Pen Farthing

Paul "Pen" Farthing is a former Royal Marines commando and founder of the Nowzad Dogs charity.

During his deployment to Afghanistan in 2006 as part of the Royal Marines in 42 Commando, Farthing and his troops broke up a fight between two dogs in the town of Nawzad. Following this, one of the dogs followed Farthing and they ended up spending the following six months together, with the dog named Nowzad after the town. After the end of his deployment, Farthing sought to bring the dog home to the UK. This inspired him to create the nonprofit company Nowzad Dogs, a service which seeks to reunite servicemen with the dogs and cats who befriended them following the soldier's return home. The company also aids animal welfare in Afghanistan, and built the first animal rescue centre in the country.

In addition to reuniting ex-servicemen with dogs and cats they knew from Afghanistan, Farthing through Nowzad has rescued animals to be adopted by members of the public once they are brought to the UK. Among these was a dog named Wylie, who was adopted by Sarah Singleton. The dog competed at Scrufts 2014, the non-pedigree competition run by The Kennel Club in the UK, where it was named dog of the year. Farthing later wrote a book about Wylie, entitled Wylie: The Brave Street Dog Who Never Gave Up, which was published in 2014.

Farthing was nominated for the Lifetime Achievement award at the Daily Mirror and RSPCA Animal Hero Awards in 2013. For his work with the Nowzad charity, he was named one of ten "Heroes of 2014" by CNN.

In addition to Nowzad, Farthing also adopted a second dog from Afghanistan called Tali. Together they live with Farthing's family in Tiverton, Devon.