Villach opens its first municipal pet cemetery

Villach opened its first municipal pet cemetery on Wednesday near the city’s forest cemetery, ORF reported. The city’s cemetery administration launched the project and will manage the animal graves and urn columbaria.

The 800-square-metre cemetery offers individual and communal graves. Animals weighing up to 75 kilograms can be buried there. Urn burials are also available, as is the option to scatter ashes on the grounds.

Fees depend on the animal’s size. Graves are initially available for five years, with the option to renew. A single payment covers burial in a communal grave, according to Walter Egger of the cemetery administration, who said demand for a pet cemetery had grown among residents.

Dogs and cats are in greatest demand, but the cemetery also offers resting places for birds and hamsters. Visitors can enter via Tiroler Straße and use the parking and toilets at the nearby forest cemetery. The cemetery administration will maintain the communal graves.