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A sanctuary for grieving pet owners

Fred Wodnicki of North Hollywood tends to the decorations he maintains where his four pets are buried at Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park in Calabasas. Wodnicki has been coming most Saturdays since 2006, changing the decorations to coordinate with the holidays.

Fred Wodnicki of North Hollywood tends to the decorations he maintains where his four pets are buried at Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park in Calabasas. Wodnicki has been coming most Saturdays since 2006, changing the decorations to coordinate with the holidays.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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The Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park in Calabasas was founded in 1928 by celebrity veterinarian Dr. Eugene Jones as the final resting place for animals of stars and the starring animals themselves, including MGM’s lion and the dog from “Little Rascals.” Now, with more than 40,000 less famous pets interred, the graveyard is the largest and oldest of its kind on the West Coast. A story of a different kind of grief.

Pet cemetery

A variety of decorations adorn grave stones at Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park. Depending on the size of the plot and the quality of the casket, burial can cost $600 to $2,000.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

The 10-acre pet cemetery is just off the 101 Freeway in Calabasas. It’s now run by a group named SOPHIE, or Save Our Pets’ History in Eternity.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

Photos and flowers adorn a gravesite at the pet cemetery. It has a crematory, some offices and a shop selling urns, headstones and coffins.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

Kumi Eastman, center, attends a twiilight candlelight vigil at Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park. Eastman lost her dog about a month earlier to cancer and found the gathering helpful.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

A woman is comforted during a candlelight vigil for pet lovers at Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park. After the remembrances, each pet owner rings a porcelain bell and speaks the name of their pet.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

Luisito Meza, 8, of Northridge is comforted by his mother, Diane Uhri, as he gives a tearful remembrance of his cat Sancho, who was killed by a neighbor’s pit bull, during a candlelight memorial at the Calabasas pet cemetery.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

Nayo Mateo, left, holds the cremated remains of his family’s dog, Maru, as his wife, Marce, and their daughter Lucie, 2, join him at a candlelight memorial service at Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park. Their Labrador retriever died in Mateo’s van after it had been stolen and abandoned with the dog in it.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

Margo Light, 66, holds a candle for her recently deceased service dog, Sunshine, during a memorial service at Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park. Sunshine was the third dog Light has buried at the park.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

Peggy, a service dog for Luisito Meza, 8, stands near a memorial service for pet lovers at Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

Memorial bricks cover the lawn of the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park. Owners who bury their pets there can choose to write the names of their pets and messages on the bricks.  (Spencer Bakalar / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

Artemio Cristerna, a groundskeeper at Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park, stands in silence as the Poland family prays before closing the casket of their dog, Jazz. Cristerna, who has worked at the cemetery for 35 years, has seen the number of animals buried in the park grow exponentially.  (Spencer Bakalar / Los Angeles Times)

Pet cemetery

Greg Poland, center, stands with his daughter Amira, 5, and family friend Sonya Maddox-Upchurch, right, while Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park groundskeeper Artemio Cristerna replaces the grave marker of Maddox-Upchurch’s dog. The Poland family invited Maddox-Upchurch and other friends to attend the funeral for their dog, Jazz.  (Spencer Bakalar / Los Angeles Times)

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