When Ed Hildebrandt bought Pleasant Mountain Pet Rest in Plymouth in 1980, fewer than three dozen pets were buried there. Today, more than 4,000 animal companions - from cats and dogs to a boa constrictor - are laid to rest in the 3-acre tract bordering Route 3.
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Business is booming, there and at other pet cemeteries in the region, as more people choose to give a human-like memorial to deceased pets. Grief is grief, specialists say, whether for a lost pet or a lost human companion.
Eighty percent of Hildebrandt's clients are choosing to have their pet cremated and returned in a wooden box (average cost: $150). The rest choose private burial (up to $450, depending on the pet's size).
"It's a matter of wanting to do something for the pet so that they know it's not being disposed of in a manner that's distasteful," Hildebrandt said.
Mary Hicks of Halifax is among the pet owners who feel that way.
When Lilly, her pug, and Nacho, her Chihuahua, died within three months of each another in 2001, Hicks, 62, turned to Pleasant Mountain to have a full burial and memorial service.
"It just felt right to me," said Hicks. "I didn't want cremation and I didn't want public cremation or a public burial. I wanted something private. It seemed to work." She visits the site regularly.
"There's a tendency to think it's strange," she acknowledges.
But for veterinarians and others who understand the human-pet bond, it makes perfect sense.
"The grief process is exactly the same," whether the deceased loved one is a human or a pet, said Dr. Stefanie Schwartz, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist for more than 20 years. "But our society does not recognize it to the same degree."
"Losing a pet can be more impactful and more emotionally profound than losing a family member," said Schwartz, who runs a pet loss support group at VCA South Shore Animal Hospital in Weymouth. "There are unresolved emotional issues with people, but the relationship with the pet can be very pure."
Schwartz said a pet can symbolize the "ideal" relationship the owner may be lacking with parents, siblings, or spouses.
"When that pet goes, it's shattering all the hopes and dreams and securities," she continued. "The relationships we have with our pets are sacred in a different way."
The loss of a pet can also be more devastating because of the potential insensitivity toward the pet-owner relationship. Schwartz noted that owners most often have to take a personal day from work for the loss of a pet, but are given weeks for the loss of a family member or friend.
Other veterinarians, including Dr. Lisa Barber, who oversees the pet loss support hot line at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, agreed that the pet-owner bond can eclipse that of some human relationships.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Pet heroes honoured as cemetery reopens
In the war the pigeons would all have had to be shot for dereliction of duty: released from the hands of actor Jenny Seagrove, instead of swooping in the planned elegant V-formation across one of the most extraordinary cemeteries in Britain, they took one look at the assembled crowd of photographers, did a swift U-turn over the hedge, and headed north for Manchester and home.
Among thousands of domestic moggies and much mourned mongrels, many with expensive headstones describing the grief of humans signing themselves "Mum" and "Dad", 12 animals described as war heroes lie in a sloping field on the north eastern borders of London.
Pet heroes honoured as cemetery reopensMaev KennedyFriday December 14, 2007Guardian Unlimited In memory of brave pets ... the PDSA's Ilford animal cemetery. Photograph: Cate Gillon/Getty
In the war the pigeons would all have had to be shot for dereliction of duty: released from the hands of actor Jenny Seagrove, instead of swooping in the planned elegant V-formation across one of the most extraordinary cemeteries in Britain, they took one look at the assembled crowd of photographers, did a swift U-turn over the hedge, and headed north for Manchester and home.
Among thousands of domestic moggies and much mourned mongrels, many with expensive headstones describing the grief of humans signing themselves "Mum" and "Dad", 12 animals described as war heroes lie in a sloping field on the north eastern borders of London.
Article continues
It was still deep countryside when the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, a 90-year-old charity, which each year still cares for thousands of pets of people too poor to pay vet bills, created the cemetery. After over 3,000 burials it closed in the 1960s, and soon became overgrown and forlorn, tree roots toppling monuments and moss blurring inscriptions.
Yesterday it was formally reopened to the public, after restoration work funded by a £50,000 Big Lottery grant. The site includes the graves of 12 Dickin Medal winners, the animal equivalent of a VC, a fifth of all those ever awarded.
The pigeons passed the grave of Mary of Exeter, a pigeon that made four flights carrying messages back from wartime France, returning seriously injured each time. On her last return shrapnel damaged her neck muscles, but her owner, an Exeter cobbler, made her a leather collar which held her head up and kept her going for another 10 years.
Jake, a present-day Metropolitan Police explosives detector dog, sniffed curiously yesterday at the grave of Simon, the only cat ever to win the medal, for heroic ratting on board HMS Amethyst during the 100 days the ship spent trapped by Chinese communist rebels on the Yangtze River, in 1949.
