One Dog at a Time: Saving the Strays of Afghanistan

Farthing, a British Royal Marine, describes his struggles to save stray dogs languishing and dying in the streets of wartorn Afghanistan. Already burdened with the responsibility of overseeing and protecting his 20-man crew of Marines, Farthing becomes consumed with the suffering of the strays and risks his own life to rescue them—he fights with police and risks walking into a Taliban trap to save a dog with a wire noose around its neck, knowing that without his intervention, the dog will starve to death or strangle itself. Soon he finds himself developing plans to save strays from dogfighting, a centuries-old local tradition that usually requires the removal of ears and tails without anesthetic, and adopts a former fighting dog he names Nowzad. Today, Nowzad happily resides in the Farthing household as his owners continue their quest to save thousands of suffering strays. Farthing's remarkable story will inspire, shock, and move readers, introducing them, perhaps for the first time, to war's most voiceless and unintentional victims. (Aug.)