Posted on 06/11/2006 12:51:59 PM PDT by Dysart
AZLE -- When Rayfield Wright decided to have his pet mercifully put to sleep, he did what he would do for any other beloved family member.
He purchased a casket, burial plot and headstone.
One recent spring day, the former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman drove from his Parker County home to the Smoke Rise Farm Pet Cemetery in Azle. This large man nicknamed "Big Cat" for his quickness and prowess, this perennial All-Pro who played in five Super Bowls, knelt at an open grave to say goodbye to a small gray-striped feline.
Wright found the animal on a rooftop 17 years ago.
He took the stray into his home and gave him a name -- Joey.
His family, especially the children, grew to love the playful companion; and Wright, 60, cared for him to the end, until the animal became so sick and frail he no longer had the strength to walk.
Wright buried their cat in the 5-acre cemetery, on land that was originally a horse farm. Among the other animals at Smoke Rise Farm is a former local television celebrity, a Great Dane that appeared in commercials for a Metroplex auto dealership. Wide Track barked on cue.
Wright grew up around animals in hometown Griffin, Ga. He related a dramatic incident as a toddler when he tired and sat down while trailing his mother as she crossed a road to visit a neighbor. Suddenly, a large truck appeared. The driver leaned on his horn and frantically hit the brakes. In a heroic scene reminiscent of an episode of Lassie, the family dog, a German shepherd mix named Gal, dragged the child out of harm's way.
At the Azle graveyard, Wright said a brief prayer for the departed pet.
The cat's granite marker reads:
Joey Wright
Every Good and Perfect Gift Comes From Above
The man who will be enshrined this summer in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is unconcerned if others think the gesture was overly sentimental, or regard his spending several hundred dollars to bury a cat as a frivolous or bizarre extravagance.
"He deserved a resting place," Wright said. "I loved Joey. I miss him. We all do."
That special bond
We are socialized to regard animal life as less important than our own.
Yet many who form a deep connection with their pets experience profound sadness and loneliness when the animals die.
Hurricane Katrina underscored the emotional human attachment to four-legged companions. The May issue of the AARP Bulletin describes how a 69-year-old New Orleans retiree and his dachshund survived the disaster together, as the waters rose, living for five days in an attic on cans of vienna sausage and cheese snacks.
On the second day of flooding, rescuers refused to take Thomas Reed's 7-year-old dog, Weezie, and the man wouldn't leave without her.
"This little dog is my family," Reed said. "No way I was going to leave her behind."
Some evacuees were forcibly separated from their pets. One distraught woman offered her wedding ring to a shelter aide if he would find out what happened to her dog, which was not allowed inside.
These stories and others don't surprise those employed in the multifaceted pet loss industry.
There are pet cemeteries, pet crematories, pet grief counselors, pet loss hot lines, pet loss books and tapes and online chat rooms. The Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people who "are in this fragile lifeboat together" cope with their sorrow.
The Humane Society of the U.S. sponsors a program on its Web site that accepts donations to honor the memory of one's pet. PetLossCare.com even provides a package ($29.95) designed to help lead pet lovers "down the path of healing." Contents include a celebratory love booklet, a remembrance journal and a guide for a farewell memorial service and candlelight vigil.
Perpetual Pet and other companies specialize in freeze-drying animals, an alternative to conventional taxidermy. The eight-week process preserves a pet's body in a pose of the customer's choosing. "Even from a distance of a couple of feet or so," says the Perpetual Pet Web site, "it will be difficult to tell any difference at all, save the lack of movement."
Cost is based upon weight -- $595 up to 20 pounds, plus $50 for each additional pound.
Perpetual Pet freeze-dries up to about 100 animals per year.
A special place
In Fort Worth, a city ordinance prohibits burying pets in private yards or on public property. Pet cemeteries provide a sense of dignity and permanence and an alternative to those who wouldn't consider placing Fido's body in a bag and leaving it on the curb, like the weekly trash, to be disposed of by the city's Animal Care and Control.
Like Smoke Rise Farm, Faithful Friends Pet Cemetery and Crematory in Everman is a "full service perpetual care" cemetery.
Think of it as a Forest Lawn or Laurel Land for dogs, cats, birds and other small animals.
Owned by a licensed funeral director, the establishment provides burial or cremation (a more popular and economical choice) and offers a complete line of urns and caskets, vaults, memorials, a mausoleum entombment, a prepayment plan and even a carpeted, handsomely furnished "stateroom" for viewing.
Price for a small plot and minimum-cost casket burial is $250.
