Attorney: ‘Walden Pond Pet Cemetery lives on’

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Pet owners are happy after a judge’s ruling about the Walden Pond Pet Cemetery Tuesday.

About a dozen pet owners showed up to court with stickers ready to back up their attorney and their pet’s graves.

In April, 214 pet owners got a letter saying they need to dig up their pets so a new property owner Ricky Coates could develop the land. The pet owners hired attorney Gary Shipman to file a lawsuit for all of them. In June, a judge entered a preliminary injunction restraining Coates from requiring that anyone move graves or prohibiting visits until a decision is made. In July, Coates decided to take them to court to get the injunction dismissed.

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Tuesday, attorney Ashley Smith told the judge Coates has only lost in this case. She said he paid $35,000 for this property and he is the one losing money. Smith said that the pet owners did not have a standing, because she said when Coates bought the property he did not assume the original contracts.

Judge Allen Cobb pointed out that at the bottom of the contract it said that pet owners could purchase a ‘permanent’ monument for their pets. Cobb ultimately denied Coates’ request for a dismissal of the preliminary injunction. Pet owner Kerry Bloodworth said she does not know how anyone would not side with them.

“I don’t know how Mr. Coates can sleep at night thinking that it’s okay to cover our animals graves, dig them up, put asphault, concrete over them,” Bloodworth said. “I don’t know how he can sleep at night.”

Shipman said the pet cemetery lives on for now. He said they could go to trial in 2016 if Coates pursues it further. Smith said Coates hopes to resolve the issue including possibly selling the property.

“It’s not like he’s some mean person,” Smith said. He paid a lot of money for this and these people could have bought it. They were actually offered to purchase it before. They didn’t want to pay for it and they think he has paid too much for it, so they don’t want to pay what he paid for it.”

Pet owners said they have thought about buying the property. They also plan to help maintain the land, because they said it is in bad shape and the grass is very overgrown.