Turkey’s first pet cemetery filled with cat, dog graves

BURSA

The capacity of the country’s first pet cemetery, which was opened in the northwestern province of Bursa’s Osmangazi district in 2017 by the municipality, has reached some 1,200 graves.

According to local officials, there is no more space in the cemetery, which is located inside Europe’s biggest treatment center for stray animals.

“There are 1,200 graves of cats and dogs. We formed this cemetery to ease the pain of their owners,” Dilek Yosun, a department director in the municipality, told Demirören News Agency on May 2.

Visiting the graves of their beloveds is a common Eid al-Fitr tradition. Due to the start of the Eid holiday on May 2, the pet cemetery was filled with visitors.

The owners of the pets visited the graves and cleaned them. Some even prayed for the “souls of their pets.”

Dilek Özsoy was one of the visitors to the cemetery on the first day of the three-day Eid holiday. “We have visited our dear friends,” Özsoy said while talking about her love for animals.