"I worked at a funeral home when I was in college. I've seen people get more upset over their animals than they do a family member," said Heather Garrison, general manager of Faithful Friends. "Often it's the men who break down and cry. ... Your animal is always there for you. Pets give you that unconditional love."
Soon after the cemetery opened, one family for whom ceremony was essential requested a graveside tent and chairs and arranged for a minister to preside over a brief service. The pet received quite a sendoff.
More than 500 pets are interred on the 6 tree-shaded acres, which features a gazebo and pond. On weekends, and holidays, visitors place flowers or other items of remembrance alongside markers.
Daisy. Sonny. Taffy. Lady. Sam. Zeke. Snowball.
Headstones read, "You saved our lives." "Thank you for making our lives better." "To our best friend, our protector, hunting fishing and everyday loyal partner." "Playing ball with angels."
The cemetery mails each client a death certificate, letter of condolence and a brochure titled Coping with Pet Loss.
"Remember," the pamphlet says, "your grief is genuine and deserving of support."
Coping with loss
Closing the conference room door behind her, she took a seat at the table and smiled into the faces of those seated around her.
Jeannie Nadel spoke in a level voice, her tone empathetic and understanding.
"It's all right to cry, or not to cry," she began. "We want to get better."
Nadel is a facilitator of a pet loss support group that meets one Saturday monthly at the Dealey Animal Care Center in Dallas. The free counseling program offered by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Texas was designed by Diane Pomerance, a certified grief recovery specialist, author and SPCA volunteer.
Heavenly Creatures Pet Loss Support Group meets twice monthly in Fort Worth.
Books about pet loss are as numerous as canine breeds. Among the titles: Dog Gone; Goodbye, Friend; Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates: A Book of Hope; The Final Farewell.
Therapists agree that animals play a role in the emotional well-being of their owners. One by one, those attending the Dallas session spoke about his or her pet, sharing memories and the range of feelings each experienced.
Some believe, and find comfort, in the supposition that separation isn't forever, that humans and their pets will eventually be reunited. An SPCA brochure promotes this notion, describing an idyllic, ethereal place "just this side of heaven" called Rainbow Bridge, where animal companions who had been ill and old are restored to heath and vigor. There they await a joyous reunion.
An ABCNEWS/Beliefnet poll posed a theological question. "Do pets go to heaven?"
Among pet owners, 47 percent answered yes. Thirty-five percent said only people have a place in a hereafter.
When her time came to speak, Kathy Langhorst-Tienter produced an album filled with photographs of her dog. Accompanied by her husband, she drew a deep breath, as if to steel herself, and reached into a travel bag for a stack of tissues.
For 15 minutes, the woman spoke lovingly, longingly, happily, proudly about Jacob.
"Our child," she called him. "Our son."
A neighbor found the puppy, a German shepherd-border collie mix, when he was 6 weeks old, abandoned in a rain and sleet storm. The animal became a service dog and a reliable companion for Kathy, who has multiple sclerosis. The animal lived with the Tienters for 10 years and traveled with them everywhere. Jacob had his own room and TV. He loved vanilla ice cream.
"People say, 'Oh, he was just a dog,'" Langhorst-Tienter said later. "No. He was a person who loved me."
On March 10, the Carrollton couple met with a veterinarian and sat together on a blanket in a peaceful grassy area in north Dallas. Jacob was dying of cancer. In the gathering twilight, a moment before the animal was euthanized, the vet turned to Kathy. As their eyes met she asked, "Are you ready?"
Through her tears, the woman stroked the coat of her devoted friend, resting in her lap.
"I'm never going to be ready," she said.
Shadow was beautiful. I'm glad he didn't have to suffer a long time.
We had to have our "little dogter (daughter)" put to sleep when she was almost 15 yrs. old.
Some say it's like losing one of the family. I say it IS losing one of the family. She is buried under a sycamore tree that she helped to plant four years before she died, and we have flowers planted on her grave.
To paraphrase Will Rogers, if my cats and dog don't go to heaven then I want to go where they go.
co-sign
Yes.
Very good, but it made me cry!
Thank you for your rant about PETA. Now, when you read through this thread, and read all the real, unpolitical human sentiments most of us feel when we read this, I wonder... Who do you think most of us would like to be around, you and your paranoia about PETA, or the people who have loved and lost a pet that was precious to them?
Life isn't always politics.
Lost two beautiful Dobies in six months. Horrible. More broken up about these guys than I was when my mother died.
What in the world does PETA have to do with people mourning their dead dogs and cats? Do you really think that grieving dog and/or cat owners are going to run wild and do a {{{(nude)}}} scene as in your link in #5?
