grannybunz

I understand that such things are not permitted.

Does anyone know if this crazy prohibition is likely to be lifted any time soon?
We have been talking to our maire who is very ecco inclined and she is quite keen to pursue it further but says she has hit a brick wall.

I/we have no wish to be repatriated to the UK, which anyway is difficult because the body has to be embalmed and most green sites won't accept that.

Any views or suggestions?

dmu

Hi,
If your Mme Maire has hit a brick wall, then she's found the French Law which prohibits this. A quick Google search in French only gave Belgian and Canadian sites, but I found this general one:
http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/p...5.xhtml#N10082
which states, as an alternative to a cemetery, that a person can be buried on private property, provided the Préfecture has given its authorisation (depending on proximity to other dwellings, "conditions sanitaires" (possibly type of coffin?), type of soil, etc... No mention of "green sites", of course.
The prohibition doesn't shock me. Apart from an unprotected decomposing body being a potential source of pollution to water supplies, the idea of a cardboard coffin disintegrating in the ground and human bones being dug up by passing wildlife goes beyond my imagination.... But that's only my opinion...
Have you not considered cremation? This is becoming more and more widespread in formerly highly Catholic France, and the ashes can be buried or dispersed (within limits).

dennerlymum

It is actually illegal to bury your cat /dog in your garden in France too - as our vet told us when we had to have our last cat put down..

Chatter Static

Who has any concrete proof that your soul or what ever doesn't go through some pretty horrible ordeal at being putting in an oven at 1600 degrees it's not like anyone has had the chance to tell us except La Pucelle d'Orléans.

Opps, Which bin do they go in then recycling or landfill?

dennerlymum

Opps[/QUOTE]

grannybunz

Oops from us too we buried our rescued cats who died of natural causes in the potager!!!

I/We are not in the least bit religious but the idea of being sent up in smoke - which for us would be a very long journey - about 50kms each way -just doesn't seem to fit with what we want. Were it nearby then maybe but, at our age (70+) one really does need to think about these things. If you don't then all you leave behind is further grief.

Trouble is not many people want to talk about it and we really want to. It is important. I am really pleased that our maire is happy to engage in the debate - she said she had never thought about it either but should have done.

Really don't want to upset anyone but I think it is a subject that should be aired

dmu

You're not upsetting anyone and I apologise if I was a bit blunt with my opinion. But airing the subject on a Forum isn't going to get you anywhere in the long run.
If your Maire is really motivated, she could bring the subject up with your district's Député and try to get a proposed amendment to the present Law included in Parliament's future Agenda. If the Député isn't enthusiastic, a petition signed by several tens of thousands of the local Electorate could give him a nudge. Such a petition could only be organised by some one competent, eligible to vote in the Elections Législatives, and who better than a Maire?

Novocastrian

One of the several feral cats who frequent our backyard chose to croak in an outhouse last year.

I bagged it up and deposited in the tout vient skip at the déchetterie.

It was a big ginger tom and weighed a ton.

I've no idea if what I did was legal. (Don't ask, don't tell).

Chatter Static

It wasn't technically speaking, But I bet the burying of pets malarky has something to do with driving up veterinary or cremation sales. A cat would be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to crap buried in the garden here, I dug up a marble staircase in our garden it had been used to level out the ground under the Rabbit Hutches

jvc

I saw a cat slumped dead next to a pile of dustbin sacks waiting for the bin men a few months ago. I was absolutely horrified...I know we are in France, and their ways of dealing with pets is somewhat "different", but how horrific! It was hard to tell if it was run over by chance near the rubbish and just dumped next to the bags, or if an owner had dumped it out for disposal. I was traumatised for days. Attrocious way to treat an animal....yours or not

Novocastrian

I'm not sure if that was directed at me, but the feral cat just happened to die in my backyard. What would you have done in similar circumstances? With a dead cat.

jvc

Actually, I hadn't read your thread until you mentioned it. I read Chatterstatics thread and it remimded me of it, so no need to be paraoid. However, I have very strong feelings to animals and think the french have a very poor respect of these creatures, and do not tollerate any form of mistreatment to animals, dead or alive.

Novocastrian

So what would you have done with the dead feral cat?

grannybunz

Don't even get me started on people, French or otherwise, on animal treatment.

I just detest the way locals here (and I have to say back in the UK in the old days) treat their animals.

I am not a animal rights person or anything near that but the way people dump creatures or, worse still have them breed around their homes without them being cared for and neutered completley defeats me.

We have a seemingly respectable family in the next hameau who now have 12 cats and a dog, none sterilised and none cared for. They are not tatooed .( the animals I mean!) We have tried the SPA but they say that as we know eher they come from we can't do anything - but they won't either. The Marie - next commune-won't do anything. We even tried catching and taking one cat which terrorises all the sterilsed cats in our hameau to the SPA but they would not do anything, because we had called before, and it is the problem for the Marie.

I have to say that if a feral cat goes to the big mouse place in the sky they get buried in a corner of our potager - so far about 4.

Totally agree about vets wanting to get the money. Our latest cat was tatooted when we specifically asked for him to be chippedso he could have his own dedicated cat flap. When we complained we were told that tatooing was French law - utter twaddle. Now he has to go back to be chipped , ie more money to the vet!!

jvc

Grannybunz...slightly off the topic but the SPA here is so expensive with adoptions. I fear the problem of strays is going to escalate out of control, if it hasn't done so already.