Thousands of Michigan families are being forced to dig up the remains of their beloved pets after an animal cemetery lost its lease.

Heavenly Acres Pet Cemetery in Brighton, Mich., was supposed to be a serene final resting place for family pets.

"It was out in the country, a beautiful place," said Staci Hayman who, along with her husband Matthew Wiseman, buried pets at the cemetery in Livingston County for decades.

However, the bucolic grounds operated by Linda Williams were not part of a protected land deed as clients had thought, but instead on a lease that has since expired — forcing families to either say goodbye to the remains of their pets forever, or go dig them up themselves.

According to FOX35, around 74,000 animals have been buried at the cemetery and most of those were pets that families paid hundreds of dollars to have buried.

Staci said it cost $800 to bury her 21-year-old cat, Bailey.

"They put her in a casket, they had a beautiful room we got to say goodbye," she said to FOX35. "Then they transported her out to the cemetery. It was just like burying a human being."

The bucolic grounds operated by Linda Williams were not part of a protected land deed as clients had thought, but instead on a lease that has since expired.


The owners of the deceased pets reportedly found out when a letter arrived from the lawyer of the landowners informing them they had until September to exhume the remains.

"We all paid for perpetual care and perpetual care to me, means forever," Staci said.

Film at 11.... 🤐

Believe the word,
I will unlock my door
And pass the cemetery gates

I smell a lawsuit coming...

typical lawyers...

LOL

They should have gone the Ted Williams route.

I've buried a few down by the river...…...they also have perpetual care,it's called mother nature

his head near you?

That’s just cold Frank

but dry.

I think that's decaying animal flesh.

I sure hope this cemetery is laid out in concentric circles.

🍺

I've never understood the whole funeral thing. For pets OR humans A dead body is just meat. Let them go back to nature the they are supposed to. Cemeteries to me are just environmental disaster sites. I've told my wife to just chuck me in my favorite fishing lake and let the turtles and bass have at me.

I intend to feed the coyotes.

Yep. Some parts are missing.

typically Jews do not embalm, but that stuff must do wonders for the ground and ultimately ground water.

Plus you got the burial vault and the casket. I just don't get it

I've decided that I'm just gonna live forever...[-o<

Spread my dad's ashes in his favorite lake. Mom wants to join him there some day.

My wife has surprised me and suggested that she might want to end up fish food, also. I always thought we'd both be in the ANC Columbarium, but I"m good with eternal fishing, too.

(The lake my dad's in is super clear. We put him in about six feet of water last year. Weeks later you could clearly see the area, as the 'ashes' made the bottom a lighter color.....the ashes are a lot more like sand than wood ash. Looking forward to getting back up there next summer to see if we can still see him.)

I'm down with some immortality. What's the secret, Rick? Is it da maple syrup?

Ditto...……………..