A pet lover has appealed to the government to provide emergency visas to an ex-Royal Marine Commando, his team of 25 staff and their immediate families to leave Afghanistan where he set up an animal rescue shelter.

The woman, a doctor working in Cheshire who wishes to remain anonymous, is a personal friend of Paul 'Pen' Farthing who founded the shelter in Kabul after leaving the military and serving in Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban entered the city he and his team have been holed up at the shelter with 90 dogs and cats fearful for their safety and the animals with a group of the fighters next door to them.

Paul, who is known by his nickname Pen, has vowed he will not leave the capital without his staff and has also mounted Operation Ark to raise £200,000 to fly out as many of the rescued animals as possible.

But unless the government step in to help rescue the shelter, he will be faced with the daunting task of having to put the animals to sleep.

The former Troop Sergeant founded the Nowzad Rescue Charity when he was living in Devon and has rescued and rehomed hundreds of abandoned dogs and cats.

"It all started when he rescued a dog from being used for fighting and since then he has reunited hundreds of dogs and cats with service personnel," said his doctor friend, from Goostrey.

"They have found solace in their company while on stressful tours of duty.

"Pen has run animal rabies vaccine and neutering programmes to reduce risks to the population and trained Afghan nationals as vets to improve animal welfare in the shelter.

"Some of them are women who can speak English and are currently holed up in the animal rescue shelter in Afghanistan under immediate threat from the Taliban as they hate animals, British marines and education and have moved in next door."

She added: "He needs to get emergency visas from the UK government for his 25 staff and their immediate families to leave but these amazing caring vets have to be on the list of those at immediate risk in order to be able to get out now.

"He will not abandon his colleagues to a hideous fate and if he gets killed, it will be an avoidable tragedy and a travesty for a man who lost two of his men fighting for the UK in Afghanistan and who just got married in July.

"These people need emergency visas and help to get to an airport as its so unsafe and will die if they are just 'put on the list' to leave in years to come, especially the female vets. They have been offered jobs here and just need safe passage."

The charity has a website in Devon at nowzad.com where the latest updates on the plight of the shelter are being given.