A woman who said she took care of a missing dog for several days in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside last month is providing her account of what happened.
Shannon Greene told Global News she first saw Munchy the pug at her local pharmacy, in the hands of a woman she described as a good friend.
That friend, Greene said, told her she had bought the dog from two men in a tent.
“She told me that she didn’t want to keep the dog because she trusted me more than she trusted herself,” Greene said in an interview on May 13. “I’ll just leave it at that – that’s what she said to me -so I took the dog to make sure that he was safe.”
Greene said she purchased Munchy from her friend, knowing someone might be missing him.
“I knew that he was a very expensive dog so I knew that he might have an owner looking for him, so I thought I just want to take good care of him (because) a pet is like your family, he’s your kid,” she told Global News.
Munchy disappeared from downtown Vancouver on the evening of April 20, after owner Warren Chen said a close friend of his took his pet outside for a walk, without the dog’s leash or his permission.
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Warren said they were able to track the friend using the ‘Find My’ app, which showed he was heading towards East Hastings and Chinatown.
“I guess Munchy was lost right in front of our house,” said Jessica Chen on May 4.
While details on exactly how Munchy went missing are still hazy, Jessica said they later viewed surveillance which revealed their dog was last seen in the area near Smithe and Beatty Streets outside their building.
The couple, Warren said, had already started walking the streets of the Downtown Eastside, handing out and putting up missing dog posters.
Unbeknownst to the Chens, Munchy was staying at the Gastown Hotel with Greene and El Hill, who said he cleaned their SRO unit up and provided Munchy with water, food and walks.
“It definitely puts your mind somewhere else when you have a dog, right?” recalled Hill.
“You do more positive things,” added Greene.
On April 26, two VPD officers spotted Munchy at Nesters Market in the Woodwards building with a woman who turned out to be Greene.
The District 5 team, who’d already received a missing poster from Warren the day before, called the Chens, who met Greene as they were reunited with Munchy.
“I myself am a (drug) user, but I didn’t do that around him (Munchy), so I’m just glad that he got to be back with his owners,” Greene said.
“She mentioned to us that she’s had dogs before, she was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be able to keep this dog for long, it probably belonged to somebody and she’d eventually see like, posters or something up for it,” Const. Daniel Haynes with the Vancouver Police Department told Global News.
Haynes added that Munchy had been bathed, spoiled with dog toys, and taken care of.
The Chens are crediting the Downtown Eastside community – including Greene, Hill and police – for finding their two and a half year old pug.
“It really means everything to me,” said Warren in an interview earlier this month.
“We told them like, if they want to play with Munchy anytime like, we can meet at a park,” added Jessica.
Greene said she and Hill plan to arrange a future play date with Munchy and his humans.
“Hopefully we’ll be long-time friends with them and Munchy,” she said.
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