Despite the frigid temperatures and cramped space, Iris Nunns said living in her car for roughly two weeks in late December and early January wasn’t as bad as it sounds.
Despite the frigid temperatures and cramped space, Iris Nunns said living in her car for roughly two weeks in late December and early January wasn’t as bad as it sounds.
Accompanied by a great Pyrenees dog named Solei and two cats, the 66-year-old woman parked at Olds’ Fas Gas or Tim Hortons to have access to a washroom if she needed one in the middle of the night.
"I could wash in their sink," Nunns said, adding she took her meals in the car or in local fast-food restaurants. "I ate. I’d buy a chicken from Wal-Mart or Sobeys and eat that. Usually in the morning, when I was at Tim Hortons, I had oatmeal for breakfast."
To keep herself and the animals warm, she kept the car running and went through a great deal of gas, Nunns said.
"I got very bad mileage."
Nunns, who is living off a pension, was staying at a residence in the Eagle Hill area in early December and she said the living arrangement "wasn’t working out."
She said she decided to buy a motorhome to drive to British Columbia to escape the Alberta winter and had moved from the residence in the Eagle Hill area into her car when she learned the motorhome she was interested in would not pass a safety inspection.
"So I shoved that to the back of the burner."
That was Jan. 2, Nunns said, the same day her car, which had originally belonged to her mother, broke down.
Keeping warm with blankets and body heat from the cats, she said she stayed in her car that night.
The next day, a group of people concerned for the welfare of the dog took the animal from Nunns’ car and have been caring for it ever since.
Nunns and the cats ended up moving in with some friends in the Eagle Hill area on the night of Jan. 3 and she has since moved into a more permanent residence in the region, although she did not want to disclose where she is now living.
The Alberta SPCA is currently investigating the circumstances around the animals living in Nunns’ car and she said she has had dealings with the SPCA in the past but was never charged.
The Olds RCMP did receive calls about Nunns living in her car and Staff Sgt. Joe Sangster, the detachment’s commander, said every time members spoke with her, she declined any help.
Nunns said the police told her she could go to a hotel instead of living in her car.
"But if I couldn’t take the animals, I’m not leaving them out there when it’s cold."
Her new home, she said, welcomes pets and she is still hoping to be reunited with Solei before making any further plans to leave Alberta.
The woman caring for Solei has said she won’t return the dog due to the poor condition it was in when she found it in Nunns’ car.
Once a veterinarian gives Solei a clean bill of health, the woman said she planned to find an adoptive home for the dog.
Nunns said Solei’s low weight and poor health were not due to living in the car, but rather from living in the extreme cold for a number of days when she escaped in early December and was rescued from the Red Deer River area by Sundre firefighters.
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