The pet cemetery on Purdy Lane, where people have been burying their pets since 1950, is being replaced with condos next year. The owner is thinking of putting an ad in the paper in hopes of alerting people who have buried an animal to come get their pets before their graves are disturbed.

"They can just come and dig, absolutely," said property owner Imtiaz Ahmed, according to the Palm Beach Post.

When Ahmed bought his 5-acre lot in suburban West Palm in 2002, he was unaware that the cemetery was on it. He still owns the cemetery, although he can't explain why.

"It's not zoned for that; it's zoned multifamily residential," he said.

Vernoll "Betty" Burdick ran a pet boarding house and grooming service when she moved to Purdy Lane long ago, when it was still a dirt road. That's when people began burying their pets there.

People who have buried their pets on the lot say Burdick assured them the land would be preserved from the animals, but no one has anything in writing and Burdick passed away about a decade ago.

The property changed hands a number of times since Burdick sold it two years before her death. In recent years it has been neglected and is overgrown with weeds now.

People continued to bury pets in the cemetery long after Burdick was gone, while others apparently dug up their pets and buried them elsewhere.

Vinson Richter's childhood dogs Tuffy and Sophia are buried in the cemetery. He moved to Miami after he grew up, but his mother continued visiting the pets.

Richter wants to dig up his old friends, but he's worried it will be impossible to find them after the cemetery was neglected for so long.

"I would drive from Miami as long as I didn't have to dig through half an acre to find them," he said.