BURIAL AND ETERNITY
Sharing Final Resting Place With Pets
The headstone of Edward A. Way, who died in 1976, reads: “Here we sleep forever, I and my beloved Bibi, my loving companion for fourteen years, together in life, together in death.” Except Bibi was not Edward’s wife or girlfriend. She was his cat.
An Associated Press article last weekend focused on the fact that more and more Americans are electing to spend eternity with their pets, with the International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories estimating that 25 percent of the nation’s pet cemeteries take in deceased owners.
According to the article, pet cemeteries require humans to be cremated before they can be joined with the remains of their pets. The owner of one New York pet cemetery said that attorneys have told him there are no regulations prohibiting the practice. However, most human cemeteries do not allow pets to be buried with deceased owners, although some do allow urns with a pet’s ashes to be placed in a casket prior to burial.
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