An increasing number of Germans are choosing to send their beloved pets off by burying them in a cemetery, with 30 new pet graveyards being established nationwide within the last three years.
According to the federal association of pet undertakers, roughly 1.3 million dogs and cats die in Germany annually, and about half of them are buried on private property.
“The pet funeral market in Berlin is especially large,” says association chairman Martin Struck.
In addition, says Struck, more and more people want to be buried with their pet. There are now the first cemeteries in Germany where the remains of man and beast can be buried next to one another, he says.
The branch, worth an estimated 20 million euros (23 million dollars) annually, is booming. There are now 150 pet cemeteries across Germany, including the 30 that opened within the last three years.
In Berlin alone, there are six pet cemeteries, the oldest in the eastern Hoehenschoenhausen neighbourhood having been established in
1951.
According to a spokeswoman for a local animal welfare association that runs a cemetery in Berlin, dogs and cats are the animals most
often buried.
“But people also bring exotic pets to us, for example, a bearded dragon or a grey heron,” said spokeswoman Anette Rost.
