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Animal heaven: Pet cemetery, cremation sites ease pain of grieving owners
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Part of the family: Popo (second left) and her family gathered on Jan. 5 at Pancaka Damai Lestari to cremate the family's beloved dog, Apple, who passed away on Jan. 4. (Courtesy of Popo) (Archive/Courtesy of Popo)
When their pets die, many owners seek cemeteries or cremation sites to keep their loved ones in their memory, and by their side.
On the outside, Pondok Pengayom Satwa might look like any other animal shelter in Indonesia, but once you turn left from its open white gate, over 300 tombstones will welcome you in the still air.
Unlike your usual graveyard for humans, loving notes and cute pictures of the departed are etched on the tombstones. It is a cemetery for pets.
“If you see those 300 tombstones still there, that means the former pet owners still pay for the grave’s retribution,” Lili Wurangian, one of the few veterinarians at the shelter, told The Jakarta Post on Jan. 13.
The air is different at Pancaka Damai Lestari in South Jakarta. There is barely any land, only a small, dimly lit room, but animals also go there to be remembered eternally. It is a pet cremation site.
“See the lush plants we have outside? They came from the ashes of the cremated animals here,” said Pancaka Damai Lestari's owner Suli to the Post on Jan. 9 with a smile.
Buried in loving memory
The tombstones show that many people choose to bury their pets in an actual cemetery that resembles those of humans, an unorthodox way in Indonesia due to its rarity and price.
“We’ve been here since Aug. 28, 1987,” said Lili about Pondok Pengayom Satwa in Ragunan, South Jakarta.
Separate from the Ragunan Zoo, Pondok Pengayom Satwa is an animal shelter established by former Jakarta governor R. Soeprapto in the 80s. It serves as an adoption place, pet clinic and cremation, among other things.
But what made Pondok Pengayom Satwa special is its pet cemetery. With its spacious garden under breezy trees, it has become famous throughout the years for being possibly the only pet cemetery in Jakarta.
“Many of the pet owners come here every year, sometimes during national holidays like Eid, and do nyekar,” the 50-year-old vet said, referring to a tradition of remembering the dead by spreading flower petals on top of the graves. “They want to keep their memory with the pets intact at this place, so they can visit them anytime.”
This is what Bintaro-based Rudi did at Pondok Pengayom Satwa, who has now buried 12 of his cats at the cemetery.
“Back when I was in my rent house, there was no land to bury them,” the 47-year-old told the Post on Jan. 18. Upon discovering the pet cemetery years ago, he then took up three patches of land, which is the most an owner could take for their pets. Now, each grave contains four of his cats piled up.
“The price was, well, quite expensive, but because we love them so much, then why not?” Rudi said.
Ashes to keep them company
When no more land is available at the Pondok Pengayom Satwa cemetery, some even choose cremation for their dead pets, and there are still very few around, one being at Pancaka Damai Lestari in Pondok Pinang, South Jakarta.
“I’ve just started Pancaka around Eid last year, but I’ve always wanted it for a long time,” Suli said to the Post.
Suli has over 50 dogs and over a hundred cats at home, and every time her pets died, she looked for any existing cremation sites, which were not many.
“I would be put on the waiting list for a week while my pets were kept in a freezer,” she lamented.
Suli then created a room in her place to lay the pets down on a table full of flowers and religious ornaments according to the owner’s faith, allowing them to dwell and say their goodbyes before their pets are cremated.
“I want my pets to look pretty when I let them go,” Suli said, hence the blankets, perfumes and flowery decorations she provides for the customers’ pets.
And this moment of solitude, draped in the stillness and sweet aroma of Pancaka’s small room, turns out to be something that a lot of pet owners look forward to before cremating their loved ones.
“[Pancaka]’s exactly what I wanted; it allowed me to spread flowers on my pet’s dead body,” 45-year-old Popo told the Post on Jan. 12. She came to Pancaka in early January to cremate her dog, Apple, accompanied by her husband and son.
To this day, Popo keeps the urn containing Apple’s ashes at home. “There are moments when we would light some candles and pray for him in the place where he often lay around,” she said tearfully.
Another Pancaka customer Niken, who has her own homegrown shelter for stray animals, also felt the same way.
“I just think it would be a pity to leave them behind when I move to another place, even though it’s just what remains of their body,” the 26-year-old said to the Post about burying her pets in her backyard.
“When it become ashes in the urn, I can bring them home or anywhere. And when I’m ready to let them go, I will release them into the sea,” Niken explained.
More than animals
As everyone shared their experiences, the Post noted that each of them, with no context or introduction, referred to their pets directly as their “children”.
“I consider animals as my children since I don’t have children myself,” Suli said. “But for me, these animals are my soulmates, so when I lost them, part of my soul was gone.”
Niken, unmarried and also with no children, also deeply loves her pets this way.
“I do see them like my own kids,” she said, showing her “soulmate” cat, Tobias. “My cat helped me a lot when I was down and depressed this one time, so he was one of the reasons I’m still alive and kicking right now.”
But even Popo, with a child of her own and three dogs already, still felt a great loss after Apple died.
“Apple was a rescue dog, found in a shelter. He was probably thrown away by his former owner because he’s blind,” Popo said.
“He was an old dog, with bad skin, even. But why do we still feel such a loss?” she chuckled, stifling tears. “He was a good boy, and we never love one dog more than the other.”
Rudi, who initially did not like cats, ended up taking care of them more than anything.
“Sometimes I’m willing not to eat, as long as the kids do,” he said to the Post about the times he ran out of money during early COVID-19 lockdowns. “Me? I can go to my siblings’ houses [for food], thankfully.”
When some people scorned him online for spending so much on cats’ burials, Rudi paid no heed and said it was merely his expression of love.
“Who wants to be left out and not taken care of when they die, right?” Rudi said. “So, I want to give my best for them because they’ve accompanied me during the good and hard times.”
