This law student helps your deceased pets live on by planting trees in their memory

Losing a pet can be a very harrowing experience for an animal lover. The grief is inexplicable, as the pet is a part of the family.

Pramodh Chandrashekhar felt the grief of losing a loved one, when his grandmother passed away in April 2018. A few other close relatives later that year, and the 19-year-old was heartbroken. He wanted to do something in the memory of his loved ones but he didn’t garner much support from his family members, and had to drop his idea.

However, one of his friends suggested they do something for grieving pet owners to remember their beloved animals.

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Hence, in December 2018, Pramodh, who is a law student, started the Last Ripple, an initiative to create biodegradable urns that collect the ash of the pet. A sapling is then planted on top if it, which later grows into a memory tree.

So far, Pramodh has successfully done 15 plantations in Bengaluru alone, and one each in Salem and Mumbai.

Speaking to Edex Live, Pramodh said,

“There were at least six lakh pets (not strays) in Bengaluru and the whole city had one pet crematorium. Around 1,000 of them die every month, but only an average of 300 pet deaths are recorded every month. The BBMP treats the remains of animals as solid waste; it comes under solid waste management.”

Realising this, Pramodh felt something needs to be done, but in an eco-friendly way. While finding a solution, Pramodh came across Italian-based Capsula Mundi project. The project aims to have organic burial pods as an alternative to coffins, which will be placed into an egg-shaped bio-degradable container.

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Similarly, after the death of a pet, the Last Ripple team collects the ashes and puts it into a hollow cylinder. Later, to neutralise the pH level of ashes, the team puts a disc on top of it, and adds nutrient-enriched soil with a sapling on top of it.

The container is then buried underground, and a tree seed is planted on top of the container, so that the body becomes a source of nutrition for the tree, reports Wonderful News Network.

Pramodh, who visited the BBMP Animal Electric Crematorium in Summanalli, Bengaluru, said, “The in-charge there loved what I had in mind. He told me that very few people take the ashes back home and this would be a great way to keep them connected to their loved companions."

However, Pramodh hasn’t kept a fixed pricing for his service, and tells people to pay how much ever they feel like. But, on an average, it costs around Rs 3,500. It’s up to the customer where they want to plant a sapling - it can also be inside a public garden. The tree will also be geo-tagged so that the customer can find their tree even after a decade.

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