Also, did God tell you personally that even beloved pets can't go to heaven? I have to ask because it's not mentioned in the Bible, one way or the other, but you seem to know. You might consider adopting a donkey, one certainly helped Balaam.
What a great gift he was to you and your family.
Had one of these 'semi-nude displays' here in Johnson City this week, in a cage on the street ... the Circus is in town and the PETA freaks are here protesting the treatment of the animals.
The title of the original article (“"People say, 'Oh, he was just a dog.' No. He was a person who loved me.") is what spurred my original post (#5). Equating animals to humans or saying they are persons is morally and Biblically in error. Christians should know better by a study of the Bible. The section below is from a larger paper I wrote in 1994. It goes into detail on the differences between animals and man from a Biblical perspective.
START
Man: The Crown of Creation
God fully intended for us to be the crown of His creation, not subordinated to plants, animals or inanimate objects. In fact, we were made just a little lower than God himself! Psalm 8 states this clearly and it is repeated in the New Testament in Hebrews 2:6–8.
Psalm 8:4–8
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels [the word translated “angels” is the Hebrew word elohim, or God], and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
God created Adam with a superior intellect that enabled him to name all the animals.
Genesis 2:19, 20a
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field;
God says that man is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Nowhere is this description applied to animals.
In Matthew chapter 12 Christ is speaking to the Pharisees, a religious/political group, regarding the healing of a man on the Sabbath. The Pharisees considered it more important to observe manmade rules and regulations than improve the health and welfare of a fellow human being.
Matthew 12:11–12
And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
Christ then healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath, an action that so infuriated the Pharisees that they immediately plotted how to kill him.
What else does God’s Word say about animals in relation to us?
Luke 12:6–7
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
These verses in Matthew and Luke indicate that God is mindful of animals. Yet Christ makes it clear that humans are of “more value than many sparrows” and “a man better than a sheep.” This same priority of humans over animals is stated in Matthew 6:26.
Matthew 6:26
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
This verse ends with a rhetorical question. The answer is not supplied because it is self–evident. God is concerned about animals and has designed them in unique ways so that they may be fed (by eating other animals or plants) and protected from predators. However, they are not equal to us in any moral sense. A human life is of incomparably greater value than an animal or plant. A just government will incorporate this fundamental precept in its laws.
Leviticus 24:21 clearly states the consequences of killing a man versus killing a beast, “And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.” Under the Mosaic law God required you to replace the beast of another person if you killed it. Murdering a human however, resulted in capital punishment. The greater punishment shows the greater value placed on human life.
The blessings to humans by exercising dominion over animals are evident from the shoes on our feet to the food we eat. The skin of animals has been used for clothing since Genesis 3:21: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” John the Baptist “was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins” (Mark 1:6a).
Another purpose for animals is food, as stated in I Timothy 4:3 and 4.
I Timothy 4:1–4
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
Animals serve mankind
E.W. Kenyon describes God’s magnificent wisdom in creating animals that serve and bless mankind:
The dog was created by God Almighty to be the faithful servant and companion and lover of man.
Our common house-cat was created to be the household friend and chum of children and childhood, and pet of the aged.
When the wise Master Builder made the horse He designed him purposely to meet the needs of His Man as servant and beast of burden.
He left a place in its mouth where no teeth grow that a bit might be held without inconvenience, that the horse might be able to eat its food with the bit still in its mouth.
Had the cow been given the fierce disposition of a hyena or lion, she would have been totally unfit for domestic purposes.
Had the dog been given the disposition of the wolf or fox, or had our cat been given the disposition of the tiger, they would have been unsafe for our house.
Had the horse been given the disposition of the zebra, it never would have been man’s beast of burden and inseparable friend.
No, He who created man knew that man would need domestic animals that would respond to the touch of love, animals that would pine and yearn for human companionship and that would gladly obey the human voice.
The excellent health care available in the United States results, in part, from experiments performed on animals before they were tried on humans. These experiments have saved or lengthened many human (and animal) lives. For example:
1879: Robert Koch demonstrated the relationship between bacteria and disease by studying anthrax in sheep and cattle;
1922: Frederick Banting and Charles Best, working with dogs, discovered a method of extracting insulin from the pancreas of an animal to treat diabetes in humans;
1954: Jonas Salk used monkeys to develop the polio vaccine;
1967: Christian Barnaard tested heart transplant techniques on dogs and other animals before using humans.
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Thank you....I hope mine are there too.....I have them creamated and hope to have their ashes mixed with mine when I die. That way if they take me...someones got alot of work to do to seperate us...hopefuly they will give up and take us all. LOL.. :)
Angels are in Heaven....our pets will be there.
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