Say What Now? Perfectly Healthy Dog Killed So It Could Be Buried With Its Owner, As Per the Owner’s Will

A perfectly healthy Shih Tzu mix named Emma was euthanized, then cremated in Virginia because the dog’s owner demanded in her will that the dog spend be buried and spend eternity with her.

via NYDN:

Emma was delivered to a Chesterfield County animal shelter on March 8 and put to sleep a couple of weeks later, despite staffers trying to urge the deceased woman’s family to let the dog live, WWBT in Richmond. Va. reported.

“We did suggest they could sign the dog over on numerous occasions, because it’s a dog we could easily find a home for and rehome,” the shelter’s manager reportedly said.

After Emma was killed, the dog’s carcass was brought to a pet cremation center and her ashes were poured into an urn. That container was to be buried next to the owner who posthumously ordered the dog’s death.

According to WWBT’s report, burying a dog’s cremated remains alongside a human corpse is illegal in public cemeteries, but allowed in some private burial grounds.

Shih Tzus are “affectionate, playful, outgoing” dogs that live up to 18 years if not interrupted, according to the American Kennel Club. Emma’s age at the time of her death is not known.

That poor dog…