Fortunately, according to Commander Stuart Hett, who briefly served as the cat's correspondence secretary, Simon was a small but fearless creature who quite liked dogs. Simon was originally the captain's cat, a privileged creature who fished ice cubes out of his water jug and crunched them, but after he survived being blown up along with the captain's cabin, became the pet of the whole crew. Hett, then a 23-year-old sub lieutenant, had the chore of replying to thousands of letters after the ship escaped the barrage and the story went worldwide. The decision was taken to bring the furry hero back to Britain, which proved the death of him: he caught cat flu while still in quarantine.
"Can a cat be brave?" Commander Hett considered yesterday. "Is it right to call an animal a hero? I think so, yes. To continue doing everything required of you under fire, to continue giving comfort and succour to your comrades, yes I think you could properly call that bravery."
Among thousands of domestic moggies and much mourned mongrels, many with expensive headstones describing the grief of humans signing themselves "Mum" and "Dad", 12 animals described as war heroes lie in a sloping field on the north eastern borders of London.
Pet heroes honoured as cemetery reopensMaev KennedyFriday December 14, 2007Guardian Unlimited In memory of brave pets ... the PDSA's Ilford animal cemetery. Photograph: Cate Gillon/Getty
In the war the pigeons would all have had to be shot for dereliction of duty: released from the hands of actor Jenny Seagrove, instead of swooping in the planned elegant V-formation across one of the most extraordinary cemeteries in Britain, they took one look at the assembled crowd of photographers, did a swift U-turn over the hedge, and headed north for Manchester and home.
Among thousands of domestic moggies and much mourned mongrels, many with expensive headstones describing the grief of humans signing themselves "Mum" and "Dad", 12 animals described as war heroes lie in a sloping field on the north eastern borders of London.
Article continues
It was still deep countryside when the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, a 90-year-old charity, which each year still cares for thousands of pets of people too poor to pay vet bills, created the cemetery. After over 3,000 burials it closed in the 1960s, and soon became overgrown and forlorn, tree roots toppling monuments and moss blurring inscriptions.
Yesterday it was formally reopened to the public, after restoration work funded by a £50,000 Big Lottery grant. The site includes the graves of 12 Dickin Medal winners, the animal equivalent of a VC, a fifth of all those ever awarded.
The pigeons passed the grave of Mary of Exeter, a pigeon that made four flights carrying messages back from wartime France, returning seriously injured each time. On her last return shrapnel damaged her neck muscles, but her owner, an Exeter cobbler, made her a leather collar which held her head up and kept her going for another 10 years.
Jake, a present-day Metropolitan Police explosives detector dog, sniffed curiously yesterday at the grave of Simon, the only cat ever to win the medal, for heroic ratting on board HMS Amethyst during the 100 days the ship spent trapped by Chinese communist rebels on the Yangtze River, in 1949.
Fortunately, according to Commander Stuart Hett, who briefly served as the cat's correspondence secretary, Simon was a small but fearless creature who quite liked dogs. Simon was originally the captain's cat, a privileged creature who fished ice cubes out of his water jug and crunched them, but after he survived being blown up along with the captain's cabin, became the pet of the whole crew. Hett, then a 23-year-old sub lieutenant, had the chore of replying to thousands of letters after the ship escaped the barrage and the story went worldwide. The decision was taken to bring the furry hero back to Britain, which proved the death of him: he caught cat flu while still in quarantine.
"Can a cat be brave?" Commander Hett considered yesterday. "Is it right to call an animal a hero? I think so, yes. To continue doing everything required of you under fire, to continue giving comfort and succour to your comrades, yes I think you could properly call that bravery."
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Animal group says Westside pet shop sold from puppy mills
The head of the Humane Society of the United States on Tuesday accused a Westside pet store catering to celebrities of selling puppies obtained from puppy mills.Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the society, a national animal advocacy organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C., made a presentation on what he called an undercover investigation of Pets of Bel Air, a pet store and grooming business tucked into the Beverly Glen Circle shopping plaza in Bel-Air. The store has attracted such high-profile customers as pop star Britney Spears and actress Denise Richards, among others.
"Our employees were on the inside of Pets of Bel Air," said Pacelle, who made his presentation at the West Los Angeles Animal Care Center, accompanied by Ed Boks, general manager of L.A. Animal Services, which runs the city's shelters."Our undercover investigators found staffers were knowingly misrepresenting how the dogs were obtained," Pacelle said.Just hours after the news conference, the pet store was shut down by L.A. Animal Services for selling pets without a proper permit from the city and for not having veterinary records available for inspection."This is largely symbolic," Boks said. "They can buy a permit and reopen."He joined Pacelle in denouncing the store's alleged practice of selling puppies from puppy mills, calling it "unconscionable."Neither operating a so-called puppy mill nor securing dogs from one is a crime. But animal welfare advocates denounce as inhumane and cruel the breeding practice of keeping dogs on a mass scale to produce puppies for sale.Pacelle said the Humane Society reviewed records of 28 breeders supplying the pet store. Undercover investigators went to five of those breeders and found them to be "large scale breeding facilities -- like factories," Pacelle said.Pacelle showed a video of people who the Humane Society contends were Pets of Bel Air employees, on which they state that they try not to refer to an animal as "sick" even if it is ill.Store owner Tom Demick said Tuesday night in a phone interview that he had not bought puppies from a puppy mill -- "not to our knowledge. I've worked with pet stores in the past. I've seen the worst. I set this store up to do the best. We pride ourselves on our animal husbandry. We're all very compassionate about how we do it."Demick, who said his store had been open since 1999, took issue with the Humane Society's videotape of employees downplaying dogs' illnesses. "That was so twisted," said Demick of the video. "They cut that segment short."He said it was an "oversight" that he had not paid for a permit. "I told the [animals services] officers I had no idea I was three years behind on this," said Demick, who added he would take care of it immediately.Tuesday afternoon, as animal services officers conferred with employees inside the shuttered Pets of Bel Air, puppies for sale tussled with each other in crib-like structures in the front windows, or napped, undisturbed by the small crowd of reporters and photographers peering in at them.Pacelle defined puppy mills as places where female dogs are bred every time they come into heat, a practice he called "incredibly stressful on the system."Pacelle said the dogs and puppies are usually not socialized and are often housed in small wire cages -- causing the animals to endlessly bark and circle, he explained. In addition, inbreeding leads to genetic problems.Pacelle said some of the Humane Society's documentation had been turned over to the county district attorney's office as possible evidence of fraud."We have on tape a number of false representations made to clients," said Pacelle, referring to footage that appears to show store employees stating that the store never sells from puppy mills.Both Pacelle and Boks urged potential dog owners to get dogs from shelters. The West L.A. shelter had some mixed breed puppies Tuesday, several of which should be available for adoption in the next couple of weeks.carla.hall@latimes.com
"Our employees were on the inside of Pets of Bel Air," said Pacelle, who made his presentation at the West Los Angeles Animal Care Center, accompanied by Ed Boks, general manager of L.A. Animal Services, which runs the city's shelters."Our undercover investigators found staffers were knowingly misrepresenting how the dogs were obtained," Pacelle said.Just hours after the news conference, the pet store was shut down by L.A. Animal Services for selling pets without a proper permit from the city and for not having veterinary records available for inspection."This is largely symbolic," Boks said. "They can buy a permit and reopen."He joined Pacelle in denouncing the store's alleged practice of selling puppies from puppy mills, calling it "unconscionable."Neither operating a so-called puppy mill nor securing dogs from one is a crime. But animal welfare advocates denounce as inhumane and cruel the breeding practice of keeping dogs on a mass scale to produce puppies for sale.Pacelle said the Humane Society reviewed records of 28 breeders supplying the pet store. Undercover investigators went to five of those breeders and found them to be "large scale breeding facilities -- like factories," Pacelle said.Pacelle showed a video of people who the Humane Society contends were Pets of Bel Air employees, on which they state that they try not to refer to an animal as "sick" even if it is ill.Store owner Tom Demick said Tuesday night in a phone interview that he had not bought puppies from a puppy mill -- "not to our knowledge. I've worked with pet stores in the past. I've seen the worst. I set this store up to do the best. We pride ourselves on our animal husbandry. We're all very compassionate about how we do it."Demick, who said his store had been open since 1999, took issue with the Humane Society's videotape of employees downplaying dogs' illnesses. "That was so twisted," said Demick of the video. "They cut that segment short."He said it was an "oversight" that he had not paid for a permit. "I told the [animals services] officers I had no idea I was three years behind on this," said Demick, who added he would take care of it immediately.Tuesday afternoon, as animal services officers conferred with employees inside the shuttered Pets of Bel Air, puppies for sale tussled with each other in crib-like structures in the front windows, or napped, undisturbed by the small crowd of reporters and photographers peering in at them.Pacelle defined puppy mills as places where female dogs are bred every time they come into heat, a practice he called "incredibly stressful on the system."Pacelle said the dogs and puppies are usually not socialized and are often housed in small wire cages -- causing the animals to endlessly bark and circle, he explained. In addition, inbreeding leads to genetic problems.Pacelle said some of the Humane Society's documentation had been turned over to the county district attorney's office as possible evidence of fraud."We have on tape a number of false representations made to clients," said Pacelle, referring to footage that appears to show store employees stating that the store never sells from puppy mills.Both Pacelle and Boks urged potential dog owners to get dogs from shelters. The West L.A. shelter had some mixed breed puppies Tuesday, several of which should be available for adoption in the next couple of weeks.carla.hall@latimes.com
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