New York Might Soon Allow People to Be Buried With Pets

Many people choose to be buried with a spouse or kin after they die, but what if one of their closest family members is Fido or Fluffy?

Typically, cemeteries don’t allow humans to be interred with their pets. But this might soon change in New York, the Associated Press reports. Last week, the state Assembly passed a bill allowing non-religious graveyards to bury humans with their animal companions, should the family opt for it. If New York governor Andrew Cuomo approves the new measure, people will be able to be laid to rest with the cremated remains of a cat, dog, or other domestic pet.

More than 60 percent of U.S. households now own a fuzzy, feathered, or scaled friend. Assemblyman James Brennan, who sponsored the measure, explained in a memo that there’s been “a significant shift in the desire of New Yorkers to have their pets interred in their grave, crypt or niche.” More and more cemetery organizations are being approached by lot owners requesting the service, the memo continued.

So far, only a handful of states have formally approved measures that allow animals and humans to be buried together in graveyards, News 12 writes. In Florida, a human can be interred with their cremated pet if the animal ashes remain separate from the human ones. In New Jersey, people's cremated remains can be buried in pet cemeteries with their fuzzy friends. Oregon lets human cemeteries accept cremated pet remains on a case-by-case basis. And New York currently allows for people to have their cremated remains buried alongside a companion animal in a pet cemetery. (For the full list, check out News 12’s story.)