A French animal crematorium chain is seeking to expand pet funeral services in Poland, which are underdeveloped compared to neighbouring countries, despite high pet ownership among Poles.
There are an estimated 14 million pets in Poland, the third largest number in Europe. But the country has only 15 cemeteries for animals – all private initiatives – and six crematoriums, reports Puls Biznesu, a business daily.
By contrast, in neighbouring Slovakia, which has 1.4 million pets, there are eight animal crematoriums. In the Czech Republic, with 4 million pets, there are seven crematoriums. Germany has 23.
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As a result, in accordance with EU law, many pets in Poland end up cremated in incinerators also used for burning waste, as do farm animals. Some are also illegally buried in gardens and forests.
French firm Veternity, which already controls 95% of France’s pet funeral market, is seeking to step into this gap. It has acquired Polish pet funeral company Esthima, which in turn last month purchased Kerberos, a Czech family firm that operates three crematoriums.
“The Polish market is at the beginning of the road, everything needs to be built – from infrastructure to consumer awareness,” Anna Winter, managing director of Esthima Polska, told Puls Biznesu.
In 2019, the company opened a crematorium for pets in the Silesian city of Ruda Śląska at a cost of €2 million. It is now planning on building a second crematorium in central Poland, near the large cities of Warsaw and Łódź, for around €1 million.
The company offers cremation for a variety of pets. A group cremation for a cat or dog – without returning the ashes – comes to 205 zloty (€45), an individual cremation to 580 zloty (€128), and a package including a ceremony and a cinerary urn to 1,450 zloty (€320).
By comparison, the ballpark price of incinerating animals at waste burning plants – as is often arranged by vets – is 7.5 zloty (€1.7) per kilogram, according to TVN24. The ashes then end up on a landfill dump.
The company currently reaches pet owners through other businesses, cooperating with 400 of Poland’s 10,000 veterinary facilities.
However, it is now increasingly also reaching out to customers directly. In October, the company launched a pet funeral agency in Warsaw and, according to Winter, plans to have seven across Poland within five years.
“Many people are unaware of their rights, we try to surround them with experts in the field of veterinary medicine, but also psychology,” she says.
Puls Biznesu notes that the example of the Czech Republic shows the potential for pet funeral services. As each of the country’s seven crematoriums has successively opened, none of the others have recorded any loss in business, suggesting that demand is growing faster than supply.
Main image credit: Esthima Polska/Facebook
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
