Pet Loss, Animal Spirituality, Earth Ethics, and Celebration

Sarah A. Bowen's newest book Sacred Sendoffs: An Animal Chaplain’s Advice for Surviving Animal Loss, Making Life Meaningful, and Healing the Planet, a follow up to Spiritual Rebel, is a gem in which she playfully "shares insights for sustaining lives, honoring deaths, and managing the emotions that arise when we lose an animal we love."¹

My copy is a colorful kaleidoscope of highlights, and if there is one book you choose to read about how to enjoy and improve your relationships with all nonhuman animals (animals) and fully appreciate who they truly are, this is the one.

Here is what Sarah had to say about her outstanding and practical manifesto for all beings.

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Sacred Sendoffs?

SB: I discovered that very few of us know what happens to beloved pets, wildlife, animal astronauts, marine life, farmed animals, and other creatures after they die. And that we have a lot of questions about animal death that we’re often afraid to talk about out of fear of being considered silly in a society that places less value on animal lives than on human ones.

This is a shame, especially since animal death and grief rituals are fascinating. For example, magpies place wreaths of grass alongside roadside corpses. Elephants have been observed covering dead rhinos and lions under foliage―as well as a few sleeping humans.

Source: Sarah Bowen, with permission.

Likewise, how humans deal with the bodies of “pets” is intriguing, such as aquamation (“water cremation”) to mummification or recomposition (“composting”). Some people try to keep a dog close by burying them in the backyard or stirring their ashes into tattoo ink.

Other people want to shoot cat cremains into outer space or have Fido taxidermied so they can continue petting him.

So, Sacred Sendoffs explores the diverse ways we handle animal death as well as our personal responses to loss. The book also gives people practical tools for surviving grief—whether after losing a dog, seeing an injured deer lying on the roadbed, or regarding the more existential issue of species extinction (and our complicity in it.)

On the flip side, I noticed more and more of my students confessing to meditating with their dogs. They wanted to know why that felt so good for them and whether there might be benefits for dogs, too. So, I explore what we know about animal spirituality and the benefits of human-animal bonds.

Accordingly, Sacred Sendoffs looks at pet loss, animal spirituality, planetary ethics, and animal suffering in a way that shows their entanglement and reveals some striking insights.

MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of interest?

SB: At age six, I found a tiny road-killed chipmunk on the way home from school. Since I was a preacher’s kid, I knew exactly what to do. Using my lunch box as a makeshift hearse, I transported the little creature home and buried him in our bushes with a respectful funeral service ending in “May the force be with you, Chipmunk.”

As I grew up, I became enthralled by the ways different people spoke about—and often ignored—the sentient beings we share this planet with. When I went through interfaith Seminary, I noticed that most religions and philosophical traditions included some version of the Golden Rule, “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” Yet, how those ideals were actualized in each persons’ actions varied widely, especially when it came to other-than-human animals.

It's really messy. We can’t easily distill values down to some simple formula, such as Buddhists want to liberate animals and Christians want to maintain dominion over them. It’s so much more complex than that because every one of us is inconsistent in our own beliefs and actions.

For example, I believe butterflies are worthy of respect. I know that insect pollinators help create healthy ecosystems and are critical to creating a majority of the crops that I eat. I want to live non-violently and with respect for these beings. And yet, I’d be in denial not to admit that because I drive a car, some of them may end up squashed on my license plate. So, moral beliefs are helpful, but they are not a perfect solution.

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These ethical quandaries led me to specialize in teaching animal chaplaincy and help create Compassion Consortium―the first spiritual community that is interfaith and interspecies. We do Qi Gong with goats, and we chant with sheep. We offer candle-light memorials for animals suffering in human captivity and provide solace to people who have experienced the loss of an animal companion. Above all, we raise awareness of animal issues.

MB: Who is your intended audience?

SB: I’m hoping to reach scientifically-minded people who aren’t big on spirituality, and spiritual people who are very curious about science. Because something exciting happens when we mix the two, I think spirituality and science are two different languages we can use to explain things that are mysterious to us, the things we are curious about.

It’s often taboo to speak about spirituality in scientific circles. Conservationists, vet techs, and academics reach out to me because they need a safe place to talk about their questions about spiritual matters. Contrary to messages we hear about increasing secularization. Most people consider themselves spiritual to some extent—81 percent of people surveyed in the U.S. alone.

MB: How does your book differ from others that are concerned with some of the same general topics?

SB: In Sacred Sendoffs, I’m trying to get readers to cultivate a stance of curiosity and wonder by mixing science and spirituality. What happens if we meditate with dogs? A recent study suggests enhanced emotional and spiritual connections, feelings of happiness, relaxation, and focus both during and after participating in the activities. What about when we pray for injured animals?

One study explored the effect of intercessory prayer in a double-blind, randomized trial group of bushbabies with chronic self-injuring behavior and over-grooming, revealing the prayer-group bushbabies’ wound areas were reduced more than the non-prayer group. Their wounds were also less severe. Can watching bear cams make us feel less anxious? Survey says, Yes!