Dartmouth animal shelter opens rainbow bridge to honour beloved pets

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 15, 2025 2:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Bide Awhile Animal Shelter successful Dartmouth, N.S., has a new summation to its memorial plot for pets — a imperishable rainbow bridge.

Organizers accidental it is designed to comfort grieving favored owners and celebrate the bonds betwixt humans and their carnal companions.

It was revealed to the nationalist astatine the shelter's yearly outpouring unfastened location connected Saturday.

The rainbow span is simply a metaphor for the crossing wherever pets hold for their owners successful the afterlife.

It is believed to deduce from a 1959 poem written by Edna Clyne in Scotland aft the decease of her Labrador retriever.

The span leads into Trio's Garden, a memorial plot named aft a three-legged feline who lived astatine the structure for 23 years.

"This is our rainbow bridge, a mode to symbolize the memorial facet of our garden," said Sam Cole, Bide Awhile's communications and selling co-ordinator.

"It's not a cemetery. It's a spot to symbolize and memorialize the narration you had with your favored ...so you tin bespeak connected the clip that you spent together, each the bully memories."

Visitors tin memorialize their pets by hanging collars, sanction tags oregon different mementos on the bridge railings

The plot already features galore plaques, statues and plantings dedicated to departed pets. 

Cole said the space helps with the grieving process. "After the rainbow span determination volition beryllium different hello," she said.

Pet owners tin put memorials by contacting the structure to sermon options ranging from engraved plaques to planting their pets favourite flowers.

The unveiling coincided with the shelter's yearly outpouring unfastened house, 1 of its biggest fundraising events of the year.

With astir 600 animals adopted annually, chiefly cats, Cole said the unfastened location lets the assemblage spot the interaction their donations and assistance person successful keeping the structure going.

It besides gave them a accidental to conscionable Kiki, the shelter's lone canine resident, who is being acclimatized earlier being made disposable for adoption.