AFTER LIFE: A new company composts dead pets. Gross or strangely touching?
What happens to Fido after he dies?
Yes, of course, all dogs go to heaven. Their bodies, however, are another matter. And when dealing with those, pet owners have options aplenty: Cremation, burial at a pet cemetery, taxidermy, even freeze-drying or turning their ashes into synthetic diamonds.
Now comes another: Composting. A start-up in Washington state, Rooted Pet, says its new service is something the “pet aftercare space” has been lacking — and one owners can feel good about. Letting kitty decompose in a mixture of organic matter uses less energy than firing up a cremation oven, requires less land than a graveyard and is a poignant, dust-todust type of process, general manager Paul Tschetter says.
“I feel like we’re adding more meaning back into this whole death process,” said Tschetter, whose firm is located outside Olympia, Wash.
This could be a mental hurdle for many grieving pet owners, but Tschetter is probably onto something. The $67 billion pet industry includes a growing aftercare segment catering to owners who, after spending lots keeping animals they consider family members happy and alive, are willing to go to extra lengths when the pets die. More than 700 pet cemeteries and crematoriums in the United States are one testament to the demand.
“If you’re in this business right now,” Tom Flynn, the president of Hillcrest-Flynn Pet Funeral Home and Crematory in Hermitage, Pennsylvania, told Bloomberg Businessweek in 2012, “you’re just sailing with the wind right at your back.”
Given the one cubic yard size of the pods, the company for now can only accept animals weighing up to 100 pounds, Tschetter said; so far it has composted mostly dogs and cats, but also a few birds and a snake. But that might change. Rooted presented at a recent veterinary conference in Washington state last month, and Tschetter said the response from area veterinarians has been “overwhelming.”
People who decide composting their dead pet is right for them can choose from several end products. Let Rooted keep the compost and it will use it on its farm or on a tree-planting project. Get your composted pet back (alone or, for a lower price, mixed with other pets), and you can use it to nourish a new tree in your yard. If that seems a bit too hands-on, Rooted can send you a houseplant growing in compost created from your beloved animal’s remains.
It would be, Tschetter said, a “living memorial.”