RSPCA chief's pet project a love-locked tree at Floriade

By Amelia Crawford
Updated October 17 2014 - 10:13am, first published September 17 2014 - 11:04pm
Remembering: RSPCA volunteers Sue Jose and Judy Nowland at Floriade putting pets tags a memorial tree for people whose pets have died. Photo: Jay Cronan
Remembering: RSPCA volunteers Sue Jose and Judy Nowland at Floriade putting pets tags a memorial tree for people whose pets have died. Photo: Jay Cronan

Adorning European bridges with initialled padlocks represents a couple's everlasting love, and now Canberrans, too, can make a similar gesture for their pets.

Commemorating pets has long been a wish for RSPCA ACT chief executive Tammy Ven Dange, who is concerned that without a pet cemetery, Canberra residents don't have an obvious or easy way to mourn and remember much loved animals.

"You realise that pets are family members to a lot of people, so we wanted to give something back to the community," Ms Ven Dange said.

 The memorial has evolved from a love-locked bridge to a love-locked tree, where members of the public can commemorate their past pets by attaching personalised name tags to its branches.

"People plant trees all the time in memory of a loved one but a tree like this will provide the community with some level of closure and give them a chance to properly say goodbye," Ms Ven Dange said.

The memorial tree at Floriade has already attracted several visitors, one of whom became overwhelmed.

"Once you start reading the tags, it can get quite emotional," Ms Ven Dange said. "We had an elderly women who burst out into tears when she attached her dog's tag."

Ms Ven Dange will place a tag of her own on the tree in remembrance of her dog, Lassie.

"I was at school and I got the call from my mother that Lassie wasn't doing so well and she had to be put down before I got home. I never got to say goodbye," she said.

Like Paris's love padlocks, the RSPCA hopes the tags will multiply until there are thousands of tokens attached to the tree.

"We'll eventually replace this version with a more permanent fixture created by an artist and apply for a grant to get the funds to do it properly out of bronze or steel," Ms Ven Dange said.

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