Tiny coffins that look like they were made for babies decorate the walls of this little aclove. On the carpet, are arranged tombstones with names like ‘Rex’ and ‘Fifi,’ a dead giveaway that this place isn’t for humans or babies, but for animals, mostly pets who were loved more than life and/or are part of a family.

“There are about 28,000 pets buried here,” Rosalie Camacho, a employee for four years, said, about Pet Haven Cemetery located in Gardena.

Pet cemeteries are not just a Stephen King horror flick. In fact, pet cemeteries are not new; Pet Haven was founded in 1948.

Pet cemeteries have found a niche in society. They provide condolence for those pet owners that take their pets very seriously.

Nicole Gant, English major, has owned a hamster for two and a half years.

“I like him a lot but I don’t think he likes me very much because I bug him,” she said.

Gant says that she understands why people might pay large amounts of money to have their pet cremated or buried, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that she would do it for her pet.

“Not for a hamster; maybe if I had a dog or cat that had been in the family for a long time.”

In today’s society, where pet owners will dress their dogs and cats up in tiny sweaters and movie stars are known to only feed their pet bottled water, it is only fitting that they have a burial plot.

Not many students know about pet cemeteries but for those who do, they think this place is the best place to put a pet that has been with them for awhile..

“I have a cat here whom I visit regularly,” DJ Mayeda, music major, said. “I’m so glad that there is a place I can take my best friend to sleep eternally and among friends.”

Pet Haven has had a variety of pets make their way to its doors.

“We get some pretty unusual pets here. Anywhere from iguanas to rabbits,” Camacho said. “The most unique pet I think we have here is a monkey.”

Pet Haven does cremations for animals’ too.

Among these people are Ike and Tina Turner, Graucho Marx, Nat King Cole and Eva Gardner.

Pet Haven also accommodates a viewing room where they dim the lights and close the doors so families can feel comfortable and chant or grieve.

“People think pets are more than just animals. They see them as brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, so when they die, we do all we can to make them comfortable and treat them as if they’ve lost a sibling or their children,” Camacho said.

Chaerish Powell, corporate law major, agrees that after awhile, pets take on a role larger than just some animal that one has to feed and clean-up after.

“If they have the pet for awhile, it’s like it is part of the family. And for that pet to die or leave, I mean why not (put them in a pet cemetery,)” Powell said.

With Halloween a day away, Pet Haven does not plan to do anything exotic to celebrate the holiday in respect for the animals there.

“We don’t know how the pet owners will take it,” Camacho said. “So candy in dishes are as far as we go for Halloween.”

Although they may not be celebrating Halloween in the cemetery; there is a day that they do celebrate. National Pet Memorial Day is celebrated the second week of September.