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No humans allowed.
The final wishes of animal lovers to spend eternity with their furry little pals in a pet cemetery has been thwarted by state bureaucrats.
Bronx resident Rhona Levy, 61, has already planned to be buried at the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in Westchester along with her dog, Snow, and cats Putchke, Pumpkin and Twinkie. Her wishes are in her will, and two headstones are already there, one with the inscription “Mommy’s Home.” It waits for her and cat Shaina, who is 10.
“I feel these little furry children are my children. Why not be with them? They’re my babies,” Levy said.
But state law says cemeteries are for people and pet cemeteries are just for animals.
“The two shouldn’t cross,” said Richard Fishman, director of the state’s Division of Cemeteries.
Fishman’s April letter to pet-cemetery operators said the state Cemetery Board had ruled that any business that buries people must comply with state law and operate as a nonprofit.
The pet cemeteries are run as for-profit businesses.
The Hartsdale cemetery is the final resting place of some 75,000 pets, including Mariah Carey’s cat and former Met broadcaster Ralph Kiner’s dog, and perhaps 700 of their devoted owners.
The pet cemetery has allowed people to be buried there for decades, as long as they were cremated and their pets beat them to the grave.
Cemetery director Edward Martin said its lawyers have always maintained that the human ashes “are no longer human” and therefore could be placed anywhere, including a pet graveyard.
He said about 10 people a year want to be buried with their pets at the five-acre cemetery. The burials cost $235 plus a one-time $1,800 payment for perpetual care.
Retired NYPD Officer Thomas Ryan wants to rest in peace with his wife, Bunny, and beloved Maltese pups — BJ the First and BJ the Second.
Instead, Ryan’s ashes are sitting on a shelf at his sister’s upstate home and his distraught family is seeking permission for the former Bronx resident’s remains to rest in peace. The Korean War vet died in April.
“We had a family memorial service. Relatives flew in from Ireland. It was excruciating to go through all that and not be able to end it with a burial,” fumed Ryan’s niece Taylor York.