Tag Archives: grave

Major Media Outlets Take Notice of Green Pet-Burial Society

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This has been an excellent year for press coverage of our work. This past May we were featured on NPR. Most recently, The Atlantic Magazine discussed our promotion of whole-family cemeteries (the article was also shared on MSN.com). Additionally, Natural Transitions Magazine highlighted the growing shift toward green burials for pets. More press coverage will be coming soon – we’ll keep you posted!

The Atlantic on Whole-Family Cemeteries

The Atlantic Magazine’s article, The Movement to Bury Pets Alongside People, discussed the psychosocial drive to keep families ‘together forever’ (our new tagline). Journalist Sonya Vatomsky had wanted to publish an article about our work for some time and was finally given the greenlight to do so. She accurately represents the intense desire to keep families together in whole-family cemeteries, despite legal concerns. Here’s an excerpt: Continue reading →

New Zealand Considers Whole-Family Cemeteries

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Michael Coghlan, Rural Wonderland (detail). 2011. flickr url: http://tinyurl.com/neq2j67.

Michael Coghlan, Rural Wonderland (detail). 2011. flickr url: http://tinyurl.com/neq2j67.

New Zealand is modifying its cemetery law.
Will it honor the wishes of those wanting to bury
their animals’ remains in their family’s cemetery plot?

by Rachael Ford  1709 words

In late 2013, Rachael Ford informed the Green Pet-Burial Society about New Zealand’s process of updating its cemetery law. A registered nurse, Rachael is the founder of With Our Loved Ones (WOLO), dedicated to establishing whole-family cemeteries in NZ. We support WOLO and sent a detailed letter to the NZ government in support of conservation whole-family cemeteries. We invited Rachael to prepare a guest blog about pet burial practices in New Zealand and her founding of WOLO. Here she provides a background on NZ cemetery law, Māori tradition, and a poetic recollection of grief for her dog Beulah.


NZcoat-of-armsNew Zealand, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, is in the process of updating its Burial and Cremation Act of 1964. The Law Commission invited submissions from citizens, stakeholders and experts on how to improve the current law (the Green Pet-Burial Society was among the respondents). So in November 2013 I formed With Our Loved Ones (WOLO), an ad hoc group of New Zealanders and supporters dedicated to the formation of whole-family cemeteries in NZ. Continue reading →

Memories and Holidays

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Still frame from The Snowman and The Snowdog. 2012.

Still frame from The Snowman and The Snowdog. 2012. Hilary Audus, director.

People commonly say that “the holidays are all about family” – the families into which we were born or adopted, or the ones we create for ourselves. All of our relations – of different ages, cultures and species – are special to us in their own way.

Yet upon experiencing a recent death of a family member, close friend or teacher, or when remembering days gone by – the reassuring glances, kidding around or a gentle touch – we wonder: How might our reminiscences and grief coincide with the abundance of holiday cheer? Continue reading →

A new kind of pet cemetery – Pet Memorial Acres

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Updated March 18, 2015: We are sorry to announce that this beautiful cemetery has since closed due to lack of business and interest within the surrounding area. The Green Pet-Burial Society will continue to encourage and support new conservation whole-family cemeteries in the future. Please visit our directories to find a suitable cemetery near you.

A beautiful new pet memorial park, Pet Memorial Acres, recently opened in central New York State. With its commitment to green burials within its borders – and in general – it represents a future direction for pet cemeteries in the U.S. and abroad. Since there are few options for green pet-burials in dedicated cemeteries, we wanted to recognize Pet Memorial Acres by inviting its founder, Darryl Simcoe, to write of his inspiration and aspirations for this new venture.

by Darryl Simcoe, Founder, Pet Memorial Acres

Pet Memorial Acres

Summer at Pet Memorial Acres

My interest in pet cemeteries evolved from my research into green burials. I came across the website for Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve located in Newfield, New York. A human cemetery, it is one of a very few cemeteries in New York State that provide the option of a green burial for all people. [Note: New York State cemetery law prohibits animals from being buried in human cemeteries.] Continue reading →

Revisiting “My Life as a Turkey”

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“I’m a mother, it seems, and these are my children”

This night before Thanksgiving, I saw a stunning and quite surprising film on PBS – part of its Nature series. Entitled My Life as a Turkey, it chronicles the hatching, growing, learning, exploring and socialization of two groups of sibling wild turkeys and their adopted man-mom, naturalist Joe Hutto (played by Jeff Palmer). Remarkably,
Joe was “born into a hardcore turkey hunting family and culture.” Fascinating
and utterly moving, this film illustrates a somewhat enviable experience of living with young turkeys (‘poults’):

These animals were telling me how to live my life; also, we [humans] do not have a privileged access to reality.

Joe Hotto and brotherStories of human-turkey relationships only provide greater credence to the families any of us may form with other creatures – dogs, cats, rabbits, rats – all of whom deserve our affection and rescue from otherwise terrible ends by human hands.

The scene that prompted this post: two of the birds had died, and we see Joe digging their graves. Continue reading →

2010-11 Year in Review

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"Yellow Flowers" © Flickr.com Zest_pk

Thank You for your interest in, and support of, the Green Pet-Burial Society. What an extraordinary year! When I founded the Society in early 2010, it was important to launch our website first in order to provide grieving individuals and families with information they needed to make practical and green burial arrangements upon the passing of a beloved animal. No other service provides the type of information we do. It’s heartening to know that many found help either directly from us or from the information posted. Continue reading →

A Time for Compassion & Honoring Family

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GettyImages_90721602When a beloved companion passes, it can be wrenching. This may be especially true when others neither understand nor are sympathetic to your grief.

During such intense times we seek comfort through private rituals and the arrangements made for a loved one’s remains. When a companion animal dies, cremation is the most common practice, but a natural home burial is also commonplace – for those with yards. For those of us without land who prefer burial, the option for a natural burial in a cemetery is nearly nonexistent. Continue reading →