Healthy dog euthanized and buried with dead owner

A healthy Shih Tzu mix was euthanized as part of her late owner’s dying wish, which was for it to be put down and laid to rest with her.

Emma, the dog, was sent to the Chesterfield County Animal Shelter in Chesterfield Virginia back in March 8 just after her owner’s death. She stayed there for two weeks, as the shelter tried to convince the executor of the dead woman’s estate to rescue the dog from death.

“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 re-home,” Carrie Jones, manager of Chesterfield Animal Services, told WWBT, an affiliate of CNN.

However, the executor came back to the shelter on March 22 to get the dog, according to a spokeswoman for the Chesterfield County Police. The shelter tried convincing the executor once again, but the executor have made up its mind and declined once again.

The executor took Emma and brought her to a local veterinarian, where she was euthanized and taken to a pet cremation center in Richmond Virginia, according to a report by WWBT. She was placed in an urn and returned to the executor, who laid the ashes next to the dog’s owner.

Some states in the United States allow a cemetery company to have human remains and their pets alongside each other. In 2014, the state of Virginia made that law legal, however, there are only sections for humans and pets to be buried together and no pet may be buried in the same grave, crypt or niche with their hoomans.