A WEST Devon woman this week appealed for help to bring an eight-month-old puppy to the UK from war-torn Afghanistan, after her son helped save him from certain death.

Sarah's son is a British officer and former Tavistock College student currently serving in Afghanistan.

Sarah (not her real name) said: 'During his tour my son passed through a checkpoint in Southern Afghanistan and came across a young dog who was being cared for by members of the Parachute Regiment.

'Apparently, his mum had gone into a camp and had given birth to eight puppies. I've now found out that she was shot — the puppies were discovered and they were going to be put into a helicopter to go to Bastion to be euthenased, which is normal policy.

'Some of the paras took the puppies out before they got to the helicopter. They were put in rucksacks and spirited away to checkpoints where they lived happily on rations provided by the paras —they'd then put them into hiding whenever any of the top brass came around.

'Unfortunately, several were discovered, with — as my son puts it — "predictable results", however, four remained undiscovered.'

Sarah said due to the nature of her son's job, he had to move around frequently, and he was not able to revisit the checkpoint where Jack, as the puppy was called, was living.

When he did revisit, he found that the paras were due to return home — and there was no-one to take on the secret care of Jack, who faced being shot.

Sarah said her son, a real animal lover, phoned her and begged her to take Jack on, if he could be got to a place of safety.

Sarah said: 'We got in contact with Nowzad, a small local charity, and they agreed to help get him out of Afghanistan. Jack was picked up and driven 400 kilometres to the north of the country, where he is now waiting for us to raise enough money to bring him home.

'I do realise that this is an emotive issue for some people, but the men and women who are serving in Afghanistan become extremely attached to these animals, and many see daily sights that hopefully most of us will never be exposed to.

'Consequently, when presented with an opportunity to make a difference to a defenceless animal, most find it irresistible and will go to extraordinary lengths to protect their charges.'

Sarah said life for dogs in Afghanistan was very tough — they routinely had their ears and tails cut off and dog fighting was rife.

Most of a dog's day was spent hunting for scraps of food or hiding from the hot desert sun during the summer and the freezing cold of an Afghan winter night.

'My son loves anything on four legs and he's only half way through his tour — we are just praying he doesn't come across anything else!' said Sarah, who is trying to raise the £5,000 needed to cover the cost of Jack's quarantine and transportation costs.

Sarah's son has pledged half the fees himself, but the family — his sister is also a serving member of the forces — is appealing to any Times readers who may be able to help bring Jack, a Kushi mountain dog, back to the UK and safety.

Anyone who can help or would like to know more about the work of Nowzad should go to http://www.justgiving.com/nowzad-dogs-jack">http://www.justgiving.com/nowzad-dogs-jack