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Genoa Township pet cemetery scrambling for answers after being evicted

Posted at 5:37 PM, Nov 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-16 17:37:35-05

People who have pets buried in a Livingston County Pet Cemetery are getting shocking news. The cemetery is being evicted from the land. 

Flowers left recently at grave sites, and affectionate messages on headstones at the Heavenly Acres Pet Cemetery tell the story of the love between people and their pets.  

One person is even buried there.  She wanted her ashes with her animals. 

The people who paid for plots here likely never imagined the cemetery would be evicted. 

“You just don’t move 74,000 pets,” said Linda Williams.

Williams has been running the Heavenly Acres Pet Cemetery. She told 7 Action News on the phone she doesn’t know what this eviction logistically will look like. 

As for how this happened, she says she lost the property in a divorce years ago.  

She says after others running it lost it to a bank, she leased the land. Despite the fact it has always been paid, the lease was not renewed - effective last month. 

“We have been asking for over a year and a half. What are your plans? What do you plan to do when October first comes? We never would have believed that they would tell us to leave, get off, and force us to close the cemetery,” said Williams.

7Seven Action News reached out to an attorney representing Carol Street Park Ridge LLC, which owns the property for comment, but did not hear back. 

Williams has started an online petition to pressure them to find a way to protect these plots. You can read more about it at https://www.change.org/p/shari-burchfieldpolleschlaw-com-save-heavenly-acres-pet-cemetery.