It was a terrible moment for all of us when the last US plane and soldiers left Kabul at the end of August 2021 and KSAR staff and animals who had been hoping to evacuate were left behind. KSAR supporters helped evacuate KSAR’s animals to safety, but some of KSAR’s staff and their families who saved them are still trying to make it to the West. It's 169 people in our ksar group, as we recently had some new babies.
Paws Unite People cares for them and we managed to secure a one-time private donation to cover initial costs needed in order to get the group safe to a third country while they wait for their visa processing. The funds that Puppy Rescue Mission raised for them were meant to last for a short time while they wait, but there are unexpected delays in processing refugees. Now we are out of those funds and rely on fundraising to keep them in safe housing.
Recently we were made aware of another group of Veterinarians from Mayhew who were moved without the proper documentation an are stuck in limbo and lost their supporters. We have raised this fund limit to cover their housing as well. We are in contact with 18 families that total 58 people. We will do everything we can to help as many of them as we can. We will try to help facilitate the documentation needed for them to apply for asylum in other countries and keep them housed safely in the meantime.
KSAR staff, Mayhew staff, and the other refugees in this group are afraid of being deported back to Afghanistan when funds run out. They have been beaten and assaulted there, one of them had her face burned with hot water, one suffered a severe concussion, one had his spine dislocated so badly from a beating he had to have complicated surgery, and there were several who barely escaped after attempts on their life. There are multiple documented threats against their lives.
Two of them are already safe in New York, you can read about them here:
Meet a Kabul Veterinarian who escaped Afghanistan
Another family, one of whose children was injured in transit, has made it safely to Arizona. Paws Unite People, with the help of some Puppy Rescue Mission volunteers, were able to help them to restart life here in the USA.
The staff here in the USA are pleading with you to save their colleagues in transit abroad. Let there be a happy ending for Barfi the cat, who arrived safely in Canada with the other KSAR cats and dogs, and her owner, a former KSAR vet stuck in transit waiting for his visa to US to be processed. Barfi is on her way to stay with the doctor's relatives in US, we need to keep her owner safe where he is until they can be reunited. He cannot return to Afghanistan.
At Paws Unite People we are doing everything we can to help them. We have joined Afghan Evac Coalition and have made great strides in getting them safe, in particular, we have secured relatively inexpensive housing.
They need housing, food, some legal advice (for their visas) and some medical work for those injured. We urgently need your help with that, as we cannot do this alalone. We now have over 200 humans who rely on us to survive.
Paws Unite People has an animal rescue with over 100 special needs animals. We had to pledge the rescue for a loan to help the refugees they care for, and the fate of the animals and the refugees is connected. If one mission fails for lack of funds, the rescue of the special needs animals will fails as well.
The animals Paws Unite People are protecting could become homeless..... Most of them have nowhere else to go and really depend on us, like handicapped Mr. B and Miss Berry, who are so loved and need so much support and protection.
We urgently need your donation, there is no other way to cover this present situation.
We CANNOT not leave our evacuated groups homeless or, for that matter, our special needs animals. We were NOT going to watch the 58 people from Mayhew be on the streets, possibly deported and tortured, as the threats against them were very public.
Please help them and us. Any amount counts, and a little can do a lot if we all pull together.
#ItTakesAVillage
Paws Unite People are a Not-for-profit corporation in New York State & a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in April 2013. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Tax ID #: 46-2371384. NYS registered rescue/shelter #RR429 Our mission is simple. We support animals and the people who love them when they need it the most. We assist shelter, abused, and neglected animals in finding their purpose in life through rehabilitation and training. We help the people who care about them when they need us whenever we can.
