You know something is a “hot” topic when eHow has an article about it. What to do with dead pets has become a hot topic. For most of us, dealing with a pet’s remains is a rarity. For those who work with animals, it’s a regular task. Veterinarians deal with dead pets OFTEN because many of us leave our pets to their care after death but what happens after we opt for them to dispose of the dead?
While “it’s true, most people don’t want to hear about what goes on behind the scenes in animal disposal”, I think those of us who care about animals need to know. Dr. Khuly interviewed the 3 “regular” disposal people who come to collect the dead at her veterinary clinic. She calls them undertakers. “In fact, when it came time to answer what they liked the least, they all mentioned deliveries of body parts to the dump. Now, these are not the animal bodies themselves, rather some of the other animal pieces produced by vet hospitals (after amputations and abortions, for example). ” I find it interesting that she points out that only “parts” go to the dump but then I suspect that Dr. Khuly is in a rather upscale veterinary practive.
In most veterinary clinics and animal shelters, dead animals are bagged and place in cold storage, a freezer. From there, they may go to a facility for processing and burial or cremation and return to owners. Mostly, they go to the dump. Some places prohibit that so they go to a crematory or other furnace. They can also go to students for anatomy practice or may be sold by the veterinarians to rendering plants. Sorry guys, that’s just the realities. And many, maybe most, still leave a euthanized animal or a dead pet they’ve brought in with the veterinarian with no idea what will happen to the body.
As we’ve incorporated our pets into our lives as more akin to family members, options at death have taken on similarities to the human funeral business. Dr. Khuly cites the example of $645 for end of life services through a veterinary clinic in her area, including $350 for cremation and return in a simple cardboard container. I think that’s obscene because that’s $645 going to a dead animal. It’s about half a year of better than average care for a live animal, including food. At Dr. Khuly’s clinic, the price is $215, including $150 for cremation. I still think that’s pretty outrageous, especially the cremation cost. Again, my personal objection is putting that much money into a dead body when the living are in need. Like the human funeral industry, the pet funeral industry is preying upon the emotions of the grieving. From a more practical standpoint, there are other options for dead pets. Here’s a few of your options:
- Donate your pet for organ/tissue transplant. Yes, it is now possible.
- Donate your pet’s body or tissues for disease research.
- Donate your pet's body for a veterinary student to practice upon.
- Green burial. This is our modern fancy name for simply burying remains, as is. Where I grew up, this was the norm. A dead pet was put to rest in the yard, often a garden location where the remains would feed the garden and we kids could visit them.
- Human type burial in a cemetery, green or embalmed. Some human cemeteries have long allowed animal companions to join their humans (or precede them) but, as many cemeteries began to restrict the practice, pet cemeteries have begun to spring up. The cemetery where most of my family lies used to permit pets as well. Seriously, a funeral plot is a tiny plot of real estate. It's an old version of HOA. One buys a plot subject to the community rules and often governed by a board of trustees. I rather hope that cemetery still quietly permits the practice for those who ask.
- Embalming followed usually by burial (although a body that’s properly embalmed can be kept above ground; embalmed bodies are sometimes held hostage by human funeral homes for years when families can’t pay).
- Plastination. Don’t think it’s privately available yet but I’m sure it will be soon enough.
- Commercial modern mummification.
- Taxidermy preservation. Everybody remember Trigger?
- Cremation through a commercial service; ashes can be preserved, scattered or buried.
- Cremation at home; even a funeral pyre could be achieved. If disease control is indeed the biggest concern, this is actually the best option when possible as fire is the most effective method of killing disease and cremation near the location of death is the method least likely to spread disease.
- Cryonics (freezing for future attempts at revival).
- Freezing in perpetuity.
- Freezing temporarily until disposal. Again, this is an excellent method of disease control no matter the end method of disposal.
- Scavenger feed. Where I grew up, this was also common. Animals, pets and livestock, were often left or moved to a better location for scavengers to feed upon. This is indeed the most “natural”, the true green, of disposal methods; it is what happens to animals who die in the wild.
