Final Gift Pet Memorial Center in Middleboro, Massachusetts needs to change their policy on what is done with communal remains. Below is my open letter to them which explains in detail.

Mr. Leon Hill, Owner

Ms. Marie Hill, Vice President

An Open Letter to FINAL GIFT PET MEMORIAL CENTER
My cat Hudson had to be euthanized recently and because I was not thinking clearly at the time, I filled out her euthanasia paperwork incorrectly. I mistakenly checked the wrong box so instead of having her ashes returned to me, she had a "general cremation" wherein she was cremated with other animals. I was contacted by one of your employees and told that Hudson's ashes would be spread at the Rock Garden on your cemetery's property. When I reached out to your Funeral Director to confirm and ask where the Rock Garden was, I was told that I had been misinformed. She told me "the cremains of those pets communally cremated are interred very far back on our property and there is no public access to the exact location where they are buried."

This is both devastating and confusing to me. Final Gift is a pet memorial center. People come to you to have a place to lay their beloved pets to rest and visit. You are supposed to provide that. Your business exists to provide a final resting place for our pets. This is your brand. It is what you do. You have one job. So why are communal remains buried in a place where the public cannot access them? Why can they not be buried on your cemetery's property so that people like me can have a place to go to where our pets have been laid to rest? It does not make any sense and goes against the very thing your business is supposed to provide.

To add insult to injury, I took a look at your website and came across this statement in your FAQs:

"Communal cremation—Your dearly departed pet is cremated in a group setting with other pets. The remains will not be returned to you, but rather the ashes will be scattered across the fields of our peaceful family farm."

Also in your Code of Ethics: "Not misrepresent their services nor conduct their business in a fraudulent manner."

I find it absolutely appalling that your website says one thing and I am being told something completely different. Is the statement on your website about your "peaceful family farm" a lie? Does your farm even exist? Which is the truth? Are the communal ashes scattered on a farm or are they tossed aside in some "back alley" area off of your cemetery?

This is the Final Gift Pet Memorial Center's Mission Statement according to your website:

"Founded on a sincere commitment to offer the same compassionate memorial pet care services we desired for our beloved family pet, Felicia, Final Gift Pet Memorial Center provides the most reputable and sensitive pet aftercare services available to the New England community of grieving pet parents. Whether you are the honored owner of a cherished dog, cat, exotic pet, goat, or large companion animal such as a horse, we can accommodate your every need.

From pet cremation to burial services, beautiful urns to lovely caskets, and supportive grieving tools, you can rest assured that your companion lies in the gentle hands of those who truly care. As a proud member of IAOPCC, we follow a strict, respectful code of ethics and always operate to the highest of industry standards. For further details on how we may be of service to you, please contact us today."

 

The same compassionate care you desired for your pet? Did you desire for your beloved pet to be laid to rest in a place you could not even visit?

The  most sensitive services available? How sensitive is it to toss an animal's ashes aside like trash away from where the people who loved them can access the very place where they have been "laid to rest" if you can even call it that.

Accommodate every need? This is certainly NOT the case as I was told over and again with each question, "No. We can't do that."

This is disturbing to me. I have been trying to think of any reason why communal ashes cannot be buried on your cemetery's property. Incidentally, your employees can't give me a reason either which I find suspect.

The fact that they are communal ashes should not matter because even though the ashes scattered at the Rock Garden are cremated and scattered individually, over time you are in essence scattering ashes upon ashes upon ashes. Therefore, by default, it becomes communal.

If you are concerned about people digging them up then by that logic you should not allow public access to any part of the cemetery because who is to say no one would want to try to dig up their pet or scoop up ashes from the Rock Garden?

I was told "Unfortunately the only option at this point is visiting the cemetery and knowing she is here with you. There is no public access to where we bury the cremains and we cannot scatter the cremains anywhere. I wish there was more we could do to help."

Why would I visit the cemetery now? To visit other people's pets who were given a final resting place? Does that make any sense to you? There is no reason for me to go to your cemetery if I do not have a specific spot to visit where my Hudson was laid to rest. Knowing she is just there somewhere is not comforting at all. Surely you can understand this.

I do not see any reason that there cannot be a place on your pet cemetery property (which is 3 acres I believe) where you can place these communal ashes so that people like me have a spot to visit where our pets are laid to rest. This is what your business is supposed to do and you are denying this to those of us who have our pets part of a communal cremation. I do not think you understand the trauma that has been added to my loss knowing I will never be able to know where my Hudson was laid to rest nor will I ever be able to go to that place and sit with her.

Whether our pets are individually cremated or part of a communal cremation, they deserve the same respect which is to have a spot where they are laid to rest where those that loved them can visit. Your whole business is predicated on that fact and yet, you are refusing to do this to a portion of your clients. It is wrong.

I am starting a social media campaign and petition to request that you change your policy regarding communal remains. I see no harm in providing a spot on your cemetery's property where the public can go to visit their pets who were part of a communal cremation. Not providing that is in direct conflict with your business model and Mission Statement.