Pet cemetery

This article is about cemeteries for pets. For the Tierra Whack song, see Whack World. For the Stephen King novel, see Pet Sematary. For other uses, see Pet Sematary (disambiguation).

"Dog cemetery" redirects here. For the mass grave of political derelicts named by Yugoslav partisans/communists, see Leftist errors.

Entrance to Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York

A pet cemetery is a cemetery for pets. Although the veneration and burial of beloved pets has been practiced since ancient times, burial grounds reserved specifically for animals were not common until the late 19th century.

History

Mummified cat at the Louvre

Many human cultures buried animal remains. For example, the Ancient Egyptians mummified and buried cats, which they considered deities; one of the oldest known pet cemeteries, the Berenice pet cemetery, mainly used for cat burials, was found during the excavation of the Berenice Troglodytica seaport in 2011 and was used between the 1st and 2nd century CE.^[1] Archaeologists have found that dogs were buried alongside humans in Siberia as many as 8,000 years ago.^[2] The Ashkelon dog cemetery, the largest known dog cemetery in the ancient world, was discovered at the Ashkelon National Park in Ashkelon, Israel.^[3]

The Hiran Minar near Lahore, Pakistan is a minaret that was built in approximately 1606 CE by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir in honor of his beloved pet antelope Mansraj.^[4]

London's Hyde Park was the site of an informal pet cemetery between 1881 and 1903, in the gatekeeper's garden.^[5] From the first burial of "Cherry" until its official closure in 1903, it received 300 burials with miniature headstones,^[6] with a final special burial of the Royal Marines mascot dog "Prince" in 1967.^[7]

Cimetière des Chiens

Cimetière des Chiens in Asnières-sur-Seine in Paris, dating from 1899, is an elaborate, sculpted pet cemetery believed to be one of the first public zoological necropolis in the world.^[8]

America's largest and oldest pet cemetery is the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. It dates from 1896, when a veterinarian working out of Manhattan offered to let a grieving pet owner bury her dog at his hillside apple orchard. Today, it is the final resting place to around 80,000 animals including famous ones like Mariah Carey's cat Clarence and Ming the tiger.^[9][10] The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.^[11] Some other famous American pet cemeteries include Aspin Hill Memorial Park in Silver Spring, Maryland, believed to be the second-oldest in America,^[12][13] as well as the Pet Memorial Cemetery in Calabasas, California, where Hopalong Cassidy's horse, Topper, Steven Spielberg's Jack Russell Terrier, and Rudolph Valentino's dog, Kabar, are buried.^[14]

Burial with humans

At some cemeteries, such as Aspin Hill Memorial Park,^[15] human and animal remains may be interred alongside each other. In January 2010, West Lindsey District Council gave permission for a site in the village of Stainton by Langworth to inter animal remains alongside human remains as part of a "green burial" site, making it the first place in England where pets could be buried alongside their owners.^[16] In 2011, New York State formally adopted guidelines to allow human burials in pet cemeteries as long as the cemetery doesn't advertise it or charge a burial fee.^[9]

Gallery

Asia

• 
  Hiran Minar near Lahore, Pakistan
• 
  Meher Baba's animal tombs, Upper Meherabad

Europe

• 
  Pet cemetery in Vienna, Austria
• 
  Pet cemetery in Helsinki, Finland
• 
  Pet cemetery in Berlin, Germany
• 
  Pet cemetery in Vilnius, Lithuania
• 
  Pet cemetery in Lisbon, Portugal
• 
  Pet cemetery in Stockholm, Sweden

North America

• 
  Pet cemetery in the Presidio of San Francisco, California
• 
  Dog funeral at Aspin Hill Memorial Park (1921) in Silver Spring, Maryland
• 
  Pet cemetery in Santa Fe, Texas
• 
  Hale's Half Acre Pet Cemetery in Houston, Texas

Oceania

• 
  Corrigin Dog Cemetery in Corrigin, Western Australia

See also

• Animal loss
• Pet Sematary
• Pet humanization

References

1. Grimm, David (26 February 2021). "Graves of nearly 600 cats and dogs in ancient Egypt may be world's oldest pet cemetery". Science. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
2. "Siberia's Ancient Dog Burials". Archaeology. Archaeological Institute of America. 3 March 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
3. Stager, Lawrence E. (May–June 1991). "Why were hundreds of dogs buried at Ashkelon". bib-arch.org. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
4. "Hiran Minar". Tourism, Archaeology and Museums Department, Government of the Punjab. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
5. "The Victorian Pet Cemetery of Hyde Park". Fun London Tours. 10 July 2018.
6. "The Pet Cemetery of Hyde Park". London Insight Blog. 6 October 2010.
7. "Hyde Park Pet Cemetery". London 365. 11 November 2012.
8. A tour of Parisian pet cemetery Cimetière des Chiens Archived 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
9. Keh, Andrew (7 January 2024). "Who Was the Mysterious Woman Buried Alone at the Pet Cemetery?". The New York Times.
10. "Apple orchard that became New York's famous Hartsdale Pet Cemetery".
11. "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 8/13/12 through 8/17/12. National Park Service. 24 August 2012.
12. Blitz, Matt (11 December 2015). "55,000 Pets—and 30 People—Are Buried in Silver Spring's Aspin Hill Memorial Park". Washingtonian. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
13. Kelly, John (3 September 2019). "More than 50,000 animals are buried in this cemetery". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
14. "Grave of a Petey, Little Rascals Dog". Roadside America. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
15. "Grave of a Petey, Little Rascals Dog". Roadside America. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
16. "Pet lovers can be buried with their animals". Sunday Express. Retrieved 25 January 2010.

External links

• Founded in 1899, the oldest pet cemetery is near Paris, France
• Virtual Pet Cemetery - Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial
• International Association Of Pet Cemeteries & Crematories
• Interfaith Association of Animal Chaplains
• Virtual Pet cemetery
• A Virtual Pet cemetery
• pets lovers
• Pet Cemeteries – slideshow by Life magazine
• Pet Cemetery Directory – for pet cemeteries across the US and Canada
• Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery History
• Pet Cemetery in Athens – animal burial unit under European license