Saturday, January 31, 2026
5:00pm - 6:00pm ET (NYC time)
The Morbid Anatomy Library at Industry City, Brooklyn
254 36th Street (between 3rd and 4th Ave),
Building 2, room C248. Enter at 254 36 street, immediately turn right, and ascend one flight of stairs, or use the elevator to the second floor.
In 1881 a dog named Cherry was laid to rest on the outskirts of Hyde Park in London. This seemingly innocuous act spurred a revolution. Other pet owners would soon follow suit, adding graves alongside Cherry’s, and the world’s first urban pet cemetery was born. Dead pets had previously been consigned to garbage heaps, rending plants, or tossed in rivers, but no more, not after the pet owners of London stood fast in the face of often mocking public sentiment that an animal that had lived and been loved as a family deserves at the end a death with love and dignity. Their example would spread and is now found around the world in a fascinating and touching array of different traditions. Dr. Paul Koudounaris will discuss this history and his book on animal burials and memorials, Faithful Unto Death, sharing a wealth of fascinating, heartwarming, and often bizarre stories and images.
Join Dr. Paul Koudounaris and Death Doula Lauren Seeley as they discuss the history of pet loss grief, burial , and memorialization. They address the importance of grief validation and acknowledgment around pet loss, pet loss grief, and the need for pet parents to create monuments around the lives and legacy of their beloveds.
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Paul Koudounaris is an American author and photographer originally from Los Angeles and currently living in Las Vegas. He has a PhD in Art History, and his publications in the field of charnel house and ossuary research have made him a well-known figure in the field of macabre art and art history. He is also a feline historian whose book entitled, A Cat’s Tale told feline history in the voice of his rescue cat, Baba the Cat. In addition he is one of the world’s leading experts on pet cemeteries and animal burials. He is a member of The Order of the Good Death.
Lauren Seeley is a death and grief doula for pets & humans. She is a death educator and facilitator of the Silent Book Club Of Death NYC, and her own book club The Ahhsweetdeath Book Club with assigned monthly reading and author talks. She is a memorialist & curator for funerals, altars, memorial spaces, designer, illustrator, reiki practitioner, and creative grief artist. She has taught Reliquary Grief workshops at The Metropolitan Museum of Arts Cloisters location, and is a Met partner facilitating and speak around the topic of death and art. She resides in Brooklyn, NY and works with a funeral practice in Brooklyn as well.
Saturday, January 31, 2026
5:00pm - 6:00pm ET (NYC time)
The Morbid Anatomy Library at Industry City, Brooklyn
254 36th Street (between 3rd and 4th Ave),
Building 2, room C248. Enter at 254 36 street, immediately turn right, and ascend one flight of stairs, or use the elevator to the second floor.
In 1881 a dog named Cherry was laid to rest on the outskirts of Hyde Park in London. This seemingly innocuous act spurred a revolution. Other pet owners would soon follow suit, adding graves alongside Cherry’s, and the world’s first urban pet cemetery was born. Dead pets had previously been consigned to garbage heaps, rending plants, or tossed in rivers, but no more, not after the pet owners of London stood fast in the face of often mocking public sentiment that an animal that had lived and been loved as a family deserves at the end a death with love and dignity. Their example would spread and is now found around the world in a fascinating and touching array of different traditions. Dr. Paul Koudounaris will discuss this history and his book on animal burials and memorials, Faithful Unto Death, sharing a wealth of fascinating, heartwarming, and often bizarre stories and images.
Join Dr. Paul Koudounaris and Death Doula Lauren Seeley as they discuss the history of pet loss grief, burial , and memorialization. They address the importance of grief validation and acknowledgment around pet loss, pet loss grief, and the need for pet parents to create monuments around the lives and legacy of their beloveds.
—
Paul Koudounaris is an American author and photographer originally from Los Angeles and currently living in Las Vegas. He has a PhD in Art History, and his publications in the field of charnel house and ossuary research have made him a well-known figure in the field of macabre art and art history. He is also a feline historian whose book entitled, A Cat’s Tale told feline history in the voice of his rescue cat, Baba the Cat. In addition he is one of the world’s leading experts on pet cemeteries and animal burials. He is a member of The Order of the Good Death.
Lauren Seeley is a death and grief doula for pets & humans. She is a death educator and facilitator of the Silent Book Club Of Death NYC, and her own book club The Ahhsweetdeath Book Club with assigned monthly reading and author talks. She is a memorialist & curator for funerals, altars, memorial spaces, designer, illustrator, reiki practitioner, and creative grief artist. She has taught Reliquary Grief workshops at The Metropolitan Museum of Arts Cloisters location, and is a Met partner facilitating and speak around the topic of death and art. She resides in Brooklyn, NY and works with a funeral practice in Brooklyn as well.
