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| Deceased budgie, anyone? Cllr Swinburn gets digging |
BUILDING works have started on-site for a pets-only 'wing' of Grimsby Crematorium.
The ludicrous joint venture between North East Lincolnshire Council and Engie is a sort of mini-crem for cuddly creatures.
It is described as offering a place to say "a final goodbye to beloved family pets".
Dogs, cats, parrots, donkeys, hamsters, gerbils, tortoises, snakes, spiders, even stick insects - there is no restriction on the species of pet. Just a requirement that they have all gone to meet their Maker.
Services will be held in the chapel to mourn the pets and celebrate their lives.
During the works, there will be inconvenience to funerals for humans.
Local funeral directors have been informed and services have been arranged to take place in the mornings until mid-October to minimise any disruption.
Welcoming the project, Cllr Stewart Swinburn, portfolio holder for pet crematoria, says: “I’m really pleased that works have started on this facility.
“For many pet owners, their animals are their best friends.
"It is important that we recognise this and have somewhere local that pet owners can go to say farewell after their pets have passed away.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank local residents, funeral directors and visitors to the site for their patience whilst these works are underway.”
The pet crematorium is expected to be ready for its first funerals by the end of the year.
The total cost of the project to the council taxpayer is likely to be less than £100,000, and the hope is that most of this will be recouped by funeral fees within the next 50 or so years.
There might also be an attempt to secure sponsorship from pet retailers or pet food manufacturers.
The proposed scale of charges for pet services has not yet been revealed, nor whether they will be based on the length and weight of the creature.
Is this really such a good idea? The team in charge of the daft project struggle to feign enthusiasm
The Grimsby News says: Like the proposed on-site cafe, this is a crass money-making gambit by NELC and Engie which will degrade the special solemnity of the crematorium and its surroundings. There is no objection to a facility for pets, but this should be an initiative for the private sector. More importantly, it should be on a site totally separate from the one for which the crematorium was built. By linking human and pet lives - as if they were somehow equivalent - the two organisations could scarcely be showing greater insensitivity. This distasteful project should be scrapped forthwith.
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