After a pet dies, some owners ask whether the animal can be buried at home. GOV.UK answers in three places: a page on animal burials and groundwater pollution, a page on pet cemeteries and a page on fallen stock. The groundwater page names the Environment Agency and the Animal By-products (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013, so this guide treats England as its scope. It does not cover Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, except where a page names them, or lease and tenancy rules.
Can a Dog or Cat Be Buried in the Garden?
The groundwater page says a person does not need permission to bury domestic pets. It says small domestic pet animals such as a dog or a cat can be buried on a person’s own land, for example in the back garden. The fallen stock page agrees in general terms: it says it is allowed to bury pet animals, and it lists the burial of dead pet animals and horses among the exemptions to the UK ban on burying or burning fallen stock in the open.
For this case the groundwater page also says that for home burials of small domestic pets there are no minimum good practice groundwater protection requirements.
What Counts as a Pet?
The fallen stock page quotes the regulations’ definition of a pet animal: any animal belonging to a species normally nourished and kept, but not consumed, by humans for purposes other than farming. It adds that this does not apply to farm animals such as sheep, cattle, pigs, goats and poultry, which must be disposed of by an approved method for fallen stock. The pet cemeteries page makes a related point: it says farm animals like cattle, sheep, goats or pigs cannot be buried there, even if they were kept as pets.
Does the Size of the Animal Matter?
Yes, on the groundwater page. For a larger pet animal such as a pet horse it says to follow the minimum good practice groundwater protection requirements, to contact the local council’s animal health office and notes that the council may ask for a map marking the burial place or have other requirements. The requirements it lists for a burial site are:
- Outside a source protection zone 1 (SPZ1).
- At least 250 metres from any well, borehole or spring supplying water for human consumption or used in food production.
- At least 30 metres from any spring or watercourse not used for human consumption or food production.
- At least 10 metres from any field drain, including dry ditches.
The same page then says the rules are different for a larger domestic pet such as a horse, for which the minimum distance is 50 metres from any well, borehole or spring supplying water for human consumption or used in food production, including private water supplies. This guide reports both figures as the page gives them and does not reconcile them.
The page also says that all animal burial places should have at least 1 metre of clearance between the base of the hole and the top of the water table, with no standing water when dug, and enough depth for at least 1 metre of soil over the top of the animal. It says not to dig in unaltered or unweathered bedrock or in areas at risk of groundwater flooding. The page lists these points for all animal burial places and, separately, says there are no minimum requirements for small pets, and this guide does not say how the two statements fit together.
On horses, the fallen stock page says that in England it is allowed to bury a horse whether or not it is a pet, while in Scotland and Wales only pet horses can be buried.
What About Ashes?
The groundwater page says no permission is needed to scatter or bury ashes from a single pet cremation on a person’s own land, or to make any formal record of doing so, and that permission from the landowner should be sought for someone else’s land. For ashes scattered across surface waters such as a river, it says to make sure the effect on the environment and wildlife is minimal and it will not affect other watercourse users, and not to scatter memorabilia or other items, which may harm the environment and wildlife.
What Do Pet Cemeteries Have to Do?
These rules are for the people who run a cemetery. The pet cemeteries page says a pet cemetery needs planning permission, must be at least 250 metres from any well, borehole or spring supplying drinking water or water for farm dairies, at least 30 metres from any other spring or watercourse, at least 10 metres from any field drain and more than 200 metres from any Site of Special Scientific Interest. Animals must be buried at least 0.5 metres below the surface, and the site must be registered with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), after which domestic pet carcasses such as cats, dogs, rabbits and horses may be buried. The page says a permit is usually needed to bury or spread ash, and that in England or Wales an activity may be covered by a regulatory position statement.
The bottom line
The groundwater page, which this guide treats as covering England, says no permission is needed to bury a small pet such as a dog or cat on the owner’s own land, and no permission is needed to scatter or bury ashes from a single pet cremation on one’s own land. The exceptions are in the same pages: a larger pet such as a horse comes under distances from wells, boreholes, springs, watercourses and drains and a call to the council’s animal health office, farm animals are not pets for these purposes even if kept as pets, and the distance figures in the groundwater page are not the same for every case. This guide cannot say how the pages apply to a particular garden.
Sources
- Animal burials: prevent groundwater pollution, GOV.UK (gov.uk), first published 1 April 2022, public update date 1 April 2022, read 12 November 2026
- Fallen stock and safe disposal of dead animals, GOV.UK (gov.uk), first published 29 August 2012, public update date 5 August 2022, read 12 November 2026
- Pet cemeteries: where you can build them and how to register, GOV.UK (gov.uk), first published 5 September 2014, public update date 14 October 2026, read 12 November 2026