Pets Can't Take Their Owners With Them When They Die

Bad news for pets and their beloved owners: New York's Division of Cemeteries has instructed animal cemeteries to stop burying the ashes of pet owners alongside deceased Lassies and Patches. And as you can imagine, owners who have been affected are none too pleased about it: "Suddenly I'm not at peace anymore. 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." Bronx resident Rhona Levy told NBC.

Levy had prearranged to have her ashes interred there along with five pets, four of whom are already buried at the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in Westchester—her dog Snow, cats Putchke, Pumpkin, Twinkie and Shaina (who is still alive). The pet cemetery has long allowed people to be buried with their pets, as long as their pets were buried their first, and they were cremated. Hartsdale has an estimated 700 humans interred with about 75,000 animals; they add approximately 10-12 new people each year.

Cemetery director Edward Martin told the Post that its lawyers have always maintained that the human ashes "are no longer human" and therefore could be placed anywhere. But the state is cracking down after an AP article about the practice came out earlier this year. According to state law, any cemetery providing burial space for humans must be operated as a not-for-profit corporation, which they say Hartsdale isn't. Martin told NBC that it was ridiculous that they can't accomodate owners now: "As of now, we've suspended the human part of it, but it's our position that they don't have the authority to do this."

And in the meantime, families will have to deal with the fallout. Law professor Taylor York said the state order has prevented her uncle, Thomas Ryan, from being buried with his wife, Bunny, and their two dogs BJ I and BJ II (though there is still space for the still living BJ III). "My uncle wants to be buried beside his wife and what he considered to be his children and I'm not letting anyone stand in the way. His love for those dogs was just as real and just as strong as any parent's for any child," she said.