Lily Li, a local pet owner, was looking for a funeral service for her 12-year-old Pomeranian that passed away a few days ago.

She wanted to bury the dog on the Qingming Festival (the Chinese tomb sweeping day on every April 5).

It turned out only one place in Shanghai, called the South Mountain Saint Mary's Funeral Home, offers pet funerals.

And Li wasn't alone in seeking pet funeral service to commemorate their deceased pet during the traditional Qingming Festival.

South Mountain manager Cheng Hairong said, "We get at least four to five calls everyday asking about pet funeral services."

But for disappointed customers, the funeral service only offered cremation. The remains had to be taken back home, the manager told Li, as his pet cemetery was no longer available in the city.

But pet owners will soon have an alternative.

A new pet cemetery will soon appear in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, Cheng said. Extreme land scarcity in Shanghai doesn't allow pet cemeteries, said Cheng. The land was shut down last December, he said.

"I want to keep the business going," said Cheng, who has two cats at home.

Even in the human cemeteries, ash box storage plots may be two-thirds smaller than before, starting later this year, a funeral industry watchdog said last week.

Officials at the Shanghai Funeral Management Division claimed they were not in charge of pet funeral service.

Local experts favored Cheng's idea for a Shanghai pet cemetery, but were worried because there was no government agency designated to supervise such activities.

Self-burials or dumping dead animal bodies could have serious results, according to Zhou Ming, a veterinarian from the Shanghai Pet Union.

"If bodies were exposed to the air, bacteria could spread and cause disease in human respiratory system," said Zhou.

At Southern Mountain, cremation starts at 350 yuan (US$43); a rosewood ash box costs 280 yuan; and a headstone in Suzhou will be at least 500 yuan.

Another 500 yuan will be charged as a grave administration fee every five years, according to Cheng.

(Shanghai Daily March 22, 2006)