Q: "Bob! There has been a lot of talk [regarding] ferret cremations on
the FML...didn't you say you are a bone expert? What light can you shed
on this...."
A: Well, I am a both a hot head AND a bone headI.
The following is an unemotional discussion of the process of cremation.
Do not read ANY type of emotional undertone to the discussion.
In most cases individual states regulate animal cremation practices, so I
can't really specifically address non-USA regulations. In the majority
of cases (even USDA), while cremation may be demanded, there are no
regulations specifying time and temperature. Because of this, there
are variations in the end result--lower temperatures and shorter times
result in a different visual result than those from cremations at higher
temperatures and longer times even though both have resulted in the
consumption of all organics. Thus, a cremation service may meet ALL
regulations when producing little "ash" and many cremated bony remains,
while another cremation service may produce lots of "ash" and little
bony remains. In most cases, after the remains are recovered from the
furnace, they are placed through a mechanical crusher that pulverizes the
bone into small fragments, but this doesn't always occur in the cheaper
or less ethical cremations. A crematorium may incinerate both large and
small animals, so the bone crusher may not be reset, either by accident
or on purpose, so it may not be able to completely pulverize the bones
of smaller animals. What is important to realize is that cremation
temperatures DO NOT COMPLETELY BURN BONE; there will always be complete,
broken, or fragmented bones afterwards.
The term "ash" is a misnomer; there is relatively little ash left after
a cremation. If you burn paper or wood at low temperatures, such as in
a fireplace, the ash is the incompletely burned organic residue that--if
burned at a higher temperature or for longer times--would've been better
consumed by the fire. However, in cremation parlance, "ash" is the
inorganic remains of the person or animal. "Ash" is, in effect, the
bony remains. The point of a cremation is to CONSUME the organic portion
of the remains, so the time and temperature of burning is designed to
completely burn all organic remains. In other words, in a proper
cremation there little or no organics left, so no fireplace-like ash,
just bone and tooth fragments.
If you look at the color of the bone, you can get a rough estimation of
the furnace temperature at the time of the cremation. Black, dark gray,
bluish, or blue-black bones (often metallic in appearance) are indicative
of the presence of organic carbons, and generally indicate lower
cremation temperatures or shorter times. As bone is burned for longer
times or at hotter temperatures (or both), the color of the bone will
lighten; some will become green, followed by the warm colors, tans,
grays, and finally white. If the animal's remains are whitish, the body
was subjected to higher temperatures, longer burning times, or both, than
remains that are dark in color. If the remains are mostly black or dark
gray, the cremation wasn't very effective because it did not completely
consume all the organics, although the remaining ash may be sterile and
fulfill government regulations.
As the bone is burned, the interior and exterior of the bone surfaces are
at different temperatures, as well as having different moisture contents,
causing the external parts of the bone to shrink. This produces a
cracking pattern on the bone surface, exactly in the same way (and for
the same reasons) wet mud contracts and cracks when it dries. These
cracks tend to be uniformly transverse and longitudinal, so the bones
flakes apart into generalized rectangular fragments. These fragments are
quite hard, and if struck with a metal object like the edge of a trowel,
will "ring" like metal. Unburned bone "thunks" when struck with a
trowel. There is actually a large amount of research on this subject
done by archaeologists and forensic pathologists trying to figure out
the time and temperature of recovered cremains.
The size and shape of the remaining bone and tooth fragments ARE
influenced by the time and temperature of a cremation, although the end
results seen by the ferret owner may not be indicative of anything. Some
disease processes suck calcium out of the bones, some ferrets suffer from
hormonal osteoporosis, and others may have been on a calcium poor diet
(among other things). In these types of cases, the recovered ash from
the cremation will be more fragmentary than those from a healthy, whole
ferret that died as a result of accident. So a healthy ferret placed
side-by-side with a diseased ferret and cremated for exactly the same
time and temperature can produce quite different ash remains. The same
is true of a fat ferret compared to a skinny one, or a male ferret
compared to a female one. In fact I would predict the ash remains of a
large, fat, healthy, whole male would be quite different than those from
a small, skinny, diseased, neutered female, even if they were cremated
at the exactly same time.
Because the time and the temperature of a cremation influences the cost
of doing business, cheap cremations are either as short as possible for
as low a temperature as possible, or multiple animals are done at a
single time. The later case doesn't imply the animals are mixed
(although mixing can occur if the cremator is dishonest): some cremation
services place each animal in separate "pots" so individual animals can
be recovered after the process. One reason for this is the same furnace
used to incinerate a horse-sized animal is being used to cremate the
ferret. It takes about the same amount of time and energy to do both
jobs (if the furnace settings are unchanged), so if the individual state
doesn't regulate cremation times and temperatures, some private operators
will adjust the temperature and time to save money.
The operation ethics of the crematorium also come into play. Just
because one crematorium offers cremation at $40, it doesn't mean you get
ANYTHING different when sending your ferret to one charging $150. In
fact, the more expensive service may be the more unethical or dishonest.
It is advisable to consult the better business bureau, and call local
vets and ask whom they recommend.
This is the bottom line: the point of a cremation is to reduce the
organics to hot gases which dissipate into the atmosphere, leaving behind
the inorganic components of the body, namely the bones and teeth. There
is little organic residue left after a proper cremation, so whatever ash
is recovered ARE the remains of the skeleton. While the time and
temperature of a cremation may impact the color of the bones, the size
and shape of the bones and teeth composing the ash reside may or may not
reflect a RproperS cremation because individual ferret remains have
different states of skeletal "quality." While it may be unethical for a
crematorium to not advise the ferret owner that the remains will be of a
skeletal nature (fireplace or ciggarette ash is NOT crematorium ash!),
the fact that the remains are in such a state is not evidence that a
cremation was done improperly. It may only reflect that the cremains
were not pulverized later.
While I am personally constantly amazed that some people might consider
the process of rotting in the ground to be somehow less distasteful or
undignified than incineration in a furnace or dismemberment during
necropsy or skeletalization, people have the right to have their own
feelings in the matter. However, if I were an expert witness at a trial,
I would testify the remains--as described--are consistent with standard
cremation practices, and that if anything was out-of-line, it would be in
the realm of explaining what the cremains would look like. Unless the
initial agreement specified the bony remains were to be crushed, while
perhaps emotionally unsettling to some, a lack of crushing does not mean
the cremation itself was flawed.
Bob C
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[Posted in FML issue 4486]
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