New York State has ordered pet cemeteries to halt their practice of allowing pet owners to have their ashes placed alongside the graves of their dead pets, saying that the facilities aren't licensed for holding human remains. I don't quite understand the issue — ashes are ashes, they're not generally considered a sanitary hazard (apart from airborne particulate), and it's not as if the residents could object.
The ruling has blocked at least one burial at the 115-year-old Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, which claims to be the nation's oldest.
And it has upset a woman who had prearranged to have her ashes interred there along with five pets, four of which are already buried.
"Suddenly I'm not at peace anymore," Rhona Levy said Friday. "You want to be with the people you are closest with, your true loved ones. The only loved ones I have in my life right now are my pets, which I consider my children."
Levy, 61, said she has no backup plan and is hoping the state order will be reversed.
Taylor York, a law professor, said the state order compounded the grief in her family after the April death of her uncle, Thomas Ryan.
Ryan's wife, Bunny, and their two dogs, B.J. I and B.J. II, are buried at Hartsdale. Ryan had arranged, and prepaid, to join them, York said. There's also a space for B.J. III, who's still alive.
New York Tells Pet Cemeteries to Stop Taking in Humans
(via JWZ)
(Image: Plywood Oreo, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from orinrobertjohn's photostream)
