Colorado pet crematorium disposes bodies in landfill, lawsuit says

Two northern Colorado veterinary clinics are accusing pet cemeteries and crematoriums of fraud, new lawsuit alleges employees disposing of pet bodies in landfills or mass graves and cremating them at clinics. He claims that he was charged a fee.

Precious Memories Pet Cemetery and Crematorium in Fort Collins failed to properly provide advertised services, performed incorrect cremations and improperly disposed of animal ashes, according to a lawsuit filed Friday. , allegedly mishandled other services such as providing the wrong pet clay footprints. Larimer County District Court.

According to the complaint, the Edwards Veterinary Care and End-of-Life Veterinary Care clinics in Greeley and Western Skies, which serve parts of Colorado and Wyoming, each discovered the malpractice in 2022 and have since The company has reportedly ended its long-standing contract with the crematorium. .

“Defendants intentionally, wrongfully and knowingly billed Plaintiffs individually for services that were not provided,” Alexa McKay, an attorney with Environmental Animal Defense who represents both clinics, said in the lawsuit. .

The complaint points out that the International Pet Cemetery and Crematorium Association and the Cremation Association of North America's Pet Cremation Practice Standards define private cremation as cremating only one pet at a time. Individual cremation, on the other hand, is defined as cremating multiple pets at once, with some distance between them to keep the remains separated.

Both forms of cremation require the remains to be returned to the client.

“If you choose cremation, your pet will be treated with the utmost care, compassion and respect,” Precious Memories tells potential customers on its website.

The clinic claims in its lawsuit that Precious Memories employees not only performed individual cremations when the clinic commissioned and paid for private services, but also performed cremations for pets when customers requested mass cremations. They claim that bodies and ashes were disposed of in mass graves and landfills. In mass cremation or community cremation, multiple pets are cremated at once, but separate ashes are not returned to the customer.

The lawsuit also notes that pet remains and ashes were also disposed of in a landfill rather than being scattered at the site as advertised and requested.