A pet project

Cemetery executive John Williams says he and his staff will do anything to accommodate a client — given it's legal, ethical and moral.

A place to honor deceased pets, from cats to dogs to rabbits, met those requirements. So last year Williams, vice president at Venice Memorial Gardens, an affiliate of Venice-based Farley Funeral Homes and Crematory, launched one of the more unique secondary revenue sources on the Gulf Coast: a full-service pet cemetery and funeral home.

The operation, on an acre of the 65-acre Venice Memorial Gardens, cost more than $200,000, including specialized landscaping and a crematory machine that cost around $60,000. “There are some people who will look at this and say 'you have to be kidding me,'” says Williams. “But there are people who have pets, and then there are pet-lovers. This is a big deal for some people.”

The Venice Memorial Gardens Pet Cemetery and Funeral Home, which includes burial or cremation options, opened last year. It follows a market study Farley Funeral Homes commissioned. “We were starting to see more and more people ask us about pets,” says Williams. “We saw there was a market for people who wanted more than having their pet cremated in the vet's office.”