Star, the dog who died after being subjected to horrendous treatment, which heightened awareness of animal cruelty, will be incinerated and its ashes preserved in a monument dedicated to it.
The Rural Affairs Ministry confirmed the female crossbreed will be cremated at the Marsa Thermal Treatment Facility, which was closed for maintenance and is being started up.
Under normal circumstances the preservation of ashes is not possible because such pets are incinerated with other materials.
“The ashes can only be preserved when the treatment of deceased pets takes place immediately following a maintenance shutdown of the facility, which would also involve the cleaning of the kiln. In such a case, the animal is treated on its own as the first item and this enables the collection and preservation of the ashes,” a ministry spokesman said.
The earliest date for this procedure to take place is early on Sunday morning, when the appropriate temperature would have been achieved, the spokesman explained.
“The ministry believes Star’s struggle for survival and the widespread condemnation of cruelty on animals, which its story elicited, ought to be symbolised by a permanent sculpture of Star that will be placed near the statue of St Francis at the animal welfare centre in Ta’ Qali,” the spokesman said.
Star’s death on Monday resurrected a debate on what should become of dead pets.
An animal lover had filed an application with the planning authority to have a cemetery for dead animals in 2008 and 2010 but these were not approved. The Malta Environment and Planning Authority had cited the loss of agricultural land and groundwater contamination as two reasons why there shouldn’t be an animal cemetery.
However, the idea of an animal cemetery is supported by the Animal Welfare Department. “We believe it should happen... it’s very important,” department coordinator Janice Chetcuti said.
Vet Lino Vella believes pets have become such an important part of their owners’ lives that “this should be respected” once the animal died. However, he does appreciate that a burial site might cause environmental health problems such as smells and contamination and if such a route were followed, normal burial practices, such as the use of coffins, would have to apply, which might be costly for the owner.
A more viable option, he suggested, would be cremation, where pet owners would be able to keep the ashes or bury them without the extra costs and environmental concerns of a normal burial.
SPCA president Barbara Cassar Torreggiani is all for some form of an animal cemetery. A problem with incineration at the moment was that, while animals were cremated, this was done en masse, so owners could not preserve their pet’s ashes for burial or posterity, she said.
By law, a pet weighing up to 40 kilos can be buried in its owner’s garden unless it “may prove hazardous to anyone who may come into contact with it” or the burial is “carried out by an establishment or undertaking”.