Post by Brooke on Dec 29, 2004 21:57:32 GMT -5
(I hope this doesn't upset anyone. I just thought it would be a good thing to consider.)
All dogs go to heaven
Sunday, December 19, 2004
This is probably not something you’ve thought much about — or would even want to.
But now that old Fido is getting up there in dog years, what will you do with him when he chases his last mailman into the great beyond?
There’s always the backyard — assuming you have one. But check with your municipal office first to make sure it’s legal to bury a pet in a residential area. In many places, it’s not.
That would leave cremation — a $20 to $100 proposition — which would allow you to easily take the “cremains” if you move.
Or a pet cemetery — which wouldn’t. Most likely you wouldn’t want to anyway. It’s best to let “sleeping” dogs lie. And besides, a final resting place should be just that — final.
So let’s say you go that route, figuring you could always go back to pay respects to your loyal friend.
If you shell out hard-earned cash for a plot in a pet cemetery, how long do you think you could reasonably expect it to remain a pet cemetery? For eternity? A millennium? A century? A decade? A few years? At least until you take up residence six feet under?
It’s an interesting question — prompted by a story on last Sunday’s front page by Jennifer Gish.
Back in 1938, the Grandview Pet Cemetery in Codorus Township opened for business. Over the years, some distinguished animals have been buried there — World War II canine corps members, fire dogs and horses. It holds some real York County animal history.
The last animal was buried in the graveyard 23 years ago. But amazingly, mourners still come to visit their beloved pets — many dead three decades or more. That gives you some sense of the emotional attachment.
The people who now own the land, however, have grown weary of the visitors — and the flowers and wreaths they leave behind. They say that as far as they’re concerned, the pets will remain interred forever. They have no plans to build a shopping center — a big-box monstrosity with, say, a Petco — or even houses over the graves.
But they want a yard and a little peace and privacy. An attorney told them there was no legal obligation to maintain the land as a pet cemetery. So while they’ve been patient with the people who still come to visit after all this time, they’d kind of like it to stop.
But what about the people who paid to have their pets there? What about Ramona “Skip” Lease of Lancaster, who said she paid $95 to have “Spookie” buried there 34 years ago — and got a receipt that said it would be a perpetual grave site?
It just doesn’t seem fair to bar her from placing flowers on Spookie’s grave, which she tried to do recently. The families who live there now — descendants of the pet cemetery caretaker, to whom the land was willed by the Gladfelter family, originators of the graveyard — have generously offered to allow mourners to remove the grave plaques as keepsakes.
But that still doesn’t seem fair to those who paid for a gravesite they could visit.
So where does that leave you and Fido?
With some difficult estate planning questions. If you opt to go with a pet cemetery, and envision yourself still returning for three or four decades, you’d be well-advised to read the fine print.
Make sure perPETual care really means forever.
All dogs go to heaven
Sunday, December 19, 2004
This is probably not something you’ve thought much about — or would even want to.
But now that old Fido is getting up there in dog years, what will you do with him when he chases his last mailman into the great beyond?
There’s always the backyard — assuming you have one. But check with your municipal office first to make sure it’s legal to bury a pet in a residential area. In many places, it’s not.
That would leave cremation — a $20 to $100 proposition — which would allow you to easily take the “cremains” if you move.
Or a pet cemetery — which wouldn’t. Most likely you wouldn’t want to anyway. It’s best to let “sleeping” dogs lie. And besides, a final resting place should be just that — final.
So let’s say you go that route, figuring you could always go back to pay respects to your loyal friend.
If you shell out hard-earned cash for a plot in a pet cemetery, how long do you think you could reasonably expect it to remain a pet cemetery? For eternity? A millennium? A century? A decade? A few years? At least until you take up residence six feet under?
It’s an interesting question — prompted by a story on last Sunday’s front page by Jennifer Gish.
Back in 1938, the Grandview Pet Cemetery in Codorus Township opened for business. Over the years, some distinguished animals have been buried there — World War II canine corps members, fire dogs and horses. It holds some real York County animal history.
The last animal was buried in the graveyard 23 years ago. But amazingly, mourners still come to visit their beloved pets — many dead three decades or more. That gives you some sense of the emotional attachment.
The people who now own the land, however, have grown weary of the visitors — and the flowers and wreaths they leave behind. They say that as far as they’re concerned, the pets will remain interred forever. They have no plans to build a shopping center — a big-box monstrosity with, say, a Petco — or even houses over the graves.
But they want a yard and a little peace and privacy. An attorney told them there was no legal obligation to maintain the land as a pet cemetery. So while they’ve been patient with the people who still come to visit after all this time, they’d kind of like it to stop.
But what about the people who paid to have their pets there? What about Ramona “Skip” Lease of Lancaster, who said she paid $95 to have “Spookie” buried there 34 years ago — and got a receipt that said it would be a perpetual grave site?
It just doesn’t seem fair to bar her from placing flowers on Spookie’s grave, which she tried to do recently. The families who live there now — descendants of the pet cemetery caretaker, to whom the land was willed by the Gladfelter family, originators of the graveyard — have generously offered to allow mourners to remove the grave plaques as keepsakes.
But that still doesn’t seem fair to those who paid for a gravesite they could visit.
So where does that leave you and Fido?
With some difficult estate planning questions. If you opt to go with a pet cemetery, and envision yourself still returning for three or four decades, you’d be well-advised to read the fine print.
Make sure perPETual care really means forever.