What Do You Do?

So, suppose like us, you've made the move and you're living down here in Belize. All of a sudden, one of your pets dies. Maybe you live in town and don't have the room for a large grave, or just don't like the idea of digging a hole and putting the newly departed into the ground. Maybe you're concerned about the health aspects, or whatever.

What do you do? Well, it's a bit more complicated compared to what we had to do in the States. When one of our pets died up there, all we had to do was take them to the vet and they took care of getting the cremation taken care of. A few days later, we returned to the vet's and received a nice wooden urn full of ashes.

Here, you have to have a certificate of death issued by your veterinarian. It's basically a letter, signed by the Veterinarian to the funeral parlor, stating that the animal is dead and that the owner wants the remains cremated.

Death Certificate

So, this means you have to take the deceased to the vet's office, get the certificate and take it and the remains to the local funeral parlor.

They, in turn, have to contact the Health Department, who issues them a permit to conduct the cremation.

Cremation Permit

The permit describes the conditions that must be followed for the cremation. So, in a way, it is a big deal to have a pet cremated.

It's not the cheapest thing to have done. The cremations for each of our cats cost $200.00 BZD. After everything is completed (which takes about a day), the funeral home returns the ashes in a nice little wooden box with a black mourning bow - which is used down here to signify that you're in mourning. What I mean is, that if you go to a business and they're closed and there's a black bow on the door, you have a pretty good idea that there's been a death in the family and to come back another day.

And now you know. It's not the most pleasant of topics, but one that most of us, where ever we might live, will have to deal with. This is how it's dealt with in Belize - well, at least in Corozal anyway.