After a seven year journey across Canada to raise money and awareness for homeless people with pets, James Caughhill is close to his final destination.
Caughhill started the journey in Ontario with his former dog Muckwah in 2016. After Muckwah died of cancer, Caughill was joined by another dog with a familiar name —Muck.
He and Muck now find themselves tenting in the Mission area after years of trekking cross-country.
“I love this place,” Caughhill said. “There’s a shelter in Mission that’s now taking pets. Yeah, I love Mission.”
He arrived in the Mission area in early May and he’ll head to Silverdale and Whonnock before a stop in Maple Ridge. He finishes his journey in North Burnaby and Caughhill says the furthest he’ll go is a “Welcome to Vancouver” sign.
“I am not walking downtown Vancouver — not if my life depended on it,” Caughhill said. “That was my original destination but I want nothing to do with that city at all.”
Caughhill says Vancouver’s treatment of the homeless population will prevent him from making the stop.
He started his journey in St. Catherine’s, Ontario in 2016 and it has taken him through several provinces. It began when he lost his home and was told he would need to leave behind Muckwah to enter a shelter if he wanted to keep his welfare benefit.
“I’ve never been without a dog and never have never will,” he said. “They’re family. If you got a kid, it would be like asking you to throw your kid away. Yeah, hell no.”
Caughhill decided to raise awareness by walking across Canada and has garnered media attention across the country. His Facebook page has almost 10,000 likes and he’s released a series of books about his travels.
“I didn’t want to be famous. I just wanted to get pets in shelters,” he said.
Six volumes of “Walking to the Rockies with Muckwah” are available on amazon.ca/books. He says 90 per cent of royalties go towards building shelters for the homeless and their pets.
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dillon.white@missioncityrecord.com
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