Bhubaneswar: Raising a pet and then losing it can be a heartbreaking experience. Pets surpass human beings in giving unconditional joy and love. All they ask for in return is love.
The bond between a pet and a pet parent is almost equal to that of a child and its parents. Families shower all their love and pamper their pets to such an extent that their passing away leaves a deep sense of melancholy in them. It is like losing a member of their family. The coming of a pet is like having a baby and calls for celebration. Similarly, their passing away leaves a deep vacuum. More and more pet parents have now taken to writing obituaries for their pets as an ode to the love they shared. For a long time, newspapers all over the world avoided publishing obituaries for pets but no longer, especially after many countries began online services to reminiscence pets.
The internet is replete with examples of ways to honour one’s pet after its death, which could be anything, right from writing an obit to creating a day in its honour, to growing a memorial garden, making a statue, making a home movie, calling people home and framing photos.
In 2020, a woman from South Carolina wrote a moving obituary for her pet dog Charlie and her note left the internet teary-eyed. “I wrote my dog an obituary because of course I did. He was the best boy,” Sallie Hammett said in a post on Twitter and shared a picture of the obituary.
It included a beautiful picture of Charlie as she wrote: “Charlie James Gregory-Hammett crossed the rainbow bridge Sunday, September 13, peacefully in the arms of his mom.” She also added that Charlie loved walking, swimming, smiling and collecting sticks apart from snoozing.
Closer home, Bhubaneswar’s Mohapatra family recently published an obituary for their beloved pet ‘Golu’ in a newspaper and even wrote an eulogy in the form of a beautiful poem, remembering how Golu came into their life and the mutual love they shared.
It is difficult to say whether this is the first of its kind obituary for a pet in the city but it definitely is one of its kind and a heartwarming one too.
