In recent years, the family of pets has grown, and after many years of company, the pet's afterlife has been given a growing sense of ritualism. In megacities such as Shanghai, pet owners are unable to bury their pets directly, so cremation becomes a more common and responsive way of managing the city.
The cremation, the farewell ceremony, the burial of ashes, the tailoring of souvenirs ... The pet burial service is rising in Shanghai and the demand for the market is growing, as many pet owners say: "It is the last respect for it and the comfort of their hearts."
In parallel with growing market demand, unlicensed “black cremation” services are not uncommon in the market and have led to many disputes, as well as numerous reports from small shops.
In a pet funeral home in the city, staff members told journalists that they could arrange a farewell ceremony for the pets and that they could also provide services such as burning, burial, as well as the storage of ashes. The company had its own cremation site, which did not need to be sent to a non-hazardous treatment centre, and that the ashes could be collected on the second day. However, when the journalist offered to visit the cremation site, the staff member refused on the grounds of security and stated that the location was not easy to inform, “the cremation site is in the suburbs and is more remote, but can be broadcast live and viewed throughout the shop”.
The business entrepreneur, Mr. Zi, said: “No private shop in Shanghai that can handle the remains of pets is formal. Most of them are taken to the countryside for treatment or are directly cremated by mobile cremators in the suburbs or even near residential areas.”
According to Mr. Chi, these mobile cremators not only lack professional qualifications but also carry with them considerable fire risks, with serious consequences in the event of an explosion or fire.
A video of pet cremation obtained from the merchants showed that the crematorium door service, parked at the corner of the neighbourhood, had a vent above and each front, and cremated once the pet body had been placed in an incinerator inside the car.
The merchants call the pet mobile crematoria available at the door, and the pet owner can watch it all the way to get the ashes that day.
In addition, there are many vendors selling pet incinerators on second-hand trading platforms.
In addition to cremation, there is a "waterization" service for thermal decomposition of pet bodies in alkaline solutions.
According to the owner of a pet aqueous funeral door in the Shanghai region, hydrosis is still a relatively new way of treating pet remains in the country, “waterization is better than cremation, and the bones of pets are more complete and white”. When journalists asked whether hydrosis requires an environmental assessment or approval, the owner of the shop said that the policy was not clear, but both the equipment and the manufacturer provided water quality tests.
The other practitioner, speaking frankly, is not as gentle as the propaganda:” Watering is heavily dependent on chemical substances, and the last discharge is not clean water, but sticky liquids.”
The only officially qualified animal harmless treatment centre in Shanghai is located in the chemical industrial zone of Bong-hyun and has a reception point in Baoshan and Bong-hyun.
Staff told reporters: "The price for group cremation is $30 / Only for individual cremation is $600 / Only for individual cremation can provide two videos that are put into the furnace and extracted. It's usually five days to get the ashes."
The low number of sites, long distances and part-time openings in non-hazardous treatment centres make it difficult for many citizens. Different types of private outlets have also emerged on the market, driven by market demand.
Journalists visited several pet funeral companies and found “one-stop services” such as home service, prayer service, souvenir tailoring, etc.; small studios which provide only cremation collections and deliveries; and businesses which claim to provide cremation services.
The key word is pet cremation, which is searched in the Shanghai metropolitan area and more than 100 related shops can be consulted.
There are significant differences in the fees charged by different establishments, and even for the same type of service, prices can vary several times. Some pet owners complained that the final settlement was much higher than expected, that it was difficult to verify service standards before consumption and that it was relatively difficult to defend rights in the event of disputes.
The director of the pet shop told journalists that, although the industry was in demand, its approval was strict and that “the licensing of cremation, i.e. the licensing of harmless treatment, was almost impossible to obtain, and that as long as it involved cold storage and cremation of the remains, most of the shops were not in compliance”.
Ms. King, who lives in the city, stated: "We don't know if the pet remains are sick, we don't know, we don't know, we don't know, we don't know, we don't know, and we're in the water." She believes that it's unsettling to store the remains, even if they are not cremated at the scene.
The staff of the Pudong Integrated Law Enforcement Agency reminded that the location of the pet funeral shop also required careful consideration,” and that the Civil Code provided that there should be no violation of public decency. Civil action may also be instituted if the inhabitants of the neighbourhood feel taboo.”
The pet burial industry continues to show considerable potential for development in a context of growing market demand, industry disruptions and regulatory gaps.
The comprehensive report issued by the Shanghai Institute for Industrial Transformation and Development shows that the size of the Shanghai pet consumption market is 23 to 25 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate of about 10 to 15 per cent, or 7.8 to 8.3 per cent of the national share.
The burial of pets is also an important part of this huge market.
In response to a proposal by the representative of the People's Congress, the Shanghai Rural Council stated that, in recent years, the Department of Eco-Environment had proposed that “the sound management of diseases and diseases should be included in the management of environmental assessments, which should give the corresponding licences.
Iwa, an practitioner, suggested that: “The authorities could pilot the selection of a limited number of establishments to develop industry poles and promote the normative development of the industry.”
For the pet burial "black cremation" service, in the comment section, there was a disagreement between netizens, who said: too dangerous, absolutely forbidden!
There are also netizens who say that burial is a pet service project in high demand and give advice on its operation.
There are also a number of netizens who argue that prices are not transparent and that there are large differences up and down.