Pet cemetery
A pet cemetery is a cemetery for pets.
History
Many human cultures buried animal remains. For example, the Ancient Egyptians mummified and buried cats, which they considered deities, and the largest known dog cemetery in the ancient world was discovered at the Ashkelon National Park in Ashkelon, Israel.[1]
London's Hyde Park was the site of an informal pet cemetery between 1881 and 1903, in the gatekeeper's garden.[2] From the first burial of "Cherry" until its official closure in 1903, it received 300 burials with miniature headstones,[3] with a final special burial of the Royal Marines mascot dog "Prince" in 1967.[4]
Cimetière des Chiens in Asnières-sur-Seine in Paris, dating from 1899, is an elaborate, sculpted pet cemetery believed to be one of the first public zoological necropolis in the world.[5]
America's largest and oldest pet cemetery is in Hartsdale, New York. It dates from 1896, when a veterinarian working out of Manhattan offered to let a grieving pet owner bury her dog in his hillside apple orchard. Today, it is the final resting place for more than 70,000 animals.[6] The Hartsdale Pet Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.[7] Some other famous American pet cemeteries are Aspin Hill Memorial Park in Silver Spring, Maryland, where celebrity animals such as seven of J. Edgar Hoover's dogs, such as his Cairn terrier Spee De Bozo,[8] and internees at the "Medical Rats Memorial" are buried. (General Grant of R.K.O. was rumored to be Petey of the Our Gang and Little Rascals movies, but this is not true);[9] as well as the Pet Memorial Cemetery in Calabasas, California, where Hopalong Cassidy's horse, Topper, Steven Spielberg's Jack Russell Terrier, and Rudolph Valentino's dog, Kabar, are buried.[10]
Burial options
At some cemeteries, such as Aspin Hill Memorial Park in Silver Spring, Maryland[11] human and animal remains may be interred alongside each other. In January 2010, West Lindsey District Council gave permission for a site in the village of Stainton by Langworth to inter animal remains alongside human remains as part of a "green burial" site, making it the first place in England where pets could be buried alongside their owners.[12]
See also
References
- ^ "Why are hundreds of dogs buried at Ashkelon". bib-arch.org.
- ^ "The Victorian Pet Cemetery of Hyde Park". Fun London Tours.
- ^ The Pet Cemetery of Hyde Park London insight Blog, 6 October 2010
- ^ Hyde Park Pet Cemetery London 365, 11 November 2012
- ^ A tour of Parisian pet cemetery Cimetière des Chiens Archived 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Apple orchard that became New York's famous Hartsdale Pet Cemetery
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 8/13/12 through 8/17/12. National Park Service. 24 August 2012.
- ^ "Spee De Bozo". Find a Grave. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ "Grave of a Petey, Little Rascals Dog". Roadside America. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "Grave of a Petey, Little Rascals Dog". Roadside America. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "Grave of a Petey, Little Rascals Dog". Roadside America. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "Pet lovers can be buried with their animals", Sunday Express, accessed 25 January 2010
External links
- Virtual Pet Cemetery - Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial
- International Association Of Pet Cemeteries & Crematories
- Interfaith Association of Animal Chaplains
- Virtual Pet cemetery
- A Virtual Pet cemetery
- Pet Cemeteries – slideshow by Life magazine
- Pet Cemetery Directory – for pet cemeteries across the US and Canada
- Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery History
- Pet Cemetery in Athens – animal burial unit under European license