{"id":38763,"date":"2026-05-09T19:57:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/38763\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T19:57:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:57:06","slug":"team-nigel-rallies-behind-vancouver-cat-after-complaints-about-his-habits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/38763\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Team Nigel\u2019 rallies behind Vancouver cat after complaints about his habits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Nigel the cat lounges on Frances Street in Vancouver on Friday.ETHAN CAIRNS\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

As he flops down on an East Vancouver pavement for cuddles and back scratches, Nigel is hardly the picture of a cat with a guilty conscience.<\/p>\n

But he stands accused of crimes against the neighbourhood \u2013 and the ensuing drama has resulted in a movement that\u2019s made the already beloved Nigel a local celebrity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Near the corner of Pender Street and Woodland Drive, a growing shrine on a utility pole is peppered with depictions of the feline folk hero.<\/p>\n

Signs and artwork show Nigel and his piercing yellow eyes; many carry the slogan Team Nigel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The movement began roughly three weeks ago, after Nigel\u2019s owners put up signs in the area responding to a neighbour who had been leaving them displeased notes about their cat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The signs suggested the neighbour was upset with Nigel\u2019s behaviour and had been leaving increasingly \u201cangry\u201d notes related to Nigel\u2019s alleged gluttony.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur sense is that you are allowing him into your home and feeding him, which is encouraging him to return to your home and beg for food,\u201d his owners responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that he can be persistent, but assure you that he has a warm home and plentiful food to come to,\u201d the signs read.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first Nigel fan\u2019s artwork appeared on the pole shortly after, and from there his legend grew.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nigel now has his own Instagram account; in a message, the page\u2019s creator said they are Nigel\u2019s \u201cnumber 1 fan\u201d and created the account to uplift the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cNigel is known to many as a sweet street cat who enjoys pets and warm car hoods on cold nights. He can outrun raccoons, is noted on Google Maps, and is a real standup guy. While we are unsure of the origins of the feud, we are wholeheartedly #teamnigel,\u201d one of the page\u2019s posts says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The \u201cShrine of Nigel<\/a>\u201d is listed as a tourist attraction on Google Maps, and its five-star rating contains rave reviews from those who have interacted with the cat.<\/p>\n

Signs on the shrine were removed about a week ago. But they were quickly replenished.<\/p>\n

BC Hydro said posting signs on utility poles is prohibited because they pose a safety risk for power line workers, since staples and fasteners can damage equipment. But it said it had no record of the signs being removed by staff.<\/p>\n

One of the older signs contained details of Nigel\u2019s rumoured crimes: \u201cGrand theft tuna. Suspicion of snacklifting. Known association with the East Van meowfia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Nigel\u2019s neighbours say the cat is innocent of all charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Team Nigel. They\u2019re unfounded, baseless claims,\u201d neighbour Marcin Owczarzak said, adding that while the cat seems well fed, he is not a \u201cglutton.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Owczarzak said Nigel is well known in the community, and while he\u2019s occasionally had to chase the territorial feline away from his own cats, Nigel is usually \u201csuper friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s basically like the neighbourhood superhero,\u201d neighbour Christopher Dutchak said, adding that while some might take issue with the idea of a free-roaming cat, most of the community is still Team Nigel.<\/p>\n

Another neighbour, Beatriz Fantini, said Nigel is a \u201csweet\u201d and friendly cat who likes to greet others by brushing up against their legs.<\/p>\n

She had already heard of Nigel before his recent bout with fame, saying one of the things that drew her to the neighbourhood was Nigel\u2019s status as a tourist attraction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fantini said she\u2019s noticed others making a pilgrimage to the shrine and excitedly meeting their new hero, who seems to bask in the attention.<\/p>\n

Nigel spent part of his Friday morning lounging on a bench in a neighbour\u2019s yard, before jumping down and rubbing up against a reporter\u2019s legs in a friendly greeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just been cool to see the community rally together around him,\u201d Fantini said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She added that she hopes his owners feel supported by their community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to know that we all love Nigel and we want him to just continue living his happy cat life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Nigel the cat lounges on Frances Street in Vancouver on Friday.ETHAN CAIRNS\/The Canadian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,95,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-38763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-travel","51":"tag-trudeau","52":"tag-us-news","53":"tag-vancouver","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}