Pet cemetery mystery solved as human remains are found

STANTON, Del. – A mystery involving a Delaware pet cemetery has now been solved. A 21-acre graveyard the SPCA hoped to sell for nearly $10 million contains about 1,600 buried animals, and as it turns out, one human.

Some had said it was “absurd” to think sculptor Maurine Ligon was buried next to her dog. But some remembered her ashes being scattered there in 1980. When brush was removed, they found the headstone of “Ms. Ligon” and her pet collie, “Lady.”

Delaware law allows the sale of land including buried pets, but not buried people, unless their remains will be forever protected. That’s difficult with scattered ashes.

The News Journal of Wilmington (http://delonline.us/2assUYZ ) reports that the group’s director Tiffany Briddell formally promised to protect Ms. Ligon’s burial site, potentially complicating a sale.

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Information from: The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., http://www.delawareonline.com