Man’s best cemetery hits agenda
A resting place for man’s best friend in a dusty Western Australian town sparked an idea.
Now that idea has set a small New Zealand town on a roll.
Hunterville community committee member Richard Gower saw a dog cemetery in Corrigin and asked around when get returned home, to see if the idea was a goer in the Rangitikei town.
Councillor Dean Mcmanaway said there was wide support for the canine cemetery.
‘‘Hunterville is renowned for it’s huntaway dogs and the shemozzle and all things related to the farming dog, [so we thought] we should have a look at it ourselves in Hunterville.
‘‘There’s really nothing in New Zealand.’’
After getting the committee on board, Mcmanaway said they had to make sure they went through all the proper processess to get the idea off the ground.
He imagined a sub-committee would be formed to take charge and there was a piece of land in Hunterville he thought might fit the bill.
Mcmanaway will check with council chief executive Ross Mcneil to see if this land would work, and then the plans will be drawn up.
’’In due course we will be looking at the ability to maybe put it in there, making sure it is the right size, making sure it’s big enough.
‘‘My biggest fear is it would fill up too quickly, but then again, that’s for the committee to decide.’’
As the idea was still new, Mcmanaway said the nuts and bolts were still being worked out.
‘‘We are trying to get it into the annual plan.’’
Mcmanaway said he took his hat off to anyone who came forward with an idea.
‘‘I think this one is a pretty good one.
‘‘We tend to treat [dogs] as our best friends and the hard part is [what you do] when they die.
‘‘Most people shift around and they would like a permanent place to put them.’’
Any cemetery would cater for all canines.
‘‘It’s going to be a dog cemetery, not just a huntaway dog cemetery.
‘‘I would be very surprised if we didn’t follow through.’’