This Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial Gives Pet Parents a Place to Grieve

“Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge,” wrote Edna Clyne-Rekhy in 1959 after the death of her beloved dog. “When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, your pet goes to Rainbow Bridge,” the prose poem went on. There, the pets play with other animals until they’re reunited with their guardians.

In the decades since Clyne-Rekhy’s poem began circulating, the Rainbow Bridge has become a popular concept with pet parents, often used as shorthand to explain that a pet has passed on. Now, in Connecticut, a new pet memorial allows grieving pet parents to visit a rainbow bridge where they can remember and celebrate their departed pets. 

Karen Rakyta-Bozak, a resident of Torrington, Connecticut, was moved to create a pet memorial when she lost her Boxer, Lily. “ She was my little shadow. I just had a real soul bond with her. She was like my soul dog,” Rakyta-Bozak told The Register Citizen. To honor Lily’s memory and help others grieve their pets, Rakyta-Bozak began the Over the Rainbow Bridge project. 

Rakyta-Bozak reached out to a member of the Torrington board of Public Safety, Doug Benedetto, who contacted the mayor. Once the mayor gave his approval, Benedetto asked for help from a friend who leads a scout troop. Two scouts agreed to help Rakyta-Bozak build the bridge; in the end, they dedicated over 600 hours to the project and raised over $3,500. 

The bridge itself is only one part of the attraction; it leads to a beautifully designed trail where visitors can find more pet memorials, quiet benches, and fences covered in photos of dogs. 

Since opening at the end of August, the bridge has already provided solace to pet parents. On the project’s Facebook page, locals have described bonding with others they meet on the bridge while talking about their departed pets. “This should be called the healing trail,” one user commented. 

This isn’t the only rainbow bridge memorial in America. Rakyta-Bozak was inspired by a bridge tucked away in the mountains of North Carolina, where people passing through leave collars and engrave messages for their departed pets. Rakyta-Bozak wanted to give her community an option closer to home — but it’s not just for locals. “The community embraced this project. People have reached out to me from all over the state and out-of-state,” Benedetto told The Register Citizen. “It’s not just for the residents of Torrington but it’s also for people who just want to come down and enjoy our trail. We built it for them.”