Funerals for animals have been growing in recent years in France. Burial or cremation, funeral companies are increasingly in demand.
Like every year, the All Saints’ Day period is synonymous with crowds in cemeteries and many French people pay tribute to their pets. The oldest animal cemetery in France opened in 1899 in Asnières-sur-Seine, near Paris. In the alleys, the tombstones indicate Busta, Ezekielle, Masserau or even Havana: a pitbull, a turtle, a horse or a cat.
Christine comes every ten days to dust her cat’s grave. “It’s still just as hard despite the passage of time. We didn’t want her to be anywhere, so we found out about animal cemeteries”she says.
It was also obvious for Francis and Maya when they lost their dog Hulka five years ago. “We wanted to have a funeral. As we don’t have children, for us he was our baby. It allows us to come and pay our respects at his grave.” Total budget: 6,000 euros. The couple took “the best: padded coffin and so on.”
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But the bill is not always that high according to Cédric Malin, the manager of Animémoire, specialized funeral directors. “We’re no longer going to be around 1,100 euros for a small concession,” he said. The service includes the coffin, the digging, taking the animal to the veterinarian, the organization and the granite slab.
But some masters choose to erect a monument, and in this case the prices can soar. “It can go from 1,000 to 6, 12, 15,000 euros,” explains the manager.
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Cremation, cheaper, also appeals to many French people
Last year, the Séleste company cremated 20,000 animals. Its president, Nicolas Goosseens, notices an increase in the number of individual cremations. “It is first of all a personal conviction, undoubtedly a more practical side of being able to keep the urn of their companion at their home or near their home”, he notes.
Over the last 20 years, the taboo has been lifted around animal mourning. A phenomenon which is causing demand for funerals to explode, while local crematoriums are becoming more widespread. The Séleste company plans to create around twenty more in the future: the next two will see the light of day near Nantes and Lyon, from December 2023.