Italian Pets to be Buried With Their Owners?

ITALIANS may soon be allowed to have pet dogs or cats buried with them, possibly in the same coffin.

In a novel step even for Italy, a country infatuated with death, Carlo Baffert, the councillor responsible for Turin's cemeteries, has put the idea to the Health Ministry in Rome.

There has been no decision; but Rosy Bindi, the Health Minister, will have to consider that a growing number of single elderly people have expressed such a desire, with the approval of key local figures and clergy.

"Our proposal was born out of a precise request on the part of the elderly," Mr Baffert said. "In just a few months we've been inundated with calls."

Giordano Muraro, a local priest, expressed support for the idea. "If a cat or dog has really represented a serious and irreplaceable object of affection for an elderly person, then I don't see why it shouldn't be buried alongside.

"But this must only be if the animal is put on the same level as an object - a ring, for example - to which we have been connected in life. Beware of charging such an animal with a human or spiritual significance."

If the pet predeceases its owner, the cremated, stored remains of Moggy or Spot would be introduced later into the same grave, or even coffin, providing that the pet's remains are self-contained, during the owner's burial.

If, however, the pet were to survive the owner, arrangements would be made for the animal to join its dearly departed when its time came.