- Rendering. “The majority of tissue processed comes from slaughterhouses but also includes restaurant grease and butcher shop trimmings, expired meat from grocery stores, the carcasses of euthanized and dead animals from animal shelters, zoos and veterinarians.”
- Local sanitation and animal control services. “Dispose of the remains through a sanitation service. Prepare the remains according to local ordinance and leave it for pick up by the sanitation department.”
- Local dump. Whether picked up with the trash, a sanitation worker or delivered by some other method, this is often where dead animals end up. In virtually every major disaster, a similar fate is made for human remains although we call it a mass grave and we generally try to bury the remains rather than dump them on top of a pile of trash.
These are simply the realities of dealing with dead bodies, whether human or animal. As a practical matter, you are only limited in what you can do with your dead animal by law and the limitations are sparse because the reality is that most methods of disposal are quite safe and effective. My personal preference is that the dead benefit the living when possible, just as nature intends when scavenging is involved. Second to that, my preference is quick and efficient disposal so that few resources are used as I believe resources should go to the living.
The funeral industries, human and animal, have been promoting the concept of “danger” from burial without embalming, vaults, etc. They promote the concept of high danger from contagions from the dead. “It is a family’s prerogative to lower their own casket or forgo a vault and embalming, but James Olson, a funeral-home owner in Sheboygan, Wis... Vaults prevent ground sinking and graves collapsing, and embalming can make for more comfortable viewing and limit the spread of contagions if a loved one died of disease, he said.” If you ask me, it’s simple fear mongering that supports the sales of funeral services. Embalming fluids are NOT good for the environment! They present a far bigger problem than the possible contagion from the average corpse.
Sadly, China is being sucked into this nonsense as well. On the other hand, Germany has found a way to ensure its animal registration fees as one cannot get a permit for disposal with the animal being registered. Oh, and then you have to pay a fee to cancel the registration! If that isn’t adding insult to injury, I don’t know what is. I’m quite sure we’re headed for the same nonsense in many parts of the US though.
Dealing with dead bodies is emotional for most, even those who are practical and deal with the dead bodies of animals regularly. As shown above, there are many options and what is or isn’t acceptable is a matter of personal choices. Those who deal with the dead bodies of animals more regularly know more of the options and tend to make more rational and practical decisions about those dead bodies. The last thing those people should be subjected to is criticism for making responsible choices for the dead bodies of animals.
It INFURIATES me that Houston SPCA is making a publicity issue of the dead dogs found in a freezer during the animal seizure in north Houston. Given the number of animals that they euthanize, they know damned good and well that temporary freezing of carcasses is a RESPONSIBLE and proper way to deal with dead animals until they can be disposed. The exact same issue was involved when SPCA of Texas made a big deal of the cremation of animal remains by a rescue group in Fannin County. It INFURIATES me that they would use these responsible practices to inflame the public emotions. It is all the more infuriating to know that these are the exact same methods they likely use themselves for which they are making an issue if others practice the same methods!
Well, I guess it just goes to show what complete FRAUDS and HYPOCRITES these SPCAs are that they would use this issue in this way. I doubt there is an issue or lie they wouldn't stoop to if they thought it would inflame public emotions and drive up support for their thieving of animals and/or fund raising efforts! Trying to use responsible dead animal disposal as an issue is certainly evidence of how low they will stoop. Now there's a form of scavenging I cannot approve.
Because we are all so reticent to know what happens to the dead, there has always been a market for dead bodies and dead body parts. Driving the topic of what to do with dead animals further underground by criticizing responsible choices will only create similar problems. Whether the animals are sold or secretly dumped or buried, the criticism will further complicate things for everyone. Furthermore, if these SPCAs are making a specious arguments about how these dead animals are being disposed, the courts should most certainly hold them in contempt. We should be holding them and the media in contempt for making those specious inferences in these cases!