Yes, you read that right. Afghanistan.
We were contacted back in March by the Afghan Stray Animal League, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that works to help homeless animals in Kabul, Afghanistan, by supporting a small shelter there. The shelter had taken in a blind Shepherd puppy, an animal that stood no chance of adoption. They had named him Shep.
Afghan culture doesn’t have much of a concept of "pets" or companion animals — not unexpected in a country with such grinding poverty and bloodshed — so the shelter mostly adopts animals to foreigners living in Afghanistan. Other cultural norms make Afghanistan a rough place to be an animal … especially a weak or disabled one.
It took a couple of months to work out the travel logistics, but late last week Shep flew from Kabul to Islamabad, Pakistan, and on to JFK Airport in New York. The Afghan Stray Animal League was able to raise about half the money needed for his airfare, and we paid the rest. After spending the weekend at a veterinary boarding facility at JFK, we flew Shep out to Montana yesterday. He arrived in Helena last night at 11 p.m. on a Northwest Airlines flight. After a potty break outside the Helena airport, I loaded his crate in the bed of the truck and put Shep in the big back seat. He sat there quietly for the entire drive back to the ranch, and we got home about 1 a.m. this morning.
He’s a tiny thing for a Shepherd, weighing about 30 pounds. I think half his weight is just in those ears! His eyes are clear, so I suspect he has progressive retinal atrophy or a similar retinal deficiency. We’ll be taking him next week to see our vet, Dr. Brenda Culver at Montana Veterinary Specialists in Helena, for a comprehensive eye exam.
Alayne took the photo of Shep and me this afternoon. After days of traveling and being in kennels and crates, Shep was enjoying spending the day outside, soaking up some Rocky Mountain spring sunshine. He is a very sweet boy, and an affectionate one, too, as you can see:
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