AN urgent appeal to bring home a rescued puppy from war-torn Afghanistan has this week reached its target, thanks to help from generous West Devon residents.

Last month the Times reported the plight of Jack, an eight-month-old Kushi mountain dog, which was saved from certain death by a serving officer from West Devon.

The officer's mother, Sarah (not her real name) agreed to give Jack a home after hearing his story.

The puppy was one of a litter of eight, which was saved from euthenasia by members of the Parachute Regiment. The pups were hidden around checkpoints and fed by the servicemen — but those for whom no arrangements could be made faced abandonment when the paras were due to come home.

Sarah's son managed to get Jack to a place of safety with the help of Nowzad, a small local charity — but she needed to raise £5,000 to bring Jack home and pay for his quarantine fees.

Sarah said: 'My son is absolutely delighted, he can't believe it's all happened so quickly, he's over the moon, we all are.

'It's really made a difference to him. When I spoke to him on Saturday he'd got bad news, but when I told him we'd reached the target, it helped so much.

'We have received donations from people from all over the world and have made friends with lots of new people while we were fundraising.

'Jack is growing into quite a large dog, but he is happy and healthy and will return home with his two brothers, Pegasus and Phos, who will be living with members of the Parachute Regiment.'

Jack will stay in quarantine for six months at a kennels in South Devon, before he can finally come home.

Sarah said: 'Six months seems a long time, it's a shame for the little chap, he's had so much turmoil in his short life, but someone has contacted me to say they had two dogs at this kennels and they were very good, so that helped me a bit.'

Sarah said the people of West Devon had been 'great with donations and very kind messages of support' and her family were hugely grateful to everyone who had helped Jack's appeal.

'We did a couple of car boot sales and most people had read Jack's story and wished us well.'

Sarah said her son was due home for a short period at the end of the month, before returning to Afghanistan until the end of August.

She said: 'He has been overwhelmed by the support he has received at home and I know that it has had a significant positive impact on his morale.

'We would particularly like to thank Nowzad — without their help none of this would have been possible.

'They are a small charity, mostly staffed by volunteers, who are working in the most dangerous place in the world, but they do have great ambitions, education for the people of Afghanistan, training for Afghan vets, and a neutering programme for feral animals.'

Sarah said Pen Farthing, a former Royal Marine who founded Nowzad, was giving a talk at Woodside Animal Sanctuary near Plymouth at 7.30pm on May 25, for anyone who would like to learn more about the charity. For more about Nowzad, or to donate, go to http://www.nowzad.com">www.nowzad.com