IED WITH OUR PETS
ashes alongside pet ashes, a human burial ground needs an environmental permit from the Environment Agency to allow pet ashes or remains on the site.
An estimated 1.5million pet dogs and cats die every year in the UK, according to the Association of Private Pet Cemeteries and Crematoria (APPCC).
About 20 per cent of owners choose to bury their pet in their own garden – as long as you get permission you can even bury a human on your own land.
A further one per cent are buried in pet cemeteries, 40 per cent are individually cremated and the rest are disposed of by mass incineration by vets.
Increasingly pet crematoria offer a service enabling an owner’s ashes to be mixed with and then scattered or buried with those of their pet. Usually costing between £120 and £220 including the urn, it is cheaper than buying a joint burial plot, which will set you back upwards of £1,000. Kevin Spurgeon is director of the APPCC and owner of Dignity Pet Crematorium in Hook, Hampshire, which was one of the first of its kind in the country when it was founded by his parents, Barry and Carole, 25 years ago.
HE STARTED offering a combined pet and human ash-scattering service in March 2013 in response to growing demand from pet owners. “Our first human ashes at Dignity were those of a lovely lady who visited us and chose the plot where she wanted to be buried with her two beloved cats,” reveals Kevin.
Since then Kevin’s own mother’s ashes have also been buried in the gardens at Dignity alongside three treasured family pets – two German shepherds and a cat. “My father died last year and his ashes will be joining them when we feel ready,” he says, adding wants to be buried with when the time comes.
“More people now take their deceased pet to a specialist pet crematorium with some even opting for a funeral-type service rather than leaving the animal’s remains with the vet to be taken away with clinical waste. They want their pet’s body to be looked after and respected. I even had one chap who brought his rabbit to us having kept the body in the freezer for two years.
“At Dignity we only cremate one pet at a time, just as you would with humans – from budgies and hamsters all the way up to Great Danes. Many people want their horses cremated but a horse gen-erates 25kg of ashes so I refer them to specialist horse crematorium although I still arrange everything.”
The Church does not allow pet ashes into consecrated ground although Kevin reveals that this that he his pets leads many bereaved people to surreptitiously dig a small hole in the grave of a loved one into which they then place a pet’s ashes.
He says it is vital for anyone wishing to be laid to rest with their pet to plan ahead. “A lot of people write it into their will that they want their pet’s ashes to be put in the coffin with their body before they themselves are cremated but that’s illegal, although it still does not stop the odd funeral director from doing it,” he explains.
“You have got to go about it properly. Put a letter of wishes with your will stating that when you die you would like the ashes of your pet to be buried or scattered with your own and detail the specific location. But don’t forget to say where your pet’s ashes are.”
Sarah Clayton, 51, has instructed the close friend named as the executor of her will that her ashes must be buried with those of her three border terriers Nellie, Bertie, and Doris. “The dogs are like my Daily Express Saturday April 1 2017 children,” says Sarah, who is single and lives in Cumbria. “I got Nellie six years ago when I was going through the break-up of a longterm relationship and nursing my mum who had Alzheimer’s. Shortly afterwards I got Bertie.”
SARAH adds: “Nellie gave birth to their pup Doris three days before my mum died in January 2013, which kept me occupied at a very sad time. Nellie especially won’t leave my side if I’m upset and will lick my tears. I can’t imagine being without them in death either.
“Friends who know about my wishes are supportive. I’m not sure I believe in an afterlife but I would not want to risk not being with my dogs if there is one.
“Either way it is comforting to know that one day the four of us will be buried together.”