A new pet funeral home has a chapel and two rooms for calling hours.
By DON SHILLING
HERMITAGE, Pa. — A local funeral home operator thinks pet owners need a place to grieve, too.
The John Flynn Pet Funeral Home and Crematory just opened on the grounds of Hillcrest Memorial Park on East State Street. It will provide pet cemetery services as well.
The 2,500-square-foot funeral home has two viewing rooms for calling hours and a chapel for services for dearly departed pets.
It is one of the first pet funeral homes in the country, said Bob Fells, chief operating officer for the International Cemetery and Funeral Association in Virginia. The only other pet funeral home he knows of opened earlier this year in Indiana.
Funeral home operators definitely are watching the trend, however, because they know how devoted people are to their pets, Fells said.
"It's a growth area," he said.
Serious grief
John Flynn, who owns the pet funeral home and John Flynn Funeral Home and Crematory across the street, said some people grieve the death of a pet just like the passing of a family member.
He said having a viewing of a deceased pet will give closure.
"It's part of the grieving process," he said.
Flynn recently spoke with a woman whose dog died a year ago. She asked whether there were any support groups for people mourning the death of a pet.
The new funeral home will offer grief counseling for pet owners, as well as the choice of burying the pet in a coffin or having it cremated and keeping the ashes in an urn.
"We'd like to help people move on, and hopefully the end result will be that people will get another pet," Flynn said.
The cost for a basic cremation is $150, but the cost would rise to $495 with services. For a burial with a coffin and services, the fee is $700.
For those who are especially devoted to their pet, Flynn is offering the opportunity for them to be buried alongside the animal.
Site selected
Hillcrest, which is owned by Flynn's father, has cleared a 10-acre section that will serve as a pet cemetery and place for a human and pet to be buried next to each other. A pet also could be buried over its former owner.
Flynn said the city of Hermitage agreed to rewrite regulations to allow for such burials.
Flynn said he came up with the idea of serving pet owners when he realized many people didn't know what to do when their pets died. As he thought about it, he decided there would be a demand for a funeral home in addition to a cemetery and a service to pick up animals that have died.
The pet funeral home is an addition to the Hillcrest offices.