Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens in Timonium is the final resting place of about 32,000 people, but it is also the burial grounds for around 3,500 pets including cats, dogs, birds, guinea pigs, rabbits, a horse, a pony, two pot-bellied pigs, a chinchilla, a squirreland one of the earlier resident trumpeter swans.
"We lost her in 2010 after she ran into a bench," said Amy Shimp, the cemetery's general manager. "We held a service for her and all the employees attended and shared fond memories of her. Our swans are tame. You can pet our swans."
They replaced the swan immediately, she said.
The 70-acre cemetery off Padonia Road features a 2-acre lake with a fountain where the pair of swans, dubbed the "Dulaney Valley Princesses," reside.
The cemetery inters about 900 people a year, yet, Shimp said whenever she gets an emergency call on weekends after hours, "Nine out of 10 times it's pet-related."
Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens was founded in 1958, but it didn't accommodate pets until 1970, when its Pet Haven section opened with space for3,000cats, dogs and various other creatures.
There are already 500 pets in the newest section, the Pet Sanctuary, which will accommodate an additional 3,000 animals and which was created after Pet Haven ran out of room.
The cemetery's pet venture has been successful, according to Shimp.
"We serve a 20-mile radius for humans, but it's more like a 50- to 60-mile radius for their pets," she said. "During holidays, per square foot, there are more people visiting and leaving flowers for pets than people."
Some pet remains are buried in the ground intact with a flat bronze plaque to mark their grave.
Other pets have been cremated and their cremains buried or placed in the base of bronze memorials or in niches in thewall of granite.
There are also a limited number of spaces with cremation benches to serve those who never want to leave their pets. Each ultimately will contain not only a pet's ashes but the owner's ashes as well.
When it comes to burials, Shimp said, family members sometimes will bring all their pet's possessions, such as toys, blankets and pillows to go in the casket and the family will have to buy a bigger casket.
Lutherville resident Dorrie Wilfong recalled the first pet funeral she attended at Dulaney years ago. It was for the little dog across the streetwhose owner is now deceased.
"There were four of us neighbors standing there beside the grave site when a golf cart appeared carrying the small Styrofoam 'casket', Wilfong said. "it looked like a cooler with a dome.
"When the attendant asked if our neighbor wanted to see her dog one last time, she replied 'yes' and he opened the casket for her. It fascinated me they had used double-sided tape," she said.
Shimp said through her work at Dulaney, she has become aware of how strong the bond between people and their pets can be.
Some people come daily to visit their pet's grave. A woman fromBel Air comes weekly to visit her bunnies.Another woman brought in her cat to be buried and a previous family cat who had died earlier and she had stuffed.
"She had waited two years so they could be buried together," Shimp said.
"We even have cremation jewelry," she said. "We put the ashes or a lock of hair in a pin or piece of jewelry so people can holdtheir pet close to their hearts."