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LBC presenter clashes with caller who says pets should be prioritised in Afghan evacuation

LBC presenter Tom Swarbrick clashed with a caller who said pets should be prioritised over people during the evacuation of Afghanistan.

An animal sanctuary run by Paul Farthing has become the subject of debate this week after he campaigned to have his staff and their families as well as 140 dogs and 60 cats jetted out of the country in a plan he has dubbed Operation Ark.

Reports have suggested the prime minister’s wife Carrie has even stepped in to push for his rescue.

It has also been suggested defence secretary Ben Wallace complained that British military efforts to evacuate people from Kabul had been “diverted” because of the attempts to rescue the former marine.

Tackling the subject on his show, Swarbrick was confronted by an emotional caller who dubbed the presenter “dismissive” for saying “it’s just cats and dogs and donkeys.”

“A life is a life”.

Asked whether she thinks a human life is more important than an animal life she said “I don’t, I absolutely do not”.

Watch the clip in full below:

Related: ‘Operation Ark’ tells us all we need to know about how this government is run

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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