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Fri 26 Nov, 2004 12:57 am
My husband and I always fight on this one topic whenever it comes up and I need a middle man to sort out the argument. He believes that it is ok to bury his dead animals (larger than a rodent) in the back yard of the house because any time his dog or cat died, his parents had the property to bury them right in the back yard. I believe that as much as I might love my animal, it is totally disgusting to bury something so big in the backyard, especially if the house did not belong to us because I would hate to have the new house owners find all of our dead animals in the backyard.
Why I post this in the legal section is because I am almost certain that in most suburban areas it is illegal to bury any large animal in your back yard due to water pipe hazard. When I told him this he told me he could do whatever he wanted with the animal and he told me I could go ahead and call the police on him when he does it. We have a cat and he told me that if it died that he would bury it in the back yard even though I told him that it is not that expensive to have the animal taken care of at most animal hospitals. I don't know if it is the pricipal of the thing that makes him so stubborn, but am I right? Is there a law out there stating that you can't bury animals in the back yard? And is there some kind of service you can call to dig up animals if they have been buried?
Any law pertaining to the disposal of small animal carcasses on private property would be a matter of local ordinance - vermin and common household pets being considered "small animals" - should your locality have such a law. Most don't.
The property owner would of course be liable for any excavation damage to underground utilities, so it likely would be a good idea to contact the local utilities or your local "Digger's Hotline" or equivalent before plantin' a departed pet.
It is possible, should you be a condo dweller or a member of a home owner's association, that a regulation or covenant prohibiting pet burial might be in force, but that's about it.
If you want somethin' dug up, prolly your best bet would be a landscape contractor, but you'd prolly be wise to schedule the exhumation to occur conveniently closely timed to your regularly scheduled garbage pickup.
And if you want the refuse hauler to take the carcass, whether its been buried or not, it prolly oughtta be securely packaged - heavy duty pvc garbage bags are perfectly adequate, the opaque ones prolly would be the most tasteful.
:wink: It generally is not permitted for a surviving spouse to bury the departed partner - departed through natural cause or otherwise - in the back yard - though dispensations permitting such can be granted in some jurisictions and under certain conditions :wink:
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