Woman finds Wilmington pet cemetery in disrepair

WILMINGTON -- Heather Hutton buried her dog years ago in a Wilmington pet cemetery and was heartbroken to learn the cemetery has fallen into disrepair and may soon be turned into a new housing development. Of the two pet cemeteries that exist in Wilmington, the one in question on Greenville Loop Road has been there for decades. Heather Hutton buried her dog in a small plot at MeadowSweet back in 1989. "He was a 125-pound red doberman who was my husband's baby," Hutton said.The owners of the property wouldn't allow our cameras inside, but over the years, hundreds of people like Heather have paid to have their family pets buried on the grounds. "We decided that rather than having him disposed of, like you do when you have to put a dog to sleep -- because he was paralyzed -- we decided we'd do the cemetery thing," Hutton said.Heather has since added new pets to her family but still hasn't forgotten her old dog, Rommel. She was devastated during a recent visit to the cemetery to find his gravesite was untended and covered in several inches of grass. "My heart's broken because he was so important to us, and we thought we were giving him an eternal resting place where we could go and visit whenever we wanted to," Hutton said.The MeadowSweet kennel has changed ownership a number of times since the cemetery was built and the new owners aren't actively involved in the pet cemetery business. Heather says they told her they might sell the land to a residential developer, and at that point she has no idea what will become of all the animals buried underground. Hutton says she doesn't remember signing any kind of contract guaranteeing that her dog's burial plot would be here, protected indefinitely. And since there aren't any strong laws in North Carolina protecting pet cemeteries, she doesn't have much of a legal leg to stand on.Hutton is actively trying to have her dog's bones exhumed and moved to a place where she knows they'll be safe. The owners at MeadowSweet said they have to consult their attorney before anyone starts digging up their family pets. Government researchers we talked to don't know of any laws on the books protecting pet cemeteries. Heather Hutton just wants to get the word out to other MeadowSweet customers that they might want to go retrieve their former family pets before it's too late.