Ontario homeless man and dog walking cross-country arrive in Hedley, B.C.
Global News
A well-known Ontario homeless man and his dog who have been on a cross-country walk for six years arrived in the Okanagan Tuesday.
It’s been quite the journey for well-known Ontario homeless man James Caughill and his dog Muck.
Caughill set out to walk from Ontario to Vancouver six years ago and arrived in Hedley, B.C., on Tuesday.
When Caughill became homeless in 2016, he said shelters wouldn’t allow him to stay because of his dog. This sparked his walk to raise awareness about the issue.
His original dog Muckwah died in 2019, but his second pet Muck remains by his side.
“Muckwah and I struggled on the streets of St. Catharines. For three months I lived in an unused dumpster stall, we ate out of the dumpsters. I would go to this dog-friendly library and use the computer to search for shelters I could go with my dog and there were none,” said Caughill.
“We started on Sept. 24, 2016, two o’clock in the afternoon – we started our walk across Canada just to raise awareness. (Pets are) family, they’re the most important thing.”
He went on to say that some shelters have begun to allow pets, following his campaign.
“We have 35 shelters that are now taking pets that weren’t taking pets before, all because of us,” said Caughill.
