Local woman Julie Milson has embarked on a project to help clean up the local pet cemetery.
Julie was prompted by the recent death of her 11 year old Pomeranian dog Oscar, a much loved member of the family, putting out a call on social media last week for people who had pets buried at the Pet Burial Ground (located off the ‘Chalkie’ Road) to help clean up the area which is overgrown with weeds and burrs.
Julie has also written to Cobar Shire Council about cleaning up the area.
“I’m not asking for council to do the work, just for permission to be able to organise a group to clean it up,” Julie told The Cobar Weekly.
Oscar had been a member of Julie’s family since 2005 when she received him as a Christmas present from a friend.
He died last Monday while Julie was away and was buried at the pet cemetery.
Julie said when she came home she wanted to see where her much loved “fur baby” had been laid to rest and so paid a visit to the pet cemetery.
“It was heartbreaking to see what this little place looks like. There’s no fence, just overgrown scrub land and a sign that says Pet Burial Ground. There’s quite a few graves there that are very overgrown,” she said.
Julie said her first instinct was to dig Oscar up and bring him home but instead she set about cleaning up the area around Oscar’s grave and made a makeshift path leading to it.
She said she got a little bit carried away and spent a couple of hours with a shovel cleaning up a big area around his grave.
Since Oscar’s death, Julie has made a couple of visits to the pet cemetery and plans to make regular visits in the future.
In addition to cleaning up the whole area, Julie said she would like to plant a tree next to Oscar’s grave—so she can have somewhere shady to sit when she visits him and so that Oscar can also have some shade.
Julie said it would be nice to also have a gravel path from the road to the graves which would help to hold back the weeds.
“I know people are going to say that they are only animals but to us our boy was part of our family and we loved him and miss him dearly.
“I am determined to get this done so that our little fur babies have a decent place to rest,” Julie said.
