Sometimes we die ahead of our loved ones, sometimes they do.
Loved ones don’t necessarily mean our race only, it can be any other form of a living being. They can be our beloved pets or even a teddy bear. We Nepalese are very good at copying others, instead of being different, we try to be similar. I do remember when I was working overseas and I used to come home on my holiday. It was the time I could see a different trend, one year it was the year of Blackberry phones, then came the time of scooters, then came the days of cars- sedan less and hatchback more. The trend of having branded dogs have been there for some time now, people just buy large dogs such as German Shepherd, Labrador, Mastiffs and even Saint Bernard to name a few. They are all, even street puppies so cute looking at that age. Then when they turn a year or two they start to develop their true feature and that’s the time many abandon the dogs just because they don’t look good. Then the puppies grow to be a dog and then most of the people start to realize either they can’t feed them, or they can’t handle them or the dog just becomes a nuisance to them and they abandon them. What if our parents had done the same thing to us, would you accept it? Definitely not.
Hence, having and raising a pet is a lifetime commitment. Love is just one part of your promise, you need to train him, discipline him the same as teaching a child, take them to the vet in case they get sick and have a proper form to say goodbye in the end. Now, what is this proper form, just look at the following images about how much we humans can go to caring for our loved pets, remember this in most of the European nations and even in Japan people are so lonely that pets are the only friend or family they have.
Animals are sentient, intelligent, perceptive, funny and entertaining. We owe them a duty of care as we do to children.”
Michael Morpurgo, British Writer
This is where Kathmandu’s dead dogs go:
Ever wondered where do the dead dogs and even cats go after they die, these are not private-owned dogs or cats but they are unlabeled street dogs and cats in which some are even abandoned by the family or the animal could not tolerate the abuse and ran away. It May seem strange to hear but yes they do run away, if you chain them 24 hours in a box where hardly he could stand up and you just open the box to feed and to clean. This is the utmost form of animal cruelty. Most of these animals are a case of hit and run, even municipality used to poison them before- what a cruel way to kill them.
Clean Nepal:
Every morning, they receive calls from people and local municipalities. Then the field staff go and collect the dead animals and bury them in deserted public places around Kathmandu. If you are interested you can read the whole operation and others in the link below
https://kathmandupost.com/valley/2019/08/01/this-is-where-kathmandu-s-dead-dogs-go
“Sometimes losing a pet is more painful than losing a human because in the case of the pet, you were not pretending to love it.” Amy Sedaris, American Author
Me & My beloved pets.
If you raise a pet well fulfilling its both physiological and psychological needs it will live up to your expectations. They will be part of you for a decade more or less depending upon the animal. Between those years, they give us joy, laughter, love, irritation and even anger. I had fed my dog even skipping my meal, I had to take them on a walk whether the sun is too hot or the rain is pouring like the shower. I have been bitten by my cat and dog alike when they passed away- some were my mistake and some were the disease that took them away but this is what I did after their death.
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| 0) WHITE MOUSE- I LOVED IT SO MUCH I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS BODY |
| 1) CAT- I HAD TO BURY IT | |
| 2)DOG- I HAD TO BURY IT | |
| 3)RABBIT- I HAD TO BURY IT | |
| 4)PARROT- I HAD TO BURY IT | |
| 5)FARM CRAB- COOKED ( I CONFESS TO KILLING IT, ENTIRELY I HAD LESS KNOWLEDGE ABOUT IT) | |
| 6)FISH- I FLUSHED IT AND SOME I GAVE TO CATS | |
| 7) TORTOISE- BURIED IN THE SEA |
As you can read above that most of my pets I had to bury them and the burial place is not at one place but it is scattered all over. I am not Christian by birth but there is no harm in taking some cultural reference from them. I love the idea of six feet under and I truly believe it is very much possible. If there was a pet cemetery I would head straight to it, and who knows every year I would be there at the cemetery asking for blessings from the long gone. Hence, Kathmandu needs a pet cemetery.
Unconditional love:
The above picture has gone viral for some time, in case you missed it this is what it is about. John Unger and his dog Schoep used to float anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on the temperature of the water and how Schoep was feeling. Schoep loved the water but arthritis settled into his joints which made it hard to swim or even walk. So, Unger would just hold Schoep on his chest in the water, sometimes for hours. Although the dog Schoep died, later on, the bond between them was set and somewhere along the line, it proves humanity still does exist.
Kathmandu and other cities need a pet cemetary
- First and foremost noone has to worry about what to do with you dead pets. It will be a place where the respect is shown to the gone ones.
- Secondly enviormental pollution becomes less. Dumping throwing or burying without proper knowledge does not help the enviorment. You yourself won’t jump in happines by someone burying the corpse in your land or even at the sight of the corpse thrown at the nearest water resource.
- A pet cemetary should be established in all major cities depending upon the pets people hold. Nepal is the country where gathering data is like looking a needle in the hay stack.
- A pet cemetary needs no fancy posts , but a flat land surrounded by 7 feet walls and a huge gate for entrance. Security camera must be installed and a undertaker must be present, hence a small cottage or hut with all the amensties should be provided to the undertaker. All of this is to be built in the goverment property, but to run the operation and give some extra services certain fees can be charged. At this stage if you really love your pet the amount asked will be a small part of the donation for your pet to stay for eternity.
some examples of how things are going around the world
Pet Cemetary should host some rules as:
- pet size- horses and elephants must be reconsiderd.
- location- keep in mind the location should cover all the population and cater everyone whether they have a private car or not. Far away location is not helpful to the people. We are doing this to keep its memory alive not to terminate it.
- extra services- the grave must be ready upon arrival, identification such as stone engravement depending upon the budget should be made in honor . The tomb must be cleared from bushes and grasses.a reminder of the annual thanksgiving can be notified just in case.
If all the above sounds a bit expensive and out of the criteria then there are other ways such as:
- Bury your pet at home.
- Ask the veterenian for avilable options, if the animal had died in the hospital.
- Call animal control, in Nepal it is called SAVE NEPAL.
- Kathmandu and Nepal needs to have pet cemetery.
Pets are a part of the family, the only difference is they can’t speak or else they communicate very well. It is said that dogs are able to read many types of facial expressions that even we humans can’t. They definitely deserve an outstanding goodbye and a tribute for being there for you.
Some intresting facts worth knowing:
The dog, believed to be a three-month-old female, was unearthed in 2011 on the Syallakh River in the Ust-Yana region of Yakutia, also known as the Sakha Republic. This is estimated to be a 12,000-year-old dog.
The tomb of the Russian born dog Laika who was the first to orbit the earth is not in Russia, but it is buried at Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York, USA
This architect is called Hiran Minar. The complex was built at the site of a game reserve in honour of Mughal Emperor Jahangir‘s beloved antelope named Mansiraj. The Emperor is remembered for his fondness for nature. The minaret itself was built in 1606 C.E. as a monument to Emperor Jahangir’s beloved pet antelope, Mansiraj, or “Lord of All Animal Beings”‘
What an emotional and beautifully marked grave. The words themselves speak of every anguish, anger and sentiment. Hopefully, someday science will find something else instead of sacrificing the lives of so many animals in the name of innovation and science.
In the ancient Sanskrit epicMahabharata, the five Pandavas on their way to heaven are accompanied by a dog. The five Pandavas with their wife Draupadi and brothers climb the Himalayas; all of them except Yudhishthira and his dog perishing along the way. Then Yudhishthira meets Indra, King of the gods, who welcomes him to heaven but tells him he has to leave his dog behind. Yudhishthira refuses to enter heaven without his dog and says he will go back to earth. The dog disappears and it is replaced by Yama, the god of death; Indra is impressed by his actions and then his righteousness opens the gates of heaven for Yudhishthira.
Nepal is the only country in the world that celebrates a day for the dog. If proposed and explained carefully I genuinely think there won’t be that hard convincing the government on opening a cemetery for pets.
In 2005, police dogs had averted a deadly terrorist attack in Pokhara by finding a 20kg explosive installed under the ground at the entrance of the stadium.After a 10-year-old girl’s rape and subsequent murder in Pokhara, the Kaski Police turned to Kushal for assistance, who tracked the perpetrator by sniffing the stone used as a murder weapon. Some hundred meters away from the victim’s maternal home, Kushal led the police from the crime scene to the murderer’s house. Kausal was named Nepal Police decorated Kushal with the highest honour for his kind — ‘The Best Dog of the Year’
ENDNOTE– either goes to deaf ear or someone who will ponder. whatever I thank you for coming this far and hopefully you will have a second thought about this.
My proposal is nothing new, this might be in the mind of many of us. It's a spark and the good thing is this generation is very aware of what is happening and what should be respected. A country where animals from birds to four legged are worshipped every year and is to be considered one of the most holy days.These animals has been with us for centuries and the only missing point or fill in the gaps is the proper way to say good bye to them. Mostly we do bury them, now what we need is a proper way of burying it. It is not the question that we lack the space, goverment has more than enough places to lend for the cemetary. Lastly, I would like to share my personal experience. When my best friend, when I mean the best he was the only one I could talk to and I fully trusted he understood me. After his passing, which was late in the evening I approached a local christian cemetary if I can bury my dog there. I even said that it won't be any trouble to anyone and I can contribute by any means necessary. They refused and I can understand why they did it.Lastly I had to bury him in a slope, it was raining and I was just too stubborn at that time. I needed the hardest narcotics to keep me sane. I realized if there was a pet cemetary how smooth and memoriable the good bye would be. None the less, I still miss him and I am still sorry I could not give him what he deserved.Kathmandu needs a pet cemetery.
