By Kim Hilsenbeck.
After more than a decade of working for his father’s large vehicle tow truck business, Southside Wrecker – which he said is basically a 24/7/365 kind of job – Ronny New decided to start his own business. This one is nothing like his dad’s.
On the southern side of New’s 15-acre Buda home stands a big red barn with two silver smoke stacks rising up to the sky from the roof. Behind it is a 6,000-gallon propane tank. Walking into one of three entrances, the hum of a large machine floats out.
Two large, square ovens, one taller and wider than the other, sit in the open part of the barn. Four offices flank the perimeter of the building. The heat coming off the smaller oven creates a distinct difference in temperature in the space around it.
New checks a temperature gauge on the side of the structure. It reads 1,623 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, anything inside the oven would be incinerated.
At Rainbow Bridge of Texas, owner Ronny New says his pet cremation business shows respect and compassion for the person and their relationship with their pet. He will also offer cremation services for larger animals later this month. (photos by Kim Hilsenbeck) |
And that’s exactly what’s happening.
New is the owner of Rainbow Bridge of Texas. His neighbor, Edmund “Butch” Garza, started Rainbow Bridge Pet Crematory 13 years ago. New helped Garza out part-time over the years, watching the business grow and become successful.
“It’s after-care for pets,” New said. “The way people love their pets, they want the best for them, even after they pass away.”
New and Garza discussed expanding the business toward San Antonio.
Eventually, New decided to open a crematorium on his land. The two men have separate businesses but in many ways work together, New said.
His initial goal was to build the business in the southern part of Texas.
“Then as we got started, we realized the need for a large animal cremation business.”
New said there are only a handful of large animal cremation facilities in the state.
“The closest one is north of Fort Worth,” he said.
So he started the permit process with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) about 18 months ago.
Were there any concerns about pollution with the crematorium?
“Take an Olympic size pool and put in four grains of sand,” New said. “Then dump that into Gulf of Mexico. That’s the amount of pollution this machine puts out.”
He said at 1,600 degrees, you can see smoke if you open the chamber.
“But walk outside and look at the exhaust stack and you can’t really see smoke. It’s very minimal. Drive by any fast food place and you can smoke coming out of those places,” he said.
The smaller oven is still running as New talks with us – each cremation takes about two hours. That oven is already permitted and operational. He said the larger one is almost ready to go – he targeted August for all the paperwork to be complete.
New said expanding the pet cremation business has been primarily through relationships with pet hospitals and veterinary clinics. He said the word is spreading.
“From the feedback we’ve gotten from pet hospitals and vets, the option for large animal cremation was there, but it was harder,” he said. “You had to load a 1,000-pound animal on a trailer and drive sometimes 200 miles.”
Rainbow Bridge of Texas offers pickup service. New custom built a backboard, similar to what paramedics use, to accommodate larger animals, i.e., horses and cows.
The company also returns the animal’s ashes to the owner, New said. The package includes a wooden case and certificate indicating the animal’s name and date of cremation. For very large animals, New ordered spreader buckets emblazoned with the Rainbow Bridge of Texas logo.
“Owners can use the bucket to spread some of the ashes if they choose,” he said.
“We’re actually the ones who perform the service for the large animals that are pets,” he said.
As an example, New said lots of teenagers who get involved in organizations such as 4-H and FFA keep large animals as pets. Texas has horse farms, too. The owners may want to cremate the animals, as opposed to just digging a hole in the pasture.
“Cremation is a more caring way to dispose of your pet than throwing it in the dumpster or leaving it out for the buzzards,” New said. “We treat the situation with care and dignity – we show respect and compassion for the person and their relationship with their pet. We take care of the customer that’s grieving.”
In addition, he said cremation is a good option for those who want to keep the pet’s ashes.
“If an animal is buried on the property, you can’t take it with you if you move,” he said.
