his employees from boarding the plane for evacuation smoothly.
Similarly, there are more people who can be saved, but various policies restrict these people from being saved and unable to leave Afghanistan.
Furthermore, as the head of an animal protection organization, it is Fassin’s job and responsibility to rescue animals, so why was he wrong in chartering a flight to evacuate the animals in his organization?
Friends, what do you think?