If you want to bury your dog or cat in the garden at home, the official guidance in every part of the UK allows it. The wording differs from nation to nation, and so do the conditions attached, so this page quotes each authority directly rather than summarising them into one rule. It is about burying your pet's body. If your pet was cremated, what to do with the ashes is a separate guide.
England
The Environment Agency's guidance Animal burials: prevent groundwater pollution applies to England. It says: "You do not need permission to bury domestic pets." And then: "You can bury small domestic pet animals such as a dog or a cat on your own land, for example in your back garden. There are no minimum good practice groundwater protection requirements."
Wales
Natural Resources Wales publishes its own version, Prevent groundwater pollution from animal burials. It says: "You do not need permission from us to bury domestic pets." And: "You can bury small domestic pet animals such as a dog or a cat on your own land, for example in your back garden. There are no groundwater protection requirements you need to follow."
Scotland
In Scotland the rule is a Scottish Government authorisation, C2: authorisation to dispose of dead pet animals and equidae by burial, dated 24 January 2014 and amended 23 October 2024. It authorises the burial of dead pet animals "on the premises on which such products originate", provided the burial is carried out "in such a way that carnivorous or omnivorous animals cannot gain access to the dead pet animals" and "without endangering human health or using methods which could harm the environment, including in particular where it could result in risk to water, air, soil and plants and animals, or through noise or odours".
It also applies the conditions in point 4 of Section 1, Chapter III, Annex VI of Regulation (EU) No 142/2011, which cover moving the body to the place of burial: "secure, leak-proof containers or vehicles", among others. Neither the authorisation nor that annex gives a depth. They describe the result instead: other animals must not be able to reach your pet. NetRegs, which describes itself as "a partnership between the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA)", puts it more simply: "You are allowed to bury dead pets on your own premises, in an authorised pet cemetery or landfill site."
Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs describes a paragraph 37 exemption that "allows the burial of a dead domestic pet in the garden of the domestic property where the pet lived". It adds one condition that matters for a family: "The burial of a dead domestic pet is not allowed if it may prove hazardous to anyone who may come into contact with it." The page says the exemption does not need to be registered, and that its full wording is in Schedule 2 of the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.
How deep does the grave need to be?
None of these four sources gives a depth for a small pet buried at home. The England guidance does list depth and distance measures, including that burial places should "be deep enough so at least 1 metre of soil will cover the top of the animal carcass", but those sit within its minimum good practice requirements, and it says that for "home burials of small domestic pets" there are none. In Wales the same 1 metre wording appears only in the list for a larger pet such as a horse. Scotland's condition is that other animals cannot gain access. No depth for a small pet is set in any of them.
A horse or another larger pet
Here the rules do change. In England the guidance says: "If you want to bury a larger pet animal such as a pet horse, follow the minimum good practice groundwater protection requirements." It adds: "For these larger pet burials, contact your local council's animal health office. Your local council may ask for a map marking the burial place or they may have other requirements." For a larger pet it gives a minimum distance of 50 metres "from any well, borehole or spring supplying water for human consumption, or used in food production purposes, including private water supplies".
In Wales, Natural Resources Wales says the burial of a larger pet such as a horse must be outside a groundwater source protection zone 1, at least 50 metres from any well, borehole or spring, at least 10 metres from any field drain, with at least 1 metre between the base of the hole and the water table, deep enough for at least 1 metre of soil to cover the animal, not dug into bedrock, and not in an area at risk of groundwater flooding.
Scotland's authorisation C2 covers "dead pet animals and Equidae" under the same conditions quoted above. For Northern Ireland, the DAERA exemption speaks only of "a dead domestic pet" and does not mention horses, and NetRegs lists horses among the "animals usually regarded as farm species". Neither says directly how a pet horse is treated in Northern Ireland.
If burial at home is not possible
Not every garden suits a grave, and not every family has one. The England guidance also covers pet cemeteries, and says they must be registered with the Animal and Plant Health Agency. Cremation is the other common route; what pet cremation costs sets out the options, and what to do with the ashes covers what comes after. If you do bury your pet at home, dog memorial garden ideas has some quiet ways to mark the place.
Sources, checked 26 and 28 September 2026
- Environment Agency, Animal burials: prevent groundwater pollution (England), published 1 April 2022.
- Natural Resources Wales, Prevent groundwater pollution from animal burials (Wales).
- Scottish Government, C2: authorisation to dispose of dead pet animals and equidae by burial (Scotland), amended 23 October 2024.
- Commission Regulation (EU) No 142/2011, Annex VI, Chapter III (UK version on legislation.gov.uk), applied by authorisation C2.
- NetRegs, Animal carcass disposal (Scotland and Northern Ireland); About NetRegs.
- DAERA, The burial of a dead domestic pet in the garden of a domestic property where the pet lived: paragraph 37 exemption (Northern Ireland).
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights reserved. Guidance changes, and this page is not legal advice: the pages above are the ones to trust if they say something different.
Written by Craig Fearn, Small Goodbyes. Last updated .
