Part one of a two-part series looking at DTES pets and their owners
Heavily tattooed, with hair shaved close to his scalp, Roy Mackintosh does not look like a man you’d take home to mother.
But when Mackintosh begins to blow kisses to the tiny bird -- smaller than the man’s neck tattoos -- purched on his shoulder, each of the three women in the small room sighs an audible “Aww.” Relaxing on a loveseat in his single room apartment located in the heart of the Downtown Eastside, Mackintosh says he hand-raised the teeny zebra finch nicknamed “Squirt” with a syringe after its mother stopped feeding him.
“He follows me around and even sleeps on my neck sometimes,” says Mackintosh, who in 1999 moved from Cape Breton to B.C. for work.
Sunlight streams through the windows of the apartment Mackintosh has lived in for more than three years. The unassuming room looks similar to others in the building, complete with a small TV, single bed tucked into the corner and narrow galley kitchen. The exception is the row of small round baskets lined up along the top of a wire stand in one corner of the room, several more perched near the window and a bird’s nest built atop the door jamb made from straw and yarn Mackintosh buys for that very purpose. It’s this room Mackintosh and his birds call home.
Mackintosh discovered his love for birds after his sister gave him a pair of finches, which eventually grew to a flock of 19. And, as if Mackintosh’s love for these birds wasn’t obvious, he lists each by name, including Trouble, Chaos, Anarchy, Alexis and Elizabeth.
Mackintosh estimates it costs between $30 and $40 a month to feed and care for his tiny charges. He admits going without on occasion to ensure the birds are fed.
“But if I wasn’t spending it on them, I might spend it on something that could get me in trouble,” Mackintosh says with a grin.
It’s a familiar story for some low-income pet owners in the Downtown Eastside.
While some lean on their pets to stay clean and sober, others say they would have little company if not for their cat, dog, ferret, rat or snake. B.C. SPCA spokesperson Lori Chortyk says it’s common to see pet owners forgo food to feed their pets. She adds the payoff is often good company and unconditional love.
“Sometimes this is the first time in their life that something else is depending on them” says Chortyk. “That responsibility helps them stay sober.”
The SPCA runs an outreach program dubbed Charlie’s Food Bank, launched in 2000, named after a dog starved to death by its owner. Charlie arrived at the SPCA in critical condition and, despite the best efforts of animal hospital staff, passed away after three weeks of intensive care. The food bank was organized by those involved in Charlie’s case who were deeply affected by the senseless act and the dog’s struggle and agonising death. Charlie’s Food Bank operates every Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon at Mission Possible, 543 Powell St.
Another group helping cat and dog owners in the Downtown Eastside is Best Friends for Life, launched in 2013 by two moms, Holly E and Kathryn Richardson, who met over their love of rescue dogs. The pair decided they wanted to help street people from the Downtown Eastside and their pets by collecting and distributing food, litter, dog coats and sweaters, collars and leashes. Holly asked that her last name not be used.
On a grey February afternoon, Best Friends for Life shows up to Tellier Tower on East Hastings Street with a van load of food and kitty litter. Because on this day there is no place to park in front of the building the women set up down the block.
The moment they open the back of the van, a line begins to form made up of homeless and low-income men and women, some apparently high on drugs or alcohol. Most have no idea they’ve lined up for pet food, but some begin taking what they can before wandering away. But, quickly, with the help of former park board commissioner and Tellier Tower day shift coordinator Sarah Blyth, the women determine who is in actual need and who plans to resell the food and litter.
“We’re off to a woman’s shelter after this so we can’t run out,” says Holly.
A disturbingly thin woman in line, sporting fuchsia streaks in her hair and a pink-striped hoodie, is accompanied by a 15-month old black Labrador retriever, a gorgeous, healthy-looking dog that appears to be purebred. And while the woman was happy to give the dog’s name, Bodakai, she was not willing to offer her own.
“He was trained for search and rescue but it didn’t work out,” she says. “Some guy was getting paid to watch him and that’s who I got him from. Now he means everything to me. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him.”
Stories of that same strong bond were told to the Courier by many pet owners living in the Downtown Eastside, including Jim Bradley who adopted a seven-week-old Shih Tzu puppy nicknamed Buddy from his sister while visiting family in Vernon nine months ago.
“My sister’s dog is his grandmother,” says Bradley, who moved to Vancouver in 2007 seeking medical treatment after being injured in a logging accident.
Bradley calls Buddy his best friend. The little brown dog not only keeps him company but also forces him to get out and exercise.
“He stopped me from being lazy,” says Bradley. “And gets me up and going.”
Bradley has Buddy licensed with the City of Vancouver and up to date with all his shots, including rabies and distemper. Bradley knew going in how expensive it can be to own a dog, especially while living on a fixed income, but he adds it’s worth every penny.
“It’s not cheap,” says Bradley. “But I knew that before I got him so I’m committed to taking care of him.”
Bradley says Buddy is a smart little dog who only has to be told once if he does something wrong.
“One day he ate my glasses and I got mad at him because I was worried he ate some glass,” says Bradley. “But I had a long talk with him. If I don’t talk to him he’ll keep doing it.”
Bradley says the only time he’s left Buddy alone was while attending church while away visiting family. Father Garry LaBoucane, who serves as pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the Downtown Eastside, allows him to bring Buddy to Sunday services.
LaBoucane told the Courier it’s not common to see animals at church services of any denomination, but adds a precedent had been set by the time he arrived in Vancouver from Alberta 18 months ago.
“Another woman brings her dog, it’s a small fluffy thing and very quiet,” says LaBoucane. “Most churches wouldn’t encourage it, but Jim is a good guy and I see the value and joy these animals bring to their owners.”
Fellow Tellier Tower resident Rob Dumas accompanied the Courier to Bradley’s room alongside his multi-coloured shih tzu named Chico. Dumas and Chico were featured last February as part of the Courier’s Vancouver Special neighbourhood series.
Dumas says at 12-and-a-half, the senior dog is starting to feel his age and the health problems that go with it, including diminishing eyesight and problems with his throat and airway. He is worried for what the future holds for his best friend.
“I have to take him to the SPCA Hospital to get checked out and that’s $200 for the x-rays,” says Dumas, the concern showing in his eyes.
He bought the little dog off a fellow tenant in Tellier Tower two years ago following the death of Dumas’ girlfriend. Her death prompted him to give up drugs, but after losing his job, Dumas admits he became depressed. He says Chico came into his life just in time to save it.
Chico had belonged to a man who gave the dog away to another tenant in their building because he was heading to jail. Dumas offered the new owner “a couple of bucks” for him and the pair have remained inseparable since. Dumas admits the struggle to stay clean is constant, but insists he’ll never betray the trust Chico has instilled in him.
“He’s all I’ve got.”
sthomas@vancourier.com
twitter.com/sthomas10
