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Rebecca Edwards recently told the City Council that when she and her late husband – Dr. Russ Edwards – first purchased the Animal Hospital of Milledgeville in 2009, the couple became concerned about "what happened to pets after they passed away."
"At the time, the only option if you didn't have burial at home was to take them to the landfill," Edwards said.
With this in mind, Edwards currently is gearing up to open Milledgeville-Baldwin County's first full-service pet funeral home and crematorium. The City Council unanimously approved a zoning ordinance for the site of the new pet funeral home – 2936 Heritage Place, located near Walmart and across the street from the skating rink and next to Beyond Bronzed & Smoothie. The property previously was home to Georgia Mowers.
Edwards added that the Animal Hospital has been contracting out its pet cremation services to a company "that's an hour-and-a-half away." A small pet crematorium – Peaceful Pets – has been in operation in Milledgeville for several years. However, Edwards told the City Council that "at this time, they are just not equipped to support the growing community and our (veterinarian) practice and all of the cremations that we do there."
The central piece of the zoning change will be a new 21,000-pound incinerator, complete with digital readings "built to follow all Federal clean air act guidelines," according to Edwards.
