At Timber Run Reserve, people can finally be buried with their beloved pets

At Timber Run Reserve, a pet and its owner can be buried together for all time.

That’s the pitch for the new memorial garden just off of Riverside Cemetery in Spokane. And according to Fairmount Memorial Association, it is something many pet owners have asked for in other sections of their cemetery grounds.

“Over the past 30 years, people have asked us if their four-legged friend can be interred with them. And until today, that answer has always been no. So now we are happy to offer that opportunity,” said Fairmount CEO Dave Ittner.

Cemetery sales director Jorge Vara echoed the sentiment.

“People always ask for this. What can you say? People love their pets,” he said.

Timber Run Reserve was envisioned less as a cemetery than a self-contained park. In its center is a grassy knoll where families can picnic, have a nice day out and maybe bring along their dog to see its final resting place.

“People have a perception of what a cemetery looks like. Kind of as a sad space. And I think that keeps a lot of people away. But I think people come out here and want to stay. It feels like a park. It’s much more inviting,” Ittner said.

Surrounding this recreation space is a circle of approximately 300 grave plots – marked by traditional headstones and boulders that await engraving.

Before each headstone and boulder is a chamber about 30 inches deep fitting three urns. One or more of those urns can be filled with the cremated remains of a pet – forever placed underground next to the cremated remains of their owner.

Only cremains are allowed at Timber Run Reserve. The embalmed bodies of pets and humans cannot be buried together. But the cemetery will allow pet and human ashes to be mixed together in one urn, if that is what the families want.

Since pets and owners may not die at the same time, urns can be placed in the plot separately, or families may wait to place all the urns together.

A cemetery plot in Timber Run Reserve costs between $4,000 and $20,000, depending upon the headstone and placement. That cost does not include the cremation, funeral services, engraving or placing the urn in the plot.

The park is a long time coming for Fairmount Memorial. More than 10 years ago the space was slated to open as Pet Haven Park, which would have acted as a pet day care center. Fairmount officials hoped that would eventually become a pet funeral home and crematorium. That doggie day care never materialized, and many years later became Timber Run Reserve.

Any animal can be buried there. Cats. Dogs. Even a horse, Ittner said.

“A horse would be a pretty big set of cremated remains. So you might only bury a portion of the horse’s remains. If you wanted to place the entire horse, you might need multiple spaces,” he said.