A new regulation unveiled by the state of New York this month would allow pet cemeteries in New York to accept the cremated remains of human beings hoping to be buried forever beside their beloved family pets, reports the Daily News.
The new rules resolve a two-year-old dispute that began when the state refused to allow the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in Westchester to accept the ashes of a former NYPD officer who wanted to spend his afterlife with his three Maltese pups.
The 117-year-old Hartsdale cemetery, which claims to be the oldest final pet resting place in the country, had been interring cremated human remains since the 1920s. But when it came time for the deceased to rest beside his wife and dogs, the state said no, asserting that state law prohibited Hartsdale from handling human remains.
The ashes of about 700 people were already under the soil in the cemetery when the state stepped in. Hartsdale estimates it gets about five or six requests a year from pet owners to have their ashes buried with their dogs, cats, birds or other companions.