Life’s memories are engraved in our hearts

“Neal Cruz was a staunch PAWS supporter and animal welfare advocate. He had the first-ever column appearing below the editorial cartoon of a major daily, which tackled the issue of animal welfare and animal cruelty,” said Anna Cabrera, executive director, Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). “He was also an animal rescuer and reserved the most number of tiles on the wall for his dearly departed rescued pets.”

The Pet Memorial Wall is a special place at the PARC grounds where pet owners can commemorate their beloved pets who have crossed over to the rainbow bridge. You can dedicate a Memorial Tile to your beloved furbabies and pay them a visit regularly to keep their memory alive.

The Pet Wall has 20 tiles, each at P2,500, and it is good for five years, added Cabrera. “It is not a columbary or a place where one puts the urn of his or her pet’s ashes. It is a dedicatory tile made in honor or tribute of a departed pet.”

A pet owner submits a photo of his or her pet with the text of what he would like to put there in honor of his dearly departed pet.

Long before there were crematoriums or aquamation for dead pets, PAWS allowed some pets to be buried at the PAWS shelter for P500 only. Some kept putting “tombstones” although the pet owners were repeatedly advised not to do so because these were common/mass graves and not exclusive to one pet only.

In 2007, the organization put up the Memorial Wall so that bereaved pet owners would have some place to put their “dedication” and tributes to their beloved departed furry family members, Cabrera added.

By 2012, PAWS had to stop accommodating the pet burials altogether as there was no longer space within the common burial grounds. It was just the Memorial Wall that was offered to pet owners. The PAWS Pet Memorial Wall is not a place to bury or keep a deceased animal’s remains.

“There are many people who come by to visit the Pet Wall on 1 and 2 November,” said Cabrera. “Families visit and they stay for at least an hour — just like what families do in the graves of human loved ones. They tell us stories about their departed pets and even bring food to share with PAWS staff and volunteers.”