Deseret News | Salt Lake Valley gets a pet cemetery

Salt Lake Valley gets a pet cemetery

By Rebecca Palmer
Deseret News

Published: Monday, May 5, 2008 12:07 a.m. MDT

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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — George Quist was devastated when his 10-year-old mutt, Inca, was hit by a car and killed in 2005. The dog had been the man's only living memory of his wife, who died in 2003.

Extended family gathered in support. Inca, a 120-pound best friend, had been 87-year-old Quist's daily companion. The dog was eulogized and his life celebrated with a funeral, song and prayer, said Robert Quist, George's son.

But to the Quist family's dismay, options for pet burial were scarce in the Salt Lake Valley. The dog eventually was buried in the backyard.

The trying event spurred the creation of Cottonwood Canyons Pet Memorial Garden in the northwest corner of the Mountain View Cemetery on Bengal Boulevard. Robert Quist is president of Memorial Cemeteries and Mortuaries.

After Inca's death, Robert Quist sent cemetery employee Christine Engh on a tour of the western United States to check out pet bereavement options.

"We needed to serve others that are not as fortunate as our family," Robert Quist said. "Pets are just as real, just as dear for many people."

The younger Quist added that the role of a memorial service is to aid in the transition of living with a beloved person to having that person gone. The loss of pets also causes a profound rift and requires that transition, he said.

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The half-acre pet memorial area officially opened April 18. Separated from the rest of the cemetery by a white picket fence, the garden boasts several bronze statues and massive granite slabs. It also has a special area for service animals.

Engh said she hopes grieving pet owners will visit the site to imagine their pets running and playing.

Already entombed are the ashes of a handful of pets and the remains and casket of a 7-pound Yorkie. Granite slabs scattered throughout the space eventually will bear plaques commemorating the animals whose ashes are stored in ossuaries below.

The salt-and-pepper slabs were obtained from tunnels below Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Robert Quist said.

The pet cemetery in Cottonwood Heights is the third of its kind in Utah but a first to the Salt Lake Valley. Other pet cemeteries are located in the Ogden City Cemetery and in Kanab near the No More Homeless Pets sanctuary.

Before the creation of the memorial garden, pet owners faced with death had few options. They could have deceased pets cremated either alone or with other animals. They also could bury pets on their property, though health departments frown on the practice.

"And people move," Robert Quist said, emphasizing that even backyard burials can leave the bereaved without permanent memorials.

Pet care is the second-fastest-growing industry in the United States, Engh said. Last year consumers spent $71 billion on companion animals. And 63 percent of U.S. households include pets, Robert Quist said.