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When Lynn Burry’s beloved cat Skye suddenly passed away while visiting family in Nova Scotia in 2015, she was at a loss.
Burry contacted Metro Pet Crematory on Thanksgiving weekend, the day before she was scheduled to go back home to Newfoundland.
Burry says the crematory’s owner, Edward Rhindress, offered her much-needed compassion and had Skye’s remains prepared with a death certificate before it was time for Burry to leave the province.
“He had her and had everything done. And she sat in her little box. She sat on the [ferry seat] all the way back to Newfoundland … You don’t get that service from a lot of people, do you?”
Lynn Burry says she received the remains of her cat Skye and a death certificate within a day after the death of the cat. (Lynn Burry)
But after 20 years, Metro Pet Crematory is closing its doors. The Dartmouth business announced its closure on Saturday afternoon.
Rhindress says his business has struggled after a new corporate crematory opened 20 minutes from his location and took most of his clientele.
“We’ve been given notice over the last several weeks that during the month of February, we’d be losing a majority of our large corporate vet partners,” said Rhindress.
Rhindress says business started to change after vet hospitals gained new owners from larger corporations outside the province. He said he didn’t have a relationship with the big corporate owners like he did with locally owned vet services.
He says 90 per cent of Metro Pet Crematory’s business is through veterinary partners. About two-thirds of those vets are now large corporate entities that started partnering with the corporate crematory.
“So, we have some very lovely locally owned vet partners. Unfortunately, that’s not a volume of business that would sustain the business model,” said Rhindress.
Tariffs also impacted his business, making urns and equipment more expensive to purchase.
People have since expressed their dismay at the closure of these services, including veterinary hospitals like Forever Loved Veterinary Hospice & In-Home Euthanasia in Halifax.
Veterinarian Emily Reiner is the owner of Forever Loved, which was a partner of Metro Pet Crematory as well.
“We’re all devastated. My whole team is just angry and upset and we had no idea. We’re shocked. We have such a strong partnership,” said Reiner.
Reiner says they are partnering with another locally owned pet crematory. She says despite corporate crematory operations offering services at a lower price, she wants to remain with local businesses.
Edward Rhindress is the owner of Metro Pet Crematory and says the closure of his business is “quite bitter.” (Giuliana Grillo de Lambarri/CBC)
“The care that they took with the pets, the respect, the compassion for the families. You’re not going to get that from a large corporate crematory,” said Reiner.
“I think as a whole it was a big loss to the veterinary community and to pet owners who are not going to be able to access that kind of care.”
Rhindress says this closure feels like a funeral for his business and he will continue providing services to the pets already in his care before he permanently closes.
“It’s quite bitter. It’s a lovely operation, but we just can’t sustain the business.”
For former customers like Burry, she says she still appreciates the care she received from Rhindress.
“He treated her the same as if it was a person … it’s going to be a sad loss,” said Burry.
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