Today I visited the first (and only) natural burial site for pets – mainly dogs – in the Netherlands. It is situated in a woodland area near the tiny village of Grashoek (Limburg, NL). What struck me most were the similarities with common (human) cemetery life like the similar signs of grave visits. Like on many other natural burial sites, it is here also not easy to keep the site ‘natural’. The owner told me it is difficult to draw a line between facilitating  people’s grief and the objectives of a natural burial site.  Many bereaved feel the need to extensively mark the graves with flowers, angels and butterflies. I also saw the typical seasonal/christmas pieces and the little bird houses in the trees. On site there is also a memoral for missing animals and for the animals that died in flight MH17 (downed above Ukraine in 2014, 289 dead most of them Dutch). And there is an ash scattering area.