Spain’s first public pet cemetery opens with grief help for house owners

Beginning this week, it will likely be attainable to bury beloved pets in a public cemetery only for them.

Positioned in Málaga’s Parque Cementerio, this new facility is bigger than solely a resting place; it features a memorial park, crematorium, farewell corridor, an space for spreading ashes, and a burial zone for as quite a bit as 500 pets. Solely pets beneath 200 kilograms in weight shall be accepted.

There are utterly completely different pet cemeteries in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Zaragoza, nonetheless none of them are publicly owned equivalent to the one in Malaga. Burying a pet in Spain could also be powerful; doing so illegally could find yourself in fines from €3,000 as quite a bit as €60,000.

In keeping with Juan Antonio de Luque, president of Málaga’s College of Veterinarians, this launch is significant for the Andalusian province, dwelling to over half one million pets.

“There are over half one million animals, together with canines, cats, ferrets, and utterly completely different species, with 114,000 contained in the capital metropolis of Málaga alone. Beforehand, house owners wishing to bury their pets wished to resort to personal cemeteries,” he educated Spanish newspaper El País.

Alongside cremation or burial, Malaga’s cemetery handles post-death paperwork like transporting deceased pets and updating registries. Far more distinctive is the psychological help outfitted to house owners by psychologists.

“The problem of demise is taboo for society normally, nonetheless the demise of animals is seen much more critically on account of of us query whether or not or not or not the grief over shedding a canine or cat could also be equated with that of shedding a human,”  director of the Animals and Society division at Rey Juan Carlos College Nuria Máximo educated El País.

“As we perceive that household pets are extra members, their caregivers expertise a part of that course of, that transition in path of demise, and a great deal of lack the monetary means to bury them as they may one completely different member of the family. Attributable to this fact, it is important to have public cemeteries, as they facilitate the grieving course of.”

The prices for the pet cemetery vary from €40 for a significant collective cremation to €975, relying on the service.

Establishing on most individuals pet cemetery in Málaga began in 2016. It price €1.1 million to assemble.