As Taiwanese crowded countryside cemeteries Wednesday to honor their
ancestors, many marked the traditional tomb-sweeping festival by visiting their
dead pets.
At Merciful Pets Paradise, a pet cemetery in suburban Sanhsia near Taipei,
animal lovers stood before rows of cabinets filled with urns containing their
dead dogs, cats, parrots and other pets. They lit incense and burned stacks of
paper money intended to ease the financial burden of the deceased in the
afterlife.
Some prayed amid thick incense smoke before a gilded Buddha statue on an
altar, flanked by yet more urns.
Peter He opened a small plastic door to remove the urn containing the ashes
of his pot belly pig, Dong Dong, before a memorial service. He placed the urn on
a desk alongside a photo of Dong Dong and a selection of his favorite foods,
including bread, watermelon and apples.
"I prayed to the Buddha that Dong Dong will reincarnate into a man, not
another pig who lives a miserable life," He said.
Next to him, Jan Hsia-ping cried for her best friend, Baby, a 5-year-old
Pomeranian who died last year.
"I brought Baby's favorite noodles and steamed egg," Jan said. "I prayed that
she could forgive me for not providing her the best care when she was sick."
The two-story brick house contains some 2,000 urns of pets and hundreds more
are added each year, said Kuo Chin-yi, the owner of Merciful Pets Paradise.
Pet owners can honor their dead animals with Christian, Catholic or Buddhist
services, he said.