Hartsdale Canine Cemetery settles $250,000 crematory dispute

Hartsdale Canine Cemetery, the oldest pet cemetery in the U.S., has sued, then quickly settled, a payment dispute with a Canadian company that ran its crematory.

The pet cemetery claimed that Gateway Services Inc., of Guelph Ontario, failed to pay $250,000 in license and occupancy fees, in a complaint filed Sept. 21 in Westchester Supreme Court.

Gateway operated the crematory for two months, according to the complaint, then abandoned the facility in May 2022, having failed to maintain the premises or equipment.

Hartsdale Canine Cemetery was established in 1896 on a five-acre property between Central and Washington avenues in Hartsdale, to provide the final resting place for pets from New York City.

Canine was designated in the original corporate name because the first pet to be buried was a dog. Now the business goes by the name Hartsdale Pet Cemetery & Crematory, or as the Peaceable Kingdom in Hartsdale.

More than 80,000 birds, cats, dogs, monkeys, rabbits and reptiles are interred there, according to the cemetery’s website, including a lion cub that lived with a Russian princess in the Plaza Hotel and a Bengal tiger that grew up in a Harlem apartment.

More than 800 people are interred with their dearly departed pets.

The cemetery pledges no segregation by religions — presumably of the pet owners — or by species or hierarchy “for the pets of the rich and famous.”

In 2002, the cemetery was named to the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2003, the cemetery made a deal with Hartsdale Crematory Inc., a Connecticut corporation, to operate the cremation services, according to the complaint signed by cemetery president Ed Martin Jr.

In 2009, they agreed to a licensing deal.

Hartsdale Crematory Inc., and all successors in perpetuity, had to pay Hartsdale Canine Cemetery Inc. $125,000 a year to occupy and operate the crematory under the cemetery’s name.

Two companies succeeded Hartsdale Crematory Inc., according to the complaint, and they abided by the licensing terms.

In March 2022, Gateway Services bought the crematory business.

Gateway bills itself as the “largest pet aftercare provider in North America,” with 150 locations in Canada and the U.S.

Hartsdale Canine Cemetery invoiced Gateway for $250,000 for two years of cremation rights.

The cemetery claims Gateway breached the licensing agreement and unjustly enriched itself by failing the make the payments.

Twelve days after the lawsuit was brought, both sides discontinued the case without explanation.

Hartsdale Canine Cemetery was represented by White Plains attorney John Q. Kelly.