INTERESTING FACTS

There are more than 600 active Pet Cemeteries in the United States. Of these, about 400 are good operating businesses.

Most Pet Cemeteries operate in conjunction with other pet related business: boarding kennels, grooming salons, training centers and Veterinarian Hospitals. Some Human Cemeteries have set aside a portion of their ground for pet burials. Some Pet Cemeteries operate on a full time basis, specifically dedicated to the burial or cremation of pets.

The oldest known Pet Cemetery was uncovered in Green County, IL by archaeologist, Dr. Stewart Schrever, He believes the pets were interred there around 6500 BC-

The oldest operating Pet Cemetery in the United States is the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in New York, established in 1896.

The largest Pet Cemetery in the United States is Bide-A-Wee Home Association, also located in New York. Bide-A-Wee operates at least three animal shelters, as well as its satellite Pet Cemeteries and has over 5000 pets in one site alone.

Of the thousands of pets that die each day, less than 200 are buried in Pet Cemeteries.

Local or County ordinances determine whether or not a pet can be buried at home. These laws are set up mainly due to the health hazards caused by other animals trying to dig them up.

A Pet Cemetery should be so deeded to insure pet owners that their remains will not be disturbed by land development, etc... They should also maintain a Care Fund (as do Human Cemeteries) to insure that funds will be available for the continuing maintenance of the grounds and roadways. Access should be kept open in the event of development around a Pet Cemetery. The land should be owned by the proprietors or cemetery corporation, not leased or rented.

There are no 'Magical Burial Grounds'. It is the pet owners responsibility to determine the disposition of the pet's body. Pets left at clinics or hospitals can be: sent to local land fill, sent to rendering plants, or incinerated, sent to local pet cemeteries for communal burial or sent to local pet cemeteries for private burial. The final decision belongs to the pet owner.