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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 3 SEPTEMBER 2014 News 5 JAMES DEBONO THE burial of pets is not a pos- sibility, according to EU law, and a cemetery proposed at Ta' Qali will consist of rows of memorial walls in which urns holding the ashes of cre- mated pets will be kept. The management of the site will be contracted to a private operator. In the United Kingdom the cost of cremating a pet ranges from £30 (€37) for a very small pet like a ham- ster, to £150 (€190) for a large one, such as a rottweiler. This emerges from a Project De- velopment Statement presented by the government to the Malta Envi- ronment and Planning Authority. No burial of pets will be allowed at the new pet cemetery and all carcasses will be incinerated before their ashes are placed in urns which will then be placed in a wall com- partment in a memorial area in the new proposed cemetery, or taken by the pet owners. Each pet carcass will be individu- ally cremated in a cremation cham- ber to ensure that each pet's ashes will be collected and removed sepa- rately. The PDS justifies the need for a cemetery as a way to address pet be- reavement. "When pets die, as they must, the shock and grief becomes a very per- sonal affair that we may be unable to share with others," the document states. The new cemetery will accom- modate the ashes of 17,000 animals. At present 4,000 carcasses are sent annually to WasteServ to be dis- posed of, and an unknown number are buried by owners on their own properties. The 1,800 square metre cemetery is being proposed in the Ta' Qali National Park in an area outside the ring road opposite the large parking area where a flea market operates on Sundays. The area already designated for a cemetery will be in the vicinity of a proposed guide dogs training area. The cemetery will have a central building which will include the cre- mation chamber and a freezer. To avoid firing up the incinerator for each individual cremation, car- casses will be stored in a freezer and burned in sequence. The cemetery will consist of rows of walls containing urns holding the ashes. According to the Project Develop- ment Statement, one of the advan- tages of the new incineration facility is that it will serve as an alternative to the uncontrolled burial of ani- mals in unknown locations. The PDS acknowledges that animal carcasses can already be cremated in another incinerator at Marsa, where pets left at a vet's clinic are already disposed of. But the PDS claims that pet owners would object to having their pets treated as waste. The animal cemetery was pro- posed in Labour's electoral mani- festo. The previous government had ex- cluded such a development, because this was deemed to be in breach of EU regulations. "What you can do is cremate the animal in Marsa and bury its ashes. But you definitely cannot have a public animal cem- etery," according to former minister George Pullicino replying to a par- liamentary question in 2012. EU regulations consider the car- cases of pets as an animal by-prod- uct which should be incinerated due to health and safety considera- tions. EU law allows member states to derogate from the rules to allow the burial of pets and horses but this must be done at a safe distance to avoid any health risks. According to the PDS this option was not practi- cal in Malta. From ashes to ashes: Pets to be cremated, not buried Four Knights proposed for Valletta entrance TEODOR RELJIC JUST days after the unveiling of Austin Camilleri's sculpture Zieme – a parody of pompous equestrian sculptures – a MEPA notice was af- fixed right behind it, announcing the approval of a bas-relief struc- ture 'commemorating the Knights of Malta'. Commissioned by the Grand Har- bour Regeneration Corporation and designed by architect Damian Vella Lenicker, the plans suggest a 'tradi- tional' sculpture that jars with the clean, minimalist look of the refur- bished City Gate, depicting a quartet of Knights sculpted in bronze, in a pose that suggests they're locked and ready for battle. The project was originally slated to be installed near St Catherine of Italy Church overlooking Piazza De Val- lette on 26 March, but on 12 August it was moved to Republic Street, in the same position where Camilleri's sculpture now stands. The project is currently pending approval. Camilleri's sculpture is slated to remain in Republic Street until 5 Oc- tober, as part of the Valletta Interna- tional Visual Arts festival – VIVA. However, the artist was negotiat- ing the possibility of extending the sculpture's stay beyond its current remit. 'Austin Camilleri's sculpture takes off from a simple premise: the fact that Malta, unlike other countries in northern Europe, has no equestrian monuments. In equestrian monu- ments, the horse carries representa- tives of power on its back and hence is somewhat symbolic of power itself,' the VIVA programme reads. 'His horse thus refers to Malta's historic links with other colonial powers, yet its location in front of Valletta's new Parliament building designed by Renzo Piano supple- ments it with rich, additional layers of meaning. Still, a missing detail in this horse transforms the sculpture into an ironic testimony to the illu- sory nature of power. His loss makes him no longer productive.' "I was struck by the work, especially since it is located in front of the par- liament building," Culture Minister Owen Bonnici said of Zieme during a press conference commemorating VIVA. "As a member of that same parlia- ment myself, this got me thinking: could it be that an institution that was previously the main source of power has now lost some of that power? Maybe it's the media – and especially the social media – that wields real power right now. "I'm glad that the sculpture can lead to this kind of debate," Bonnici added. Bas-relief 'commemorating the Knights of Malta' proposed for Valletta entrance, where Austin Camilleri's Zieme is currently located The proposed cemetery in Ta' Qali will consist of rows of walls in which urns holding the ashes of cremated pets will be kept

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