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companion animals, just as people often request to be buried with their parents, partner, or children. Australian law does not permit the burial of human and animal remains together (Franklin, 1999), however, and thus people hoped that the ashes of their companion animal could be interred with them (by being slipped into their coffin by a sympathetic relative) or the ashes mingled and then scattered. One service provider recounted instances of people specifying in their will that their companion animal be euthanized and cremated for this purpose, should they predecease their companion animal. Companion-animal caretakers in this study confirmed that one of the reasons they had decided to cremate was so that they could be buried with their animal—or, in some cases, multiple animals: “They’re both to be buried with me when I go” (Participant 7). Caretakers also indicated that a primary motivation for cremation was so that the animal could “remain in the family” by remaining in proximity: “If we move or anything, we can take him with us” (Participant 5). One person stated: “The ashes help with the grieving process because they’re [the animal] not completely gone . . . I want to have them there with me, as they always have been” (Participant 3). Caretakers flagged the importance of knowing for certain that the ashes they received were their animal’s remains and were willing to pay additional costs for the assurance that this was the case. “People who want memorials for their companion animal” The three providers discussed the need for people to have a memorial or ritual similar to that given to humans, and they all agreed that this helped their clients move through the grieving process. Memorials were defined by the providers as the ashes themselves, and also plaques, urns, a place in a memorial garden (offered by one provider) or a plaque on a wall (offered by the same provider). The providers indicated that people were willing to spend money, 254 A. Chur-Hansen et al. / Society & Animals 19 (2011) 248-260 from hundreds to thousands of dollars, with no expense spared by some caretakers, regardless of their age, gender, or socioeconomic status. Although acknowledging that the caretakers wanted to treat their animal’s remains as they would a human’s, none of the providers offered a funeral service, although two offered a quiet grieving room for the bereaved. All the companion animal caretakers discussed the need for a memorial of some type, and all had engaged in some type of ritual involving the ashes. These included taking the cat’s urn to the animal’s favorite spots (Participant 1); opening a bottle of champagne with friends and scattering the cat’s ashes in the garden (Participant 2); dividing the dog’s ashes into two portions and scattering some (and keeping the others), with a wake following the scattering (Participant 3); keeping the urn of ashes in a family room with a photograph of the dog on top of the box (Participant 5); and keeping the ashes until interstate family could attend a ceremony where they could all grieve together, some months later (Participant 6). The cost of cremation was mentioned by two of the caretakers, who indicated that, while “it’s not exactly cheap” (Participant 2), in relative terms it was cheaper than veterinarian bills, which, one participant noted, were in the thousands, following a long-term illness that her animal had suffered. “Grieving people” Although all people utilizing the service were grieving, the providers discussed numerous examples of people in extreme distress. They used the terms crying, upset, distraught, emotional, heartbroken, suicidal, overcome, not coping, unable to breathe, unable to speak, and requiring counseling or medication to deal with the death of their companion animal. One provider also discussed instances of people overwhelmed by multiple losses because the death of a companion animal had been compounded by the death of significant human others; these losses might have been both past and current. All of the women companion animal caretakers indicated that they had experienced grief at the loss. The male participant was less expressive about his emotions. One participant was crying throughout the interview and indicated that after her animal was euthanized she suffered “amnesia,” ringing the veterinarian’s surgery later that day to report her dog missing: “It was one of those things when you just can’t possibly face the truth, so you block it out” (Participant 7). Another participant noted that the collection of the ashes evoked extreme grief: “I was really upset, really devastated, it took me ages to go and get him . . . a friend came with me as well . . . I had to take two days off work at the time, so it was really tough” (Participant 2). A. Chur-Hansen et al. / Society & Animals 19 (2011) 248-260 255 “People who seek compassion and social support” All three service providers acted in the capacity of grief counselor for people seeking cremation. The three providers saw this as an important role, since they believed that they were in a position to understand what their clients were going through, even though none had any formal qualifications in grief therapy. All considered that they provided guidance of a practical nature (removing remains and cremation of them, choice of urn, decisions about where to place the ashes), as well as an emotional
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