The bird, who possessed quite a vocabulary, spent most nights on his perch in the family living room, shouting aloud. However, on this occasion, he clearly had something to tell because the next morning his owners found him dead.
"They brought his body to me to be cremated," says Eamonn Coady, owner of Resting Pets in Tramore. "And as he was on the table, I asked had he been sick for long and they told me the story. Everyone started laughing. I think the story lightened the mood a little for everyone."
The funeral director for animals is preparing to open Cork’s first ever pet crematorium, prompted by what he says is overwhelming demand for his service.
Eamonn has been operating his funeral home with a difference in Tramore for the last three years. Since opening, he has cremated everything from your run-of-the-mill house pets to monkeys and spiders.
Resting Pets is one of six pet crematoriums currently operating across the country. The premises even boasts a special wake room on the grounds of its Waterford crematorium.
Eamonn is keen to expand the service to Cork and hopes to have secured a premises there in the next three months, with the crematorium due to open in the next six months. He currently travels to Cork on a daily basis collecting deceased pets. He has brought more than 100 animals to Tramore for cremation since January of this year.
“Whether it’s a dog, cat, rabbit or snake, people are starting to admit that the animal is an important member of the family and deserves a little bit of dignity,” Eamonn said.
Despite his former career with An Garda Síochána, Eamonn said he has rarely witnessed such a level of grief as that expressed by pet owners.
He is only too familiar himself with the pain of losing a four-legged friend. It was the death of his Great Dane Mason that initially inspired Resting Pets.
“He was 15-and-a-half stone weight — a real giant. The vet told me he would have to be kept in a cold room or freezer for a week before being taken away. We were looking at the guts of almost two-and-a-half months before I would have him back. We weren’t prepared to let Mason go because we wanted better for him.
"I remember thinking that this wasn’t good enough. Luckily, I have an acre outside and was able to bury him in my back garden. My next step was to get on to the Department of Agriculture. I ended up with Resting Pets.”
Eamonn says he can never be sure what pet will be brought through his doors, or how a grieving family will react. He recalls how one group of mourners performed songs and chanted while their sheepdog was cremated. Then there was the talking parrot.
In another case, a curious foreign object was identified amidst a pet’s ashes.
“There was this one dog whose cause of death was unknown. I was starting to cremulate the ashes. All of a sudden I found this great big beach pebble. It was the size of my palm. I thought to myself 'Jesus, the dog must have choked'.
"When I met the owner and handed her the pebble she began to laugh hysterically. The dog had swallowed a pebble when he was only about six weeks old and they brought him to the vets. They couldn’t get it out of him at the time and now here I was handing it back to her.”
He lists some of the weird and wonderful animals brought to his crematorium.
“I had a small monkey who was said to have had a very bad temper when he was alive. Anyone he didn’t like wasn’t welcome in the house. I’ve also cremated spiders, a yellow snake and a sugar glider. One woman had a whole pond of koi fish brought to me for cremation. You won’t get any ashes from a fish, only bone. The same could be said for snakes and spiders.”
He says people love 'the personal touch'.
“I’ve had people camping out in the garden while the cremation was going on. One time there were 13 in a tent at the one time. People have spent hours with their pets in the goodbye room."
Eamonn says he would love to offer the same level of service in Cork but he is struggling to find a suitable location.
"It's very hard to get a premises that the planners and the Department of Agriculture can both agree on. That's the secret. If the right premises came up within 40km of Patrick street I would jump on it but they are very scarce. I would like to have the goodbye room and crematorium under the same roof.”
Pet owners who avail of cremations receive a wooden casket featuring the dates of the animal’s birth and death. Dog owners are gifted their pet’s pawprint immortalised in clay.
“I run the place like any undertaker would. If somebody dies in your family it’s usually the same undertaker that is used. I’d like this to be the same for people with pets. They only have to make one phone call and we will arrive with everything."
“A lot of people who have pets don’t have a garden. They might live in a rented house or an apartment. The councils aren't too happy about you burying a pet in your backyard. There has to be some way of dealing with the body of an animal which is why people are turning to cremation.”
Christine Barrett, who lives in Carrigtwohill, said her family used the service for their beloved husky beagle cross Charley who passed away earlier this year.
“We rescued her 12 years ago. When she died it was an unexpected and massive shock. You’d sometimes forget she is gone and go to check on her at night. That is one of the most difficult parts. The kids were devastated. She went in for an operation and never came home — or at least not in the way we would have hoped to take her home.
Eamonn gave us the chance to say our goodbyes properly. He collected Charley from our home. 48 hours went by before she was home with us again. We knew that Eamonn was going to take care of Charley and he understood what we were going through.
“Some people might think you are mad grieving for a pet the way we did, but it completely changes the dynamic in a home. Every time you’d arrive in the door she would be waiting for you. It’s hard to understand a loss like this unless you have been through it.”
Charley’s ashes have provided comfort to Christine and her family.
“She is up on the sideboard in the sitting room so I know she is always close. I like the fact that she can come with me if I ever move."
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