Despite surging demand, pet owners are finding it difficult to hold funerals for their dogs and cats.

There are no specific regulations governing this kind of service, and several animal funeral operators have come under fire for charging grieving pet owners extremely high fees and providing shoddy work.

In Hanno, Saitama Prefecture, one such operator has been arrested on suspicion of dumping dead dogs and cats in a mountain forest. The man, a former member of the Hanno Municipal Assembly, is also suspected of delivering to owners the bones of the wrong pet.