Pets, a business even after death

A cat in a cemetery (illustration).

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• There is real business around the death of pets.

• The range of services is wide, cremation, burial, naturalization.

• A northern company even launched its own brand of animal funeral directors.

Dearest missing animals.

Even after death, these generate business.

Moreover in Hauts-de-France, there are more services for deceased animals than for human beings.

When a pet dies, as long as it is not too big an animal like a horse, the most common solution is to give its remains to the vet who will take care of the rest.

In this case, the animal is sent for cremation.

For a dog or a cat, it will cost between 50 and 160 euros for a collective cremation and between 70 and 270 euros for an individual.

The cheapest choice, because it is free, is burial in the garden.

However, certain conditions must be respected, in particular being the owner of the land, digging a grave at least one meter deep located at least 35 meters from the homes and that the buried animal does not weigh more than 40 kg.

But other solutions exist.

The animal cemetery

It is still not very common since there are only about thirty in France.

One of the first was also created in Forest-sur-Marque, in the North, in 2003. “There is demand since we carry out around a hundred burials per year, mainly dogs and cats ”, assures the owner of the premises, Jean-Michel Desmulliez.

But not only, "people also come with rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, I even had a reptile", he continues.

The operation is the same as for a normal cemetery, namely that you have to take a concession from 100 euros per year.

"And in the vast majority of cases, people renew the concessions", recognizes Jean-Michel Desmulliez.

He has also developed a partnership with a marble maker to offer tombs or monuments worthy of the name.

Taxidermy

Strange as it may sound, there is a great demand from individuals wishing to naturalize their deceased pet.

“I refuse at least two requests per month,” says Fabrice Robiez, taxidermist in Pas-de-Calais.

But if he does not, many of his colleagues accept the demands of the grieving families.

"It takes between 300 and 1,000 euros, but sometimes with long delays and a result that will probably not correspond to the memory that the owners had of their animal", recognizes the taxidermist.

In the same vein, it is also possible to have a souvenir object made from the hair of the deceased animal.

A northern company, Stylaine dogs, offers this service: "We make souvenir hearts for ten euros, it's cheaper and less gloomy than a funeral urn on the fireplace,"

 Eglantine Decaudin, the founder

, explained to

.

All inclusive service

Like what is done for humans, there are animal funeral directors.

This is the niche in which the Lille group La Compagnie des Vétérinaires has developed with their new brand Esthima.

“The idea is to offer a complete service.

It can be a cremation with a farewell ceremony where we witness the departure of the remains with the ashes being handed over in an urn, ”explains Esthima's France director, David Buisset.

For the latter, it is really a question of adapting to the requests of the families: "We do not do it yet, but why not in the future propose the names of priests, rabbis or imams for religious ceremonies" , he imagines.

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• Economy

• Animals

• Lille