The owner of a Perthshire wildlife park at the centre of a storm over its pet cemetery is appealing for calm.
Alexa Reid claims her staff have been abused and suppliers have cut links with the Auchingarrich Wildlife Park, near Comrie, since her plans to turn the burial ground into a grazing paddock emerged.
A group of pet owners whose animals were buried at Auchingarrich before Alexa took over the attraction in 2022 have accused her of disturbing grave stones and denying them access to the land.
They have formed a Facebook group, Save Our Pet Cemetery at Auchingarrich, to fight for its restoration.
And on Thursday night they insisted they would not back down.
Alexa says support for the group’s cause had mutated into an online “hate campaign” against the wildlife park.
She claims:
• Staff have been targeted with abuse in Comrie and elsewhere, with some unable to come to work due to anxiety.
• Local suppliers have removed stock from the shop in the visitor centre, saying they do not want to be associated with the negative publicity.
• Events at Auchingarrich Wildlife Park have been boycotted.
• Animal welfare inspectors have been called to investigate malicious complaints about ill treatment.
• She has been bombarded with a torrent of emails and private messages, accusing her of desecration and telling her she and her family are not welcome here.
‘No records’ for Auchingarrich Wildlife Park pet cemetery
Now Alexa has called for an end to the ill-feeling, urging campaigners to come forward so they can come up with a solution.
“It’s been very difficult,” she said.
“We have a lot of great support. But it’s hard to stay positive.
“If people want to come here and talk to me about their concerns, I would love to draw a line under everything that’s been said and done and try to fix this.
“But please leave my staff alone.”
Alexa says when she took over the attraction most of the animals were kept in small enclosures next to the centre.
Her intention is to give them more space to roam freely by making greater use of the park’s outlying land.
This includes allowing cattle, deer and other animals to graze in the former pet cemetery, which sits on a rocky slope above the visitor centre and was previously grazed by sheep.
She says the burial ground’s licence had expired long before Auchingarrich Wildlife Park was put up for sale.
And she insists there was no mention of it in the legal paperwork when she was buying the attraction. Nor were there any records, or maps.
Her first inkling of its former use came when she stumbled across a couple of grave markers around the time the sale was going through, she said.
Owners’ anger after memorials are moved
Much of the field had become overgrown, with long grass and bracken, by that point.
Alexa says she found more stones and markers under fallen trees and in undergrowth.
Some were completely covered over with grass. Others were broken, or had rolled down the hill.
With no map or records, she insists it was impossible to know where they belonged. And so she laid them against the fence, along with various trinkets which have turned up covered in dirt and moss.
These were discovered by Debbie Marshall, who raised the alarm about what was happening at Auchingarrich.
She had embarked on a seven-hour round trip from her new home in Turriff to visit the grave of her spaniel Ruby, who was buried there 13 years ago.
She then made contact with other owners and the Save Our Pet Cemetery at Auchingarrich group was formed.
Campaigners reject Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre olive branch
Members have previously said they would be satisfied with flat stones to mark their animal’s graves, since these would not be a trip hazard for grazing animals.
Speaking to The Courier on Wednesday, Alexa said she would be willing to accommodate these – so long as owners knew they would not be able to enter the paddock while animals were grazing, for health and safety reasons.
She says access to the area was only being barred temporarily because forestry machinery is on-site as part of efforts to plant a new native forest.
And she added that she plans to move existing stones, and decorations to a new remembrance garden which is planned for nearby, overlooking the site.
“I am speaking to a number of owners who say they are happy with that plan,” she added.
Debbie Marshall of the Save Our Pet Cemetery at Auchingarrich group rejected the suggestions, however.
She claims Alexa has not returned her call to discuss the proposed olive branch and accused her of making “a calculated attempt to appear reasonable for the newspaper article”.
“We will step up our campaign and are looking at raising a civil action against Alexa Reid for desecrating our pets’ graves,” she added.
