Pen Farthing today revealed how one of his dogs died and was possibly stabbed as they drove through Taliban checkpoints to the airport.
It comes as the former marine rejected reports the dogs he rescued from Afghanistan would be destroyed in the UK branding the claims “a crock of c**p”.
He received a mixed reaction when a flight he chartered landed at Heathrow on Sunday with more than 150 dogs and cats rescued from his Nozad animal charity in Kabul.
The move left Farthing embroiled in controversy but he has insisted they are all healthy and are currently at the airport’s Animal Reception Centre.
Reports at the weekend suggested the animals would be put down if found to be riddled with disease, sparking an alleged war of words between the campaigner and defence secretary Ben Wallace.
Today Farthing insisted all the animals were fully vaccinated, dewormed and treated for fleas and ticks and he rejected claims he put the animals before the rescue centre staff left behind.
Speaking to MailOnline the former military man,who set up the Nowzad animal shelter in Kabul, said: “Whoever's saying that is talking a crock of c**p. One of the things we pride ourselves on at Nowzad is every single animal is fully vaccinated for rabies, parvovirus, distemper, kennel cough, they're treated for fleas and ticks and dewormed.
“They're all neutered and spayed and the blood samples are sent to DEFRA to prove they've got the relevant antibodies for rabies.”
Referring to the fact he’s in quarantine in Oslo after flying there to be with his wife Kaisa, he added: “My five dogs are ready for me to collect as soon as I'm out of here.”
However he revealed one dog died after, he believes, it was stabbed while they drove through Taliban checkpoints to the airport.
Addressing the controversy about his flight full of animals taking spaces where humans could have been he said: “All this s**t about putting animals before people – I have never said my dogs were a priority before people. I have never said I'm a priority.
“Caring about animals doesn't mean not caring about people, I don't understand where all this is coming from. It's the people that haunt me.”
He insisted he will continue to get the Nowzad rescue centre staff out of Afghanistan adding: “It was the staff who made the decision for me to make a second attempt (to escape the country with the animals) on my own.
“They said, 'Don't stay. You've got to take the dogs out. The Taliban will just shoot them'.”
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