Back in 2016 driving through the streets of downtown Kabul in a bitterly cold January morning, Pen & Hannah along with Dr Mujtaba were alerted to a dog believed to be stuck in a drainage ditch. The weather forecast was for heavy rain later in the day so no time was wasted in locating the dog, not finding them was not an option for the rescue team.
Sure enough at the bottom of a deep sided drainage ditch amongst the rubbish was an older female dog shivering in the cold. But for Hannah & Pen it was the sight of the dog’s lone 5 day old pup shivering alongside her mom that really tugged at the heartstrings.
No time was wasted and both mom and the pup were hurriedly transported back to the warmth of the Nowzad clinic and its roaring log fire. Back at the clinic it was instantly apparent that not only was the mom really too old to be having pups but she was also completely blind from Glaucoma. It was an absolute wonder how she had survived on the streets of Kabul at all. And hence she was named ‘Wonder’!
The pup who was in remarkably good health was named ‘Serac’, Dari for street. Even without the use of her eyes Wonder was a great mom, always carefully cleaning and nurturing her tiny off spring. Both dogs loved the attention of the Nowzad vet team and after vaccinations and surgery to remove both now useless eyes Wonder settled into her life at the Nowzad clinic. Serac grew quickly and both dogs demonstrated just how loving and happy they were to be in the company of people. So a very special home was needed for Wonder and Serac and we are so grateful to Onne and Sandra from Canada who stepped up to the plate once more to offer such a home although with an extra special twist!
Wonder will live out her days with Onne & Sandra but Serac is to be trained as a service dog for a Canadian veteran. Yet a street dog from Kabul will become a lifeline for a veteran of the Afghan conflict, we could not be prouder!
The whole team would like to thank our marvellous supporters who dug deep to fund the care and treatment of Wonder whilst at Nowzad and raise the transport costs for both Wonder and Serac to travel to Canada. Check out the photo of both dogs enjoying the snow in Canada during January 2017!!