Saying goodbye to a beloved pet

By Sophia Weimer Dec 1, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Berlin - Outsize boxes of tissues are on the tables, soft music sets the sombre mood, and a book on the topic of whether we will see our domestic pets in the afterlife is on show.

A Berlin company called Portaleum provides animal lovers with a complete package for bidding farewell to their beloved pets.

'We collect the animals, offer our mourning rooms, cremate the animals and discuss with their owners how best to dispose of their remains,' says Eberhard Leis, one of Portaleum's staff of four. There have long been animal cemeteries, and the number is on the rise. In Germany it has risen from 25 to 120 in just eight years.

Between 25 and 50 mourning owners arrive every week at Portaleum, which opened in February. The Portaleum team has cremated pets ranging from budgies to Great Danes in its ovens. The most exotic was an iguana measuring more than a metre in length. 'We provide the opportunity to grieve,' Leis says.

And the owners vary just as much as the pets, according to Leis. He recalls a real 'hard man' covered in tattoos and riddled with piercings, who brought in his small rat. 'He shed bitter tears.'

A look at the crematorium's website shows how emotionally loaded the theme is. A thank you message from a customer reads: 'We were able to find a place in Portaleum for our dwarf rabbit Charly where we could lay him to rest in a way consistent with our feelings.'

Most pet owners decide to take the ashes of their favourite animals home in an urn, but they can also be buried beneath a rose bearing a nameplate in the crematorium's garden.

A diamond made of the pressed ash is the most exclusive way of commemorating a loved animal. Thus far just two customers have opted for this method, which costs from around 4,000 dollars upwards.

Leis believes that pets often become established members of the family, and for this reason their owners do not stint on money and effort when it comes to providing an appropriate last resting place. Other animal cemeteries are experiencing a similar rise in demand.

'Owners don't allow their deceased animals to be taken by the vets, because they've heard about what happens to them there. They're shredded, boiled and turned into wallpaper glue,' says Ralf Hendrichs of the association of animal funeral parlours.

But Christian Laiblin, a vet at Berlin's Free University, denies this. She says the dead animals are cremated and the ashes disposed of, not used as feed additive, as some believe.

And Marcel Derichs, a spokesman for a waste disposal company, says that this would in any case be illegal. There are precise European Union rules on these matters, and the companies are regularly inspected. The bodies are cut up and then burnt, he says.