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Proposed law in VA could keep pets and owners “together forever”

By Eric Forrest on March 5, 2014

We’ve written lately about not only proposed legislation related to pets, pet safety and animal rights, but also the “aftercare” facilities that are growing tremendously within the pet services industry. A proposed law in Virginia deals with both.

From FOX 17 in Nashville, TN- “In most cemeteries, pet remains aren’t welcome, but a bill on its way to Virginia’s House of Delegates could change that… Republican lawmaker Israel D. O’Quinn has submitted a bill to Virginia’s General Assembly that would allow pets and their owners to be buried together. Currently, the state’s code defines a cemetery as ‘any land or structure used or intended to be used for the interment of human remains.’ Recognizing that some people wouldn’t want to be buried alongside an animal, O’Quinn’s bill specifies that human-pet burials would be segregated from traditional grave sites.”

Once thought to be taboo, pet cremation and burial is commonplace now. Once a strange and very foreign thought, pet-and-human combined grave sites are also growing towards being a “normal occurrence.” Places like New York and Pennsylvania have cemeteries that allow such plots. Even more socially acceptable are the businesses that we call “aftercare” outfits. There are grief counselors who help with the loss of a pet. There are companies that provide “mobile euthanasia” services to remove the sterile environment that has been the typical place where a pet’s end of life occurs. There are even groups, included is one of our partners, Paws to Angels, that offer viewings and somewhat-permanent memorials for your deceased animals. Things are changing- this bit of legislation is just another example of how.

Though these ideas may seem strange or morbid or “weird” to some, they are all becoming typical in the realm of pets. Businesses and legislators are becoming more aware of the fact that some treat pets as members of their families; not unlike a human brother, uncle or grandmother. However you feel about end of life services for pets and final resting places, the trend surges all the while.

To read the entire article about the proposal in Virginia, read this article from the FOX affiliate noted above.

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