All of us who love ARISTOPETS have wondered at some point what will become of them when we are gone - or of us, when they are gone. We want them in our present life, but also in the future one, if there is one. Proof of this is that some cities already have pet cemeteries (Málaga is a good example, as we already told you in this post). While in others, such as New York, ARISTOPARENTS and ARISTOPETS are already allowed to be buried together.
But that is not all. The results of a study on animal eternal life, published in the journal Anthrozoös, also say a great deal about this. The study involved 800 participants, all of them Americans. It revealed that 45% of pet owners believe in an animal afterlife, compared with 37.8% of participants who did not own pets. 59% of participants said they believed in human eternal life. And within that percentage, 75% also said they believed in animals' eternal life.
The survey also found certain demographic factors that contribute to belief in animal life after death. Women, American Indians, Alaska Natives, African Americans, Buddhists, people in the South and, of course, pet owners show a greater tendency to believe in animals' eternal life.
The researchers also discovered that respondents held different beliefs for different animals. The study's director, Kenneth Royal of the University of North Carolina, stated that generally dogs, cats and horses were classified as the most likely to experience an afterlife. Insects, fish and reptiles, on the other hand, were considered the least likely according to the surveys.
And it makes sense that if we have shared our lives with them, we should hope to remain with them in eternity - if there is one. After all, when we think of eternal life or the afterlife, we tend to imagine it as a place of happiness and peace, where we will meet our loved ones. And so, logically, if we are imagining it, neither our ARISTOCATS nor our ARISTODOGS can be missing. It is a comforting thought, at the very least.
In fact, the belief that our animals will be in the afterlife, waiting for us, dates back to the scriptures. Recently, Pope Francis quoted the apostle Paul in a speech dedicated to life and death. The quote said that, seeing a child in tears over the death of his dog, Paul told him: «One day we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ». Along the same lines, his predecessor, John Paul II, stated that not only men and women, but animals also have a «divine breath».
In any case, regardless of each person's beliefs, which are highly personal, it is true that popular culture has what we call «the doggy heaven». A symbolic place where we tend to think that the furry companions who are no longer with us go. It all depends on the hope, imagination or faith one has or does not have. In any case, we will always have the saying that «one lives on while one is remembered».