VILLAGE PET PAGES 

By Joy and Brian Pape

Banksy, The West Village Cat

After reading The Village View’s Pet Pages, Shelby emailed us and asked how she could get her cat into the Pet Pages. We accepted her request and made an appointment to come to their home to meet Banksy. Shelby asked me to first look up into window before buzzing her Perry Street apartment. “You’ll see Banksy in the window.” 

Why did you recommend we write about Banksy?
Banksy is a fixture on Perry Street in the window! As we all know, most affordable apartments in theWest Village have very little view. I picked the apartment SOLELY for the amazing view for Banksy who loves to look out and watch people. I considered putting a sticker on it to frost the glass for more privacy, but I absolutely cannot ruin his view! The heater is right under the window. He loves it in the hot weather too. The air conditioner blows on him and the sun comes through the window to warm him.

How did you find him?
I wanted to adopt a black cat since I wear a lot of black clothing! I saw a photo of him online and called ahead to see if he could come home the same day. I loved him immediately and could tell the staff clearly enjoyed him. I adopted him from Best Friends Animal Society in Soho on New Year’s Eve, 2021. They said he was born Halloween, 2020. He only weighed 5.5 lbs. at the time and definitely looked like a kitten!

Why did you name him Banksy?
I wanted something with a NYC-vibe. My family had just been in town and we had seen a Banksy exhibition. Something about his clipped ear reminds me of the street graffiti artist being outside of the law. His face is non-symmetrical like a graffiti painting! Like someone stenciled the face of a cat.

What’s Banksy’s favorite thing to do?
Truthfully, he hasn’t met any other cats or dogs since the shelter but he’s great with people! Banksy loves lazing around in the window where people can see him, especially on Saturday mornings when there is extra foot traffic. He loves watching the neighborhood from his window. We regularly hear people outside saying they know who he is and love walking by him. So many people asked Banksy, “what’s your name?” I posted online to give people more of a way to know more about him. 

What’s his favorite food?
He LOVES his food! He wakes me up when the sun rises asking for breakfast and insists on dinner right when I get home. I like to joke that he thinks I’ve been out “hunting” for him.  He loves his “Fancy Feast” – just like the foodies in the Village.

What do you love most about Banksy?
I like to entertain a lot. Banksy never hides from the noise and no matter how many people are here, he always comes to sit in my lap and watch over the room. 

What would you like us to know about him?
His clipped ear used to really bother me. Once I learned more about it, I completely forget that I once thought of it as mutilation. This is what I want people to know—a humane way of managing stray/feral cats is to catch them, fix them and, while under anesthesia, remove a small portion of their ear to indicate that they have already been fixed. This is actually more humane than traumatizing feral cats by constantly chasing and re-catching them. Don’t worry, Banksy absolutely loves ear scratches and has no idea anything is wrong with it. 

Learn more at aspca.org/helping-people-pets

Hello Dahlia! Welcome to the Village

In Dahlia’s family’s own words:

Dahlia is a female rescue dog from Bideawee Animal Shelter. She came into our family in June 2023 and our daughters, Lina and Stella, determined that our new pup was five months old. 

We had no preconceived notion on what rescue dog we would adopt. Actually, we weren’t even sure if we could take on another responsibility. It was summer and our daughters were home from their colleges. It was also a time when our tight-knit family was evolving, the dynamics of the parents-daughter relationship were changing. It was a time of letting go and redefining, with growing pains, to go with it. 

We needed something and the idea of getting a dog was floated. “Let’s volunteer to walk dogs at Bideawee” quickly evolved into “let’s get a dog.” So, when we arrived at the shelter, two volunteers appeared with this long legged, big pawed puppy. She came straight over, gently snuggled up and seemed to say, “play with me.”

We were told that her name is Dahlia and that she is a beagle mix. Later it turned out she is five kinds of coon hound with some beagle (mostly the coloring) and some Swiss white sheepdog. Dad jokes—he is Swiss—that it is his part of Dahlia’s lineage. After our first meeting with Dahlia, mom was still on the fence. The next day, though, we all took the leap of faith to adopt Dahlia. 

The dog run at Westside Highway and Leroy quickly became her favorite playground where she loves coaxing other dogs to play. Her long flailing legs are her signature move. She made many dog friends and we were introduced to this community of dog loving people in the West Village. True to her hound nature, her nose is glued to the streets and everything, savory or not, is of interest. 

Dahlia almost instantly became a member of our family. She seemed to know us and feel us in such a deep and loving way. The parents are both artists and their routines changed, with early morning trips to the dog run and then off to the studios, where accommodations were made for Dahlia. 

We have now settled into our routines in the West Village, our wonderful community for people with dogs. On weekends, dad has his coffee with Dahlia at his favorite spots (Bar Pisellino and Maison Kitsune), where Dahlia gets a lot of attention. Some evenings, we like to take her to Malatesta Trattoria, our local go-to with great food and the lovely people who work there greet dogs with open arms. 

Our family feels so fortunate that Dahlia picked us.

Bideawee Animal Shelter is located at 24th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. It’s a wonderful place that takes in rescues and tries to place them in loving homes.