...like an Egyptian?

[BunsenBurner]

<p>I though I’ve heard it all, but I guess not. Stranger than fiction stuff keeps popping up on the evening news. With bills like this one, our Legislature will be busy!</p>

<p>[Politics</a> | Proposed bill: humans, pets buried in single grave | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008625226_deadpet14m0.html]Politics”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008625226_deadpet14m0.html)</p>

<p>If ancient Egyptians could be buried with their pets, why couldn’t we?</p>

<p>

Forget the notion that dogs are man’s best friend. To Sen. Ken Jacobsen no dog could compare to his beloved cat, Sam.</p>

<p>So when the spunky 23-pound family pet died several years ago, Jacobsen was left wondering what to do with him.</p>

<p>“I realized Sam would have wanted to be buried with my remains, right in North Seattle,” Jacobsen said Tuesday.</p>

<p>The idea first started as a joke, but when Jacobsen later decided to see if humans and pets could be buried together, he discovered it isn’t allowed in cemeteries meant for humans.</p>

<p>This week, the Seattle Democrat known for proposing quirky legislation filed a bill, Senate Bill 5063, that would prevent cemeteries from rejecting animal remains and allow the commingling of human and pet remains.</p>

<p>The legislation only covers dogs and cats — a limitation Jacobsen said he hoped would increase the bill’s chances of approval.</p>

<p>State law currently defines a cemetery “as a place used or intended to be used for the placement of human remains” — implying no pets allowed. The only way to be legally buried alongside your four-legged friend is to have your ashes interred in a pet cemetery.</p>

<p>Louis Clarke, owner of Pethaven Cemetery in Kent, thinks the bill is a good idea. The cremated remains of more than 20 people have been buried at his cemetery because the deceased wished to be with their pets.</p>

<p>“Sometimes people ask for their ashes to be mixed in one urn — that’s how connected many people feel to their pets,” Clarke said.</p>

<p>One gravestone of human and pet remains in the cemetery reads simply, “I loved my pets.”</p>

<p>But David Bielski, who owns human and pet cemeteries in Aberdeen, was shocked when he heard about the bill.</p>

<p>“Pet’s are family — but they’re different,” Bielski said. “This bothers me a lot. I think that’s opening a whole can of worms that people don’t really want to get into.”</p>

<p>Would cemeteries have to set aside a place for pets, or would pets be buried alongside their human friends? he asked.</p>

<p>The bill would allow either